Asking For A Favor About John Shoemakers Death At March Meet Please Read

Im Not Sure How Many Of You Got A Chance To Read The Sunday Bakersfield Californian News Paper, I Have Already Called Them Telling Them For A Couple Of Hundered People, Telling Them What A No Cl*** Job They Did, What They Did Was To Put Colored Pictures On The Front Page Of The Sports Section, Showing His Wife Backing Him Up To The Line, No Promblem. The No Cl*** Shot In Color Was Of His Wife Watching Him Die At The Other End, We All Feel This Was In Poor Taste, And We All Beleive They Owe The Family An Apolygy, If You Feel The Same Way Please Let Them No, There Number Is 661-395-7393 If You Seen The Look On Her Face You Would Understand Why We Feel The Way We Do..
In Advance Thanks To Everyone
Barefoot

 

Barefoot;
I think those same pics came from the "American Top Fuel " group..
I got them thru the Nitro geezers..

NO one ever said ANY newspapers ever showed cl***..they usually glorify tradgedy.
RIP John.

 

don't expect anything to happen with the media like 1939fiat said they never show cl*** or respect. all their doing is trying to start **** and sell headlines. somtimes they need a kick in the teeth.

 

You Guys May Be Right, Been Doing This Car **** For 45 Yrs, Beleive Me I Have Watched Us Lose Alot Of Great Car People, I Just Thought How I Would Feel If Some ***hole Printed A Picture Of Me Watching One Of My Loved Ones Die. A Bunch Of Us Talked About It Today At The Drags, We All Beleive It Was Wrong, Felt I Had To Speak Up About It.
If You Guys Think This Post Needs To Be Deleted Thats Fine.
Thanks Barefoot

 

I agree thats its BS!!!!

i read the paper online and it was stupid what they did, its the media, they screw everything up. I had a problem in aug and the media screwed it up totally and made it sound like my employee did it, they would never fix problem

 

barefoot;
don't pull the thread..

 

I checked out the article online and it only has the pic of the wife backing him up. Maybe they removed the other pic or maybe it was never online (only in print)...

Regardless, I agree it is rotten to showcase someone experiencing a horrific tragedy.

 

Info You Can Search Bakersfield Californian Sports Under March Meet Crash Scroll Down It Does Show All Photos. You Have To Click On The Rest Of The Articles Listed About It.
Thanks Again

 

Them posting those pics is just wrong in so many ways!

Ya Ya they all rush to be the ones with the coverage and don't take into consideration how the family and friendsare going thru. Most of the articles are exaggerated to make more interesting.

How would they feel if a family member and or friend had p***ed and they show up for work and someone else has pics of them at their
time of grief !!!

 

Hmmm. I went back and looked at the photos. Not for gruesome details, but to get my own opinion of how bad this might have been handled by the paper. I have to say the caption indicates that this is a picture of her watching him race and that, "seconds later Shoemaker crashed." At least from the website, it doesn't make it out that this is her at the time of the crash or her reaction to the crash, just her watching that final race (though this is still sad to see her at that moment).

Regardless, a sad story... It would have been a better memorial to just see a few pics of that beautiful drag car and some more info on the great history of that driver and family.

Here is the caption under that picture:

"Felix Adamo / The Californian Judee Shoemaker watches her husband, John Shoemaker race his top fuel dragster down the track at the Auto Club Famoso Raceway. Seconds later, Shoemaker crashed at the end of the track and was airlifted to a local hospital. He would later be pronounced dead."

 

Barefoot,
I couldn't agree more, Our media is all about greed, whatever they can report to get the most readers or viewers is all they care about. I won't get into the war thing, but the media has really screwed us in a lot of different ways. I think they owe his family an apology, but good luck on them getting it. I put the media right up there with lawyers, need I say more.

 

The "news" ain't gonna change.

Remember, Britney Spears sells more pages than anything! We don't like to admit it but a lot of people watch motorsports just waiting for something to go bad. If I'm gonna' get hit with a heart attack at 70 years old, I just hope it's while I'm running 247 mph in a F/D!

Just take all that anger energy and do something positive - for his family or the sport, or a local charity.

 

You will notice that whenever a media person dies, all the media treats that persons family with dignity and respect. When non-media people die, the media is at their door showing microphones and cameras in the greiving family members faces. A double standard for the "elite" media.

 

i saw it on a web link from the H.A.M.B. someone posted . i think it was thier web site. i thought all the pics were in poor taste at the time. especially the one you mention. mrs. shoemakers worst fears captured on film and published? thats tasteless journalism in my opinion.

 

You guys think the Shoemaker coverage was in bad taste (and I'm not saying otherwise)? Check this headline out. It's from an L.A. rag (no longer in business, as I understand) in '71 when Pete Robinson lost his life, and another racer's wife was killed in a pit accident. I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw this on the newstands the next day.

For those of you who understand the term "Yellow journalism", the faded color of this paper seems particularly appropriate. It is indeed, all about selling papers. Hence the popular saying - "If it bleeds, it leads".

P.S. I learned this morning - from another on-line source. Shoemaker died in the car of a m***ive heart attack during the run. That's why he never lifted or pulled the chute. He was already gone when the crash occurred.

 

Your Right That Is No Cl*** At All

 

Well I was there at the March Meet and looking at the article I see that the first photo was an old photo from a different race. Shoemaker was in the right lane in his blue AAFD... the second photo looks correct... and the third of his wife with the expression on her face was not at the crash scene, it was while she was in the traps after he launched, she was watching his run....
I agree that the media usually glorifies and hypes stories like this, but in this instance I think they really did ok.
I saw clips on the 11 o'clock news and they did ok too, in fact I was surprised they actually had the story straight, that he suffered a m***ive heart attach while in the middle of his victorious run, then couldn't deploy chute so he hit the dirt berm at the end of the runway at full throttle and crashed. Then they said he died doing what he loved. Very respectful.
Famoso had a moment of silence for John on Sunday.
I was organizer for a Benefit Car Show 2 years ago, and although John couldn't attend he donated $100 toward the Cancer Hot Rodder the event was being held for, he was a stand up Guy in my opinion.

 

I Realize She Was Watching Him Make The P***, But Im Sure She Also Watched It To The Very End, In Todays Paper It Did Not Show Anyone In Jack Harris Crew Watching Him Set The Record. Everyone Has The Right To There Opinion. But Alot Of People Beleive The Pictured Should Not Have Been Printed.

 

Bareoot, Judee says she saw the numbers come up and then got ready to pick him up, then she saw the cloud of dust from the wreck.
So I'm guessing that photo was not from the wreck.

It was a bad deal all around and my deepest condolences to the family.

Judee's words about John
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pnt-31Zeat0


Very nice video on what happened
http://www.eyeoutforyou.com/home/16420121.html?video=YHI&t=a

 

No Cl*** is absolutely correct but they (the media) don't care...as long as it sells newspapers...freaking shame....somethings are just worth more than money to me anyways... will try to call tomorrow to voice my two cents, but doubt it will do anything....RIP

 

Barefoot and the other media haters,
My name is Mike Griffith and I wrote the article on John Shoemaker's death. I also wrote at least nine other articles on the March Meet, starting the Wednesday before the event. So much for glorifying tragedy or what other BS you and the others haters spout.
FYI,
John and Judee's next-door neigbor called us and requested the "wonderful photos" Felix took so they could be used in a slide show at John's memorial service Saturday in Sacramento. I also sent her two shots I had, one off the strating line on Friday and the other of him in the speed traps (along with Jim Murphy who I was focused on).
I got this in response:
Mike:
Thanks again for being so helpful. Judee & John's crew members are very
appreciative of all you have said and done.

So you guys go on and hate in your pretend world of the evil media just focusing in on the bad and playing it up.
When you come back to reality go to bakersfield.com and search out all the March Meet coverage to see the compete and through job we really did.
Yours for truth in blogs and message boards,

mike griffith

 

I had the pleasure of meeting John and Judee briefly last year when they stopped by a good freinds shop.

a very warm and friendly couple that obviously enjoyed life.

I know he will be missed.
my condolences to his freinds and family.

in respect to them I'm closing this thread