A Voice For The Fans ~ A Sendoff For “One Tin Soldier”

by: PattyKay Lilley

Good day gentle readers, and welcome to RacersReunion, a site we know is read by folks that matter. Today,  this “Voice For The Fans” column takes a new and different turn. On Thursday last, the fans that frequent this thing we call the Internet lost another voice, one that has rung out loud and clear on your behalf since the mid-1990s. That voice belongs to Matt McLaughlin, long-time Motorsports writer and a man I am proud to call “Friend.”

Later, I will link you to Matt’s farewell, which I admit to reading through tear-dimmed eyes. It won’t be the same around here without him, but looking back at all he has been through, he might feel that is a good thing. Yet, he goes proudly, at the top of his career, not as the badly beaten and broken man that a few had hoped for. What follows is a column I wrote in early February of 2005. As I have mentioned, the site for which I wrote suffered a major server crash in 2007, and all work on it was lost. Therefore, this no longer appears anywhere on the Web, until now. It will explain much, and Matt’s own column will explain more.

Please then, accept my offering from seven years ago:

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Where Have You Gone Matt McLaughlin

First they came for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Communist.

Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up, because I wasn’t a Jew.

Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up, because I was a Protestant.

Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up for me.

~Pastor Martin Neimoller: Concentration camp Survivor

And so it is that I come today to speak up for a friend.

Gentle readers, I hadn’t planned to be here until Daytona, but sometimes something happens that seems so egregious it begs to be addressed. Actually, I’ve contemplated this for two or three days before writing it in an attempt to rid my mind of phrases such as “Petty little dictator” and “Thin-skinned wimpette”, but somehow, they refuse to leave my mind.

Of course, I’m referring to the recent enforced departure of Matt McLaughlin from the ranks of Internet writers. For the cave dwellers among us, Matt has written NASCAR related articles on the web since long before many of us knew there even was a web. To my knowledge, he always wrote for the same site, though it has undergone several name changes and face lifts over the years. (If you think I’m going to give them a plug here, think again)

Well, it seems that this particular website, and it is a very good one, was recently purchased by an entity that calls itself ABC Promotions. Ha! ABC Promotions is a property of ISC (International Speedway Corp.) the incestuous sister of NASCAR and all three are controlled by the Family France.

[Note: therein lies the single error in the original column. The proper name of the purchaser was ASC Promotions, with ASC denoting Americrown Service Corp., the subsidiary of ISC that runs the concession stands at all ISC tracks. The error was not mine and came about through a blatant attempt to deceive... a nice little phrase meaning "lie."]

I’d love to believe that their purchase of the old Speedworld site was to rid themselves of good competition, which one could possibly construe as good business sense. Yes, I’d love to, but I don’t! The issue was to rid themselves of something, but this old gal believes that what they (NASCAR) wanted shed of was Matt McLaughlin, whom they viewed as a constant thorn in their corporate paw. Three cheers for Matt!

Despite the gruff exterior that Matt presented (on purpose), he was always up for a good laugh and always willing to assist some budding amateur writer such as myself. I can only wonder how many of us would not be here, were it not for Matt. He was not only a top-notch professional writer (The occasional typos in his work, I’ve always suspected were put there on purpose) but one heck of a nice guy to boot.

“So I cheered up and sure enough, things got worse.” Upon visiting the forum associated with the old Speedworld site, I learned that the new forum moderator (Matt was the old one) had seen fit to delete Matt’s final post in that venue. (How’s THAT for pure venom) It only took a short bit of reading to find what the post originally said; it was simply the lyrics of, “I Hope You Dance”, followed by a short message saying “See y’all and if you’re ever in the neighborhood, stop by for a beer.” Yep, that’s some pretty vicious stuff there. We can’t have this guy speaking freely and exercising his constitutionally guaranteed right to expression.

Lee Ann Womack ~ I Hope You Dance ~ Lyrics

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,

You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,

May you never take one single breath for granted,

GOD forbid love ever leave you empty handed,

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,

Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance….I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,

Never settle for the path of least resistance

Livin’ might mean takin’ chances but they’re worth takin’,

Lovin’ might be a mistake but it’s worth makin’,

Don’t let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,

When you come close to sellin’ out reconsider,

Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance….I hope you dance.

I hope you dance….I hope you dance.

(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,

Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where

those years have gone.)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,

Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,

Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance,           

And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.            

Dance….I hope you dance.                                      

I hope you dance….I hope you dance.                          

I hope you dance….I hope you dance..                         

(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along    

Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)

“So I cheered up and sure enough, things got worse.” According to Todd Berger at Anomie Acres, http://www.anomieacres.com/05berger/05tb4.htm  (And I have no reason in the world to doubt Todd’s veracity) Matt “was not allowed on the premises [of a race track] unless he was a special guest of a sponsor or some other big wig.”

Well, that goes right along with a writer for a very prominent newspaper being physically assaulted by NASCAR “Officials” in the pits last year for daring to attempt to interview a driver during a long red flag hiatus. It seems that would have somehow violated the exclusivity rights, which were sold to the broadcasting network. Oh, can’t we all just get along? Nope, I didn’t think so.

Gentle readers, perhaps you already know this, but most of us who write on the Internet do so out of love (?) for the sport and are rank amateurs in the literary field. This was not the case with Matt McLaughlin; he was and is strictly professional. The blow dealt to him was not a slap on the wrist as many of us receive from time to time; it took away his very livelihood.

Actually, it took away more than that; at least temporarily, it took away his life. Some three (Or possibly four) years ago, Matt was the victim of a freak accident (Slipping on ice) that came within a whisker of costing him a leg. Although there followed, a long period of rehabilitation and a great deal of pain, within a few days of the accident, Matt was back at a keyboard (In his hospital bed) doing what he loves to do best, writing.

That’s the Matt I know and love (despite that bad haircut Darlin’) and it’s only a matter of time before he rises like the Phoenix from the ashes. It’s said that you can’t keep a good man down and Matt is exactly that, a good man.

If you get the sense that I am seething with anger as I sit behind this keyboard, then you are correct and I’m making my point, or I will be if I can get this past my editor. Unlike Matt, I have nothing to lose if they come for me, and I surely can’t be bought with tainted money, so until they pry this keyboard from my cold, dead fingers, I’ll continue to speak the truth as I know it and to exercise my guaranteed first amendment right to freedom of speech and the press as well.

In closing, I’ll offer the following, which I know will bring a smile to the face of a friend:

And here’s to you Matt McLaughlin,

Jesus loves you more than you will know

Wo wo wo

God bless you, please, Matt McLaughlin,

Heaven holds a place for those who pray

Hey hey hey, hey hey hey

Where have you gone Matt McLaughlin?

A nation turns its lonely eyes to you

Ooo ooo ooo

What’s that you say Mr. Brian France?

My friend Matt has left and gone away?

Hey hey hey, hey hey hey

(But not to stay, not to stay!)

I’ll take my leave now, but not with the tag line that usually appears at the end of these columns. Much like my friend, my smile is temporarily gone…there is no joy in Mudville, Mighty Matt has been struck down.

Be well gentle readers, and just in case they decide to come for me, I’ll make it just a tad easier for them to find me.

~PattyKay Lilley

(Be it noted that at the time of this writing, I used only my first and middle names, for privacy reasons, writing as Patty Kay. This would have been the first time my whole name appeared on the Internet, but my then editor refused to print it. That was the only word changed in the entire article)

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And now gentle readers, I give you the link to Matt’s MPM2Nite: One Tin Soldier Rides Away. Please note the second and third words of the column and see if they look familiar. Tell him Patty sent you…

http://www.frontstretch.com/mmclaughlin/41124/

In the time between Matt’s “dismissal” from the new NASCAR site and the time he resurfaced at Frontstretch, I literally became a mailbox for Matt. No one could find him, and such a good job had been done of “sanitizing” the Internet that my column was the only meaningful thing that came up when searching his name. Matt soon began to write for a small website called Racingstalkers.com, so as each request I received about Matt came in, I was able to pass along the web address to the seekers without divulging his personal email. To each person receiving the web address, I’d ask that he “Tell him Patty sent you.” Hey, it got some smiles from a man busy picking up the pieces of his life.

This time, it isn’t NASCAR sending away my friend. No, this time it is far more serious than NASCAR will ever be. It is the dreaded “Economy”, a word that has come to strike fear in the hearts of young and old Americans alike. We don’t do politics in this column, so I won’t go into any of that  aspect. I know that most of my gentle readers are well aware of the “State of the Union” in today’s America, and it is frightening.

My point is that Matt’s departure cannot be seen as some sort of long-delayed victory for NASCAR, but rather as a commentary on our entire way of life. Still, it’s comforting to know that the same economy that affects us also affects NASCAR, and does so where it hurts most, right in the pocketbook. Oh, and please, when you go to read Matt’s farewell, tell him Patty sent you… and wish him a Happy Birthday as he turns 53 on Saturday, August 18, 2012.

Matt, it’s been a kick, all the way. Godspeed and God bless, my friend. Please accept this humble offering as a gift from a friend, and Happy Birthday to you. I’ll be sitting around trying to picture you as Beaver Cleaver, but though I’ve teased you about it, I think I shall miss the hair.

Be well gentle readers, and remember to keep smiling. It looks so good on you!

~PattyKay

Email:  nas3car@etcmail.com

Twitter: @MamaPKL

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