Jalopnik
Two senior FIA officials have suggested that television cameras refrain from showing close-ups of four-time World Rally Champion Sebastien Loeb until he cleans-up his "scruffy" look. "Of course these persons are an insult to real males," wrote WRC Commission President Morrie Chandler, kicking off a hilarious email exchange.
"I watched the WRC Mexico highlights last night and I have to voice my opinion on the poor appearance of Sebastien Loeb on WRC-TV," wrote Surinder Thatti, Chairman of the Confederation Of African Countries in Motorsport. ""He was unshaven, scruffy looking and with unkempt hair!! It is wrong...when the FIA gives him global TV coverage to millions of viewers and to many children worldwide he is a hero and role model...I know there is a level of personal freedom one is allowed but I feel he is taking this too far and someone should talk to him or his team about this."
"Yes I watched the same as you did...Unfortunately it is not a problem that is unique to our sport as the same happens in football and other "male" sports," Chandler wrote in response. "My only solution is that we suggest to ISC that the camera does not cover them close up."
We're just glad FIA can't see us in our bedrooms office. (h/t Placebo, who is scruffy in a good way) [via AutoSport]
Comments
If Max Mosley was in charge this would never happen.
Wonder what Surinder Thatti thinks of 'ol Max and the Nazi hookers?
It's rally! You're flying 100mph through some dense forests and flinging around cliffs.
With all the manliness running through your veins to get you through that, a beard and sideburns kind of explode out of your face mid-stage. You don't have a choice.
So Dakar is cancelled and they have to start whining about stuff like this?
Slow day at the office of the Confederation Of African Countries in Motorsport
REALLY now!
I think Seb Loeb is a bit of a dick, and i'm not exactly a fan... but... seriously. Grow up, FIA.
Are you going to measure the pit crew cheer squad's skirts to make sure they come down to the knees, too?
Shave those sideburns, he looks like a girl.
Now Johnny Unitas, there's a haircut you can set your watch to.
Sounds like FIA are the real Nazis.
"You vil shave zat BEARD!"
+ Watch video
Mattingly!
Don't you dare look like some regular everyday dude who can push a car to unbelievable limits, Sebastien Loeb. You should be made to wear a cape and tights!
How much of a toss do you think 'Seb' is actually giving right now?
Wow- way to deflect attention from yourself, Max.....
Ever consider that Mosley should be replaced just because he's not the brightest bulb on the tree?
Why would anybody take grooming advice from somebody named Surrender. I bet he eats cheese too.
pfftt, those ain't sideburns...THESE are side burns:
[www.exploredc.org]
anyone check to make sure max's five video-friends were shaved?
"Mattingly! Shave those sideburns!"
@jpech:
Careful, Loeb is French :P
This is Mr Thatthi, who seems hardly in a position to cast aspersions on another gentleman's facial topiary.
[www.eastafricansafarirally.com]
He should make a deal with them and shave his ass instead.
And here we have the very image of masculine virility.
Doesn't this dude have kids to chase off his lawn or something else better to do?
@BlueMenu: I was just about to do that Mattingly thing.
I wonder if the same FIA goofballs told Heidfeld to shave his beard?
By 1950's, Leave It To Beaver standards, Mr. Loeb is a touch shaggy. By 1970's WKRP In Cincinnati standards, he's shaved nearly bald. I really don't believe this is the greatest moral issue facing the world today.
I think the guy from the Confederation Of African Countries in
Motorsport gave the WRC Commission President Swine Fever!
A well-groomed Loeb would eliminate the one reason I can still get my wife to watch (bootlegged) WRC events with me (following the retirement of Marcus).
Maybe Loeb should join NASCAR?!?!?
Biggitybiggitybiggity...what the hell is that boy doin' thru turn one?
FFS! FIA should hardly be responsible for crap like that. In the rules and sporting regulations are they going to add grooming requirements?
Jenson Button, you have been warned!
Note to folks: Thatti and Chandler are close allies of Mosley.
You don't suppose that this exchange was leaked to discredit these folks who will be confidence voting on Mosley in June, d'ya?
In the spirit of full disclosure: I want Mosley gone yesterday, well before his pubi..public flogging (err, the recent News of the World public S&M flogging).
They never made Michelle Mouton shave!!
I would like to chime in that I want to make sure Danica Patrick and Ashley Force are shaved too....
Next thing you know Robert Kubica will be getting handed business cards of plastic surgeons.*
Honestly, doesn't the FIA have better things to do, like vote Mosley off the island and/or try to prevent the pending implosion of the WRC?
*As a, er, "homely fellow" myself I don't have a problem with Bobby K's looks, but I'm sure there are more than a few who do.
Really, they're worried about that? Now I could see concern if he was rocking a ZZ Top style beard (fire hazard) but a little scruff... haven't they watched TV or a movie in like the past five years.
Take heed, Mark Arnold... from what we saw of you accompanying your nifty 633 write-up, you have no future with FIA...
Mark Arnold Photo
[www.guinnessworldrecords.com]
@OldeEnglishD: Hear hear! COTD! With a little push, I think we can justify the Danica Patrick SI pic just one more time! C'mon, Jalopnik - FTW, let's make it happen!
@crankcase:
Think the FIA might have a problem with this guy? (jump to prior posting)
@DSLPWR:
Please no!! Please No more Danica Skanktrick!!
Maybe if he'd stop getting so many damn podiums they wouldn't be filming him so often. Why don't they just ask him to start throwing races?
@CEman: Funny comment,but you just put me off my food.
@charles_barrett: Don't shatter my dreams.
@dearyou:
+1, but change Marcus to the unfortunately taken from this planet, Robert Burns.
He should grow a nice Tony Pond 'stache. That'll show 'em.
I read this article just waiting for it to end with, "Just kidding, it's from The Onion."
I can't believe this is an issue. The dude is a rally rockstar, and rockstars don't have to shave if they don't want to. What's next, when they cam Marcus Grönholm they're going to ask him to not be so Finnish because it's weird and sets a 'strange' example for children? Oh, and by all means, let's start removing tattoos on professional athletes as well. These whiners must be related to the FL Senator who banned truck nuts.
Loeb should put truck nuts on his rally car in protest, that will show 'em.
Nazi hookers are ok, but not those sideburns...What reality are these idiots in?
Randrace: That picture is of Corrado Provera, former head of the Peugeot Sport team.
And, removing Max before applying the wax should be the FIA's first priority.
perhaps he has a crush on him, but wants him clean shaven, dressed like a Nazi hooker, then beating his sorry ass with a whip.
@Kelly: Richard Burns?
Wrong man. That's Corrado Provera, former team boss at Peugeot Sport. @RandRace:
Now Provera was a real asshole! Seb Loeb is a pretty close second. Isn't it time for him to go to F1 with all the other asshole Sebastians?
And what the hell is with the FIA these days? Do they really feel the need to micromanage EVERY aspect of motor racing right down to what kind of facial hair the drivers have? It's bad enough that they change the formula of both F1 and WRC EVERY DAMN YEAR!! No wonder manufacturers keep dropping out of the WRC...every time they spend money developing a new car, the rules change and they're forced to make changes to meet the whim of some wanker in a suit.
Comment on this post
Reply by EmailLogin with your username and password below. Or comment on this post via email.
Forgot your username or password? New User?