Our columnist Rick McGinnis has blogged extensively about the Toronto Honda Indy and while that might not be something most of our readers care about, this should be:
It was Sunday morning and I needed to get to mass, but as I was covering the Indy races all weekend, it looked like there wouldn’t be time. Luckily, I’d noticed signs all over the media centre advertising morning chapel and a Catholic service courtesy the Indycar Ministry, to be held in the drivers’ centre in the BMO Field building on the other end of the track.
A couple of days previous I was in the area, just by turn 5, so I decided to check out the building. I was stopped by a security guard and told that my media pass wouldn’t get me in. I told her about the signs, and wondered why they’d advertise mass to the media if we couldn’t attend. Back at the media centre, I told the head of the press room about it, and he insisted that I was OK to get into mass – why else would the signs be up here? He said he’d talk to someone about it.
So of course on Sunday morning I arrived at the security desk at the driver’s centre to be told by the same security guard that she hadn’t heard a thing, and that I couldn’t go to mass with a media pass. I insisted that this had all been straightened out, and that all she needed to do was talk to her bosses. Radios were picked up and phones dialed and a few minutes later I was told that, yes, I was clear to go in and attend mass, which turned out to be celebrated by an Oratorian up from Indiana.
I suppose I could have been angry about the levels of dysfunctional bureaucracy clearly at work (or not at work) here, but what struck me was how unique my queries about getting to mass seemed to be, which leads me to believe that I might have been the first member of the godless media to ask about going to Indy mass in a long time. Take from that what you will.
Rick also covered Toronto’s Honda Indy for BlogTo and it might be of more interest to people who like racing and cars.
