I've been watching Madhouse on The History Channel (for excellent reviews of the show see KT's reviews at Esbee's blog) and I do enjoy it immensely, but one of my fears is that my friends and family in other parts of the world will think that the Madhouse crowd is representative of Winston-Salem in its entirety. Fec offers his own evaluation and I have to say that the first and last sentences of his second paragraph kind of sum up my worries:
I stayed up last night and watched the History Channel’s Madhouse chronicle of W-S Bowman Gray stadium modified racing. The series portrays our area in the worst possible light.
The shows are highly effective cautionary tales of men who refuse to grow up and the families they neglect. It is a cogent primer in abnormal behavior. The soul-crushing pastime of habitually racing on a track too small to pass renders the participants beyond their already limited capacities to maintain composure. It’s Jerry Springer on wheels.
I have nothing against the Madhousians, and in fact the culture reflected in Madhouse is one of my favorite things about the Winston-Salem area, but you have to remember that just a few miles away from Junior Miller and his K'ville Mafia live grown men who wear loafers with no socks to the pool at FCC. If that doesn't say "I haven't grown up" I don't know what does.
Official disclaimer: I see nothing wrong with going sockless, but why drag your loafers into it?
