According to the Boston Globe, the group “Little People of America” has called for the Federal Communications Commission to ban the use of the word “midget” on broadcast TV.

Leaders of the group claim the word is as offensive as a racial slur.  Evidently the word was used during an episode of Celebrity Aprrentice, which, of course, is a TV show offensive to all people.

“Historically, the word ‘midget’ has been used to objectify people, like in the circus,” Clinton Brown III, co-chair of the National Conference of Little People of America, stated.  “We’re in the 21st century. We’re beyond that.”

“This is not just a complaint,” said the father of one little person, “but a kickoff to educate American that the ‘M-word’ is offensive to little people.”

It’s only a matter of time…

All-Star Speedway currently lists “big-block” supers as part of its weekly schedule for 2008. That could be big, indeed. ISMA certainly did not have enough of a New England presence in 2007. Perhaps there are some ISMA locals who’d prefer to avoid travelling halfway across the country half the season. And it’s said that once you have a BB super it doesn’t take a ton of money to run it.

Still, are there enough cars out there NOT committed to ISMA?

Waddya think?

NEMA recently announced a new support division. It will cobine cars powered by the Ford Focus developed by USAC and the Old Oldsmobile Quad-4 engine developed by current and former NEMA racers like Mike Luggelle and Shorttrack’s own Walt Scadden.

The Olds engines have been utilized in the last few years at Whip City Speedway. The Quad-4 division grew into a solid class at Whip City in 2007, but they’ve never been able to establish themselves as pavement racecars despite a few runs at Waterford.

This sounds like a great idea, if you ask me (I know, you didn’t). USAC’s Focus series started with great promise but then seemed to become a victim of its own success, with its eyes proving to be too big for its stomach. The engine, though, proved up to the task. The Olds deal has proven to be a great option for low-buck guys who just wanna have fun (“They just wanna – they just wanna – uh-huh”). 

The only complication is that the new NEMA class will be winged, while the Focus series was wingless and Whip City’s midgets went wingless last season. That likely won’t prove a big deal, though, as virtualy every car in both series was set up for  horizontal-aluminum-billboard installation. Besides, NEMA always was step 2 for the Focus series as well as some younger racers looking to step up or old guys who might want to tilt at the NEMA windmill every once in a while.

More midget racing is always good, in any event. No pun intended.