Interesting how the Yanks see NZ

[scumdog]

Born, raised, schooled and lived in the States for 26 years. Its the sort of attitude which lets lawsuits (for example, let me put this coffee that I just got from McD drivethru between my legs so that I can take the lid off and put in the sugar and creamer.......OOOOWWWW I just got my thighs burned by said coffee, how could they give me coffee that hot and not tell me its HOT!!!!) not only go to court, but get awarded compensation. The attitude that 'I'm not responsible for what I do, and there is always someone else I can blame for my actions' is very prevalent in American thinking. Granted, this sort of attitude is all over the world, but I think generally American's take it to the extreme, more so then other cultures.

Luckily NZ has ACC to cover that sort of thing - including the "I'm not responsible' line of thought.

[steveyb]

Pukekohe was after all, the venue of a round of the NZ Grand Prix back in the days when many of the best F1 drivers would come and compete in it. Can't see how it was any worse than many other tracks around the world.

My Amercan story is an odd one: Asked a PhD candidate at my uni in Michigan when I was teaching there, had he ever been to the ocean?
No.
No? Wow, how old are you?
28.
You keen to see the ocean?
No, not really.

Lost for words at that. He was from Wisconsin, so maybe he thought the land of a thousand lakes was close enough to an ocean.

[scumdog]

Pukekohe was after all, the venue of a round of the NZ Grand Prix back in the days when many of the best F1 drivers would come and compete in it. Can't see how it was any worse than many other tracks around the world.

My Amercan story is an odd one: Asked a PhD candidate at my uni in Michigan when I was teaching there, had he ever been to the ocean?
No.
No? Wow, how old are you?
28.
You keen to see the ocean?
No, not really.

Lost for words at that. He was from Wisconsin, so maybe he thought the land of a thousand lakes was close enough to an ocean.

We have similar people here in NZ - I've met some that have never been further than 500km from home.

[Bald Eagle]

We have similar people here in NZ - I've met some that have never been further than 500km from home.

Yep but everywhere in NZ is less than 500km from the ocean.

[ktm84mxc]

That should be 120k's from the ocean, the yanks problems start and finish with there schooling it causes them to look inwards and not out to see a big picture/view.

[Bald Eagle]

The Yanks have given us;
The Atomic Bomb
Harley Davidsons
Global economic crisis ..
Law suits for everything
Contents may hot labels on coffee cups...



I think I can live without them.

[ktm84mxc]

You forgot the Great Depression , which lead to WW2.

[GD66]

Perhaps if any of the names mentioned on here are still alive, someone could present a fact list to SBKplanet to write another piece?

Did anyone else notice, that the author didn't even get capital letters for his name? Someone that unimportant shouldn't get published at all I'd have thought.

Soup website has a long history of Dean Adams' ramblings on it and this appalling piece of tripe is indicative of his dubious talents in the field of journalism. I have had a swing at him on this topic on other websites over a few years because of his poor research and assumptive, patronising treatment of those involved in the meeting and the series, describing the Marlboro Series' first foray to Pukekohe as "some insignificant club meet". I was involved in that meeting, and because we were so entranced with the idea of the great Cal Rayborn's involvement with the series, even though it was an extremely ad-hoc affair, that the unfolding terror of what happened in front of our eyes at the end of lap 1 will live with us forever. Yes, things went wrong on a number of levels, but Joe Lett has incorrectly been brought into question as a scapegoat by uninformed guesswork by many, and my recollection of the way things unfolded was that the crew, after mediocre practice performance from the bike, decided to convert to alcohol on the day, and without testing. But the chief protagonist was in fact Cal's stepfather and acting chief wrench Lou Kaiser. Cal didn't seem to fazed by the idea, but the idea of a more competitive bike held great appeal, and this I believe to be the root of the problem. The rest we know...

[Henk]

We have similar people here in NZ - I've met some that have never been further than 500km from home.

500 km? I worked with a woman in her 30s about ten years ago who had never been as far as either the Bombays or the Brynderwyns. Wouldn't be surprised if she still hasn't been.

[roogazza]

Soup website has a long history of Dean Adams' ramblings on it and this appalling piece of tripe is indicative of his dubious talents in the field of journalism. I have had a swing at him on this topic on other websites over a few years because of his poor research and assumptive, patronising treatment of those involved in the meeting and the series, describing the Marlboro Series' first foray to Pukekohe as "some insignificant club meet". I was involved in that meeting, and because we were so entranced with the idea of the great Cal Rayborn's involvement with the series, even though it was an extremely ad-hoc affair, that the unfolding terror of what happened in front of our eyes at the end of lap 1 will live with us forever. Yes, things went wrong on a number of levels, but Joe Lett has incorrectly been brought into question as a scapegoat by uninformed guesswork by many, and my recollection of the way things unfolded was that the crew, after mediocre practice performance from the bike, decided to convert to alcohol on the day, and without testing. But the chief protagonist was in fact Cal's stepfather and acting chief wrench Lou Kaiser. Cal didn't seem to fazed by the idea, but the idea of a more competitive bike held great appeal, and this I believe to be the root of the problem. The rest we know...

Yep GD66, pretty much what we heard on the day. Where have all those years gone ?

[GD66]

They sure have whistled by Gaz, but happily I'm still having fun at the races...

[pritch]

I was at Pukekohe the day Rayborn was killed, I didn't see the accident though, I was toward the other end of the track.

Not sure it was a "club race" exactly, even a glorified one, as I'd ridden the CB500 up from New Plymouth to watch the meeting and I wouldn't normally have done that for a club race.

The Yank motorcycle press at the time referred to Pukekohe as an obscure track which I thought was a bit harsh. In the early days the cream of the worlds F1 drivers came to NZ for the GP.

[Crasherfromwayback]

The Yank motorcycle press at the time referred to Pukekohe as an obscure track which I thought was a bit harsh. .

Guess to some Yanks...if it's not in USA, it's 'obscure'!

[SPman]

I was at Pukekohe the day Rayborn was killed, I didn't see the accident though, I was toward the other end of the track.

Not sure it was a "club race" exactly, even a glorified one, as I'd ridden the CB500 up from New Plymouth to watch the meeting and I wouldn't normally have done that for a club race.

The Yank motorcycle press at the time referred to Pukekohe as an obscure track which I thought was a bit harsh. In the early days the cream of the worlds F1 drivers came to NZ for the GP.

I was there as well. I thought it was a national meeting? Ah....the Tasman series......the best time to be watching motor racing in NZ.
A guy at work who was there, racing a TR500, said Ray born was in the habit of leaning off his Harley a tad before a race! Not the thing to do on a fussy stroker.......old habits may have cost him his life.........

[wharfy]

The Yanks have given us;
The Atomic Bomb
Harley Davidsons
Global economic crisis ..
Law suits for everything
Contents may hot labels on coffee cups...



I think I can live without them.

But they did give us Hamburgers, the internet, Bourbon and the Ford V8

All the Americans I have ever actually met have been warm, generous friendly people (and with a sense of humor) Kiwi's may be one of the "most traveled" people on the planet but that doesn't stop a hell of a lot of them from being ignorant, bigoted - um.... pricks really.