Latest update January 17th, 2025 6:30 AM
Motor Racing is the alternative
This is the size of crowd that motor racing generates in the Caribbean.
By Rawle Welch
Over the past week, two important Caribbean personalities echoed similar sentiments pertaining to sports importance on the tourism almanac.
These two persons were miles apart when they expressed this view so there seems to be some amount of significance as it relates to sports being one of the vehicles that could contribute to economic and social development.
The two personalities who made remarks on the importance of sports on the national agenda were Barbados Sports Minister Dr. Esther Byer-Suckoo, who was speaking at the second leg of the Caribbean Motor Racing Championship at Bushy Park and FIFA Development Officer Harold Taylor, who was addressing an audience at the launching of the Guyana Football Federation National Football League at the Pegasus Hotel in Georgetown.
Having had the opportunity to be at Bushy Park for the duration of the Race Meet, the magnitude of sports really struck me.
I was able to witness first hand the impact one event had on an entire island where for three days, the citizens of that country seemed totally frenzied by the fact that they were hosting one of the biggest motor racing events in the Caribbean.
For two days, Bushy Park was buzzing with activity leading up to the actual race day when thousands of fans show up to support the locals as well as enjoy a day of keen rivalry.
Even though Guyana has perhaps the largest following of fans, they mainly converge at the South Dakota Circuit on race day and our numbers rival or even surpass those in other parts of the region.
But, what was strikingly different in Barbados was that the locals do not wait until race day to go out and offer their support, days before the actual event, fans throng the Circuit even to watch practice and qualifying sessions and that is unlike what obtains here.
The days leading up to the big day resembles race day itself and that really surprised me since the actual fan support here is not seen until the day of racing.
Motor racing has done really well in the promotion of sports tourism in this country, but more could be done for it to make a genuine impact and provide a positive image for this country.
Through intuitive leadership motor racing has become the most popular spectator sport in Guyana, responsible for visitors from North and South America, Europe and the Caribbean, and so far all the indicators point to a continued growth in the sport.
The Government will have to be the lead facilitator of this expansion as is the case in Barbados where they’ve accepted recommendations from a Special task Force Report which suggested that they take over Bushy Park by compulsory acquisition as well as make equipment and supplies for the sport duty free thus affording teams the opportunity to upgrade their machines to international standards.
Those recommendations seem to indicate that the Barbados Auto Racing League is gearing itself to accommodate competitors from outside the Caribbean as well.
If that is the case, they must be congratulated for excellent foresight.
The local motor racing authority here has the collective leadership to match any one of the other host nation of the Caribbean Series and I’m confident that with genuine support from the Government we could attain even higher standards than those that were displayed in Barbados.
The national sport of cricket is precariously perched on a precipice at present so let us not wait until the inevitable happens to find a replacement.
It is right before our eyes, why wait, motor racing is the alternative.
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