Gomerati

[Andrew Longman]

Talk of the meltdown at TF got me thinking

Anyone know the origins of the term "Gomerati?

Seems I first saw it on 7G many years back, but is it a product solely of internet boards?

It might be fun too to offer a full and complete definition of Gomerati.

Also, the gomerati are a key part of the split many, especially in the press, overlook when talking about the split and its continuation. Usually the discussion is about TG starting his league and power struggles with car owners and manufacturer money.

But the Indy-centric circle of people around TG have also been telling him for 10 years he is doing the right thing. And those people told him more that ten years ago that he real racing was done by Americans circling on oval dirt tracks until they got the nerve and talent to climb into a big car at the big track at Indy.

[Cam]

Well..... A google for gomerati isn't very helpful. It's interesting that OC is the first hit for it tho. Maybe it was Venkman in this (http://offcamber.net/forums/printthread.php?t=4739&page=3&pp=30) thread here? It predates any of the other hits of all the forums. :saywhat:

[Andrew Longman]

I'm surprised. I was certain it was used longer ago than 2004

[Opposite Lock]

I have a vague recollection of seeing it for the first time in a Spicoli post, but I can't recall whether it was here or at the old 'wagon (pre-secret forum era).

I just thought it sounded funny because of its similarity to "Illuminati", and conjured an image of a secret society of hooded gomers huddling under the H-Stands, eating tenderloins.

[datachicane]

Just a contraction of 'Gomer Illuminati'. It's a vast, secret brotherhood controlling a far-reaching shadow government extending nearly to the borders of Marion County, and comprised exclusively of elite cornfed yokels.

I seem to recall seeing it at least as far back as '98 or so...

[oddlycalm]

Also, the gomerati are a key part of the split many, especially in the press, overlook when talking about the split and its continuation. Usually the discussion is about TG starting his league and power struggles with car owners and manufacturer money. Exactly right, the gomerati are indeed a key part of the equation. TG responded to what he perceived was a broad sentiment but what was actually a couple thousand people in two or three counties in Central Indiana. That's why real business people do marketing studies rather than fly by the seat of their pants. If the IMS people had conducted an actual market study of race fans in the North American market they would never have disgorged the EARL in the first place. The market for it simply doesn't exist beyond a few gomerati and people that will watch any kind of racing you show them. That's why the EARL was forced to turn into CART-Lite and why side shows like Danica are paraded out so relentlessly.

Now even the die hard gomerati becoming disenchanted with the reality of CART-Lite and the epically awful ABC/ESPN idiocy. This isn't their dream at all, it's some 2nd rate bastardization of something they hated. A field full of foreigners with a woman getting the most attention? Street races? Road races? Japanese factories molding the series to fit their agenda then abruptly leaving when the whim hits them? Definitely not the gomerati dream and there's the rub. Once TG succeeds in alienating the die hards, who's left?

The irony is that TG set out to secure the future of his May race, but in the end he will be the one to have killed it. Of course it was inevitable. The gomerati dream was mythology, not rational thought, so there was never any chance of actually getting there since there is no [i]there[i/] to get to. Cold hard reality is that best racing technology is in the UK and the best drivers are trained overseas. Ironically, Indy has played a large part in creating that very reality by focusing the US racing industry on a single race every year rather than developing 12 months a year a tracks around the world. The jaundiced shadow of that old whore of an IMS is what queered the deal for all of us and as long as it remains "the big one" in peoples minds, rather than just another race, nothing will change.

oc

[Wheel-Nut]

Talk of the meltdown at TF got me thinking

. . . . .

What's the meltdown about today?

[Cam]

What's the meltdown about today?

Some of the gomers have seen the light.... Reality sucks! :D

[Andrew Longman]

"I just thought it sounded funny because of its similarity to "Illuminati", and conjured an image of a secret society of hooded gomers huddling under the H-Stands, eating tenderloins. "

And...

"Just a contraction of 'Gomer Illuminati'. It's a vast, secret brotherhood controlling a far-reaching shadow government extending nearly to the borders of Marion County, and comprised exclusively of elite cornfed yokels."

:rofl: I can't decide what's funnier.

And OC, you are the man. I'd like to share a beverage some time :thumbup:

[Napoleon]

I just thought it sounded funny because of its similarity to "Illuminati",

I honestly had never heard of that word until this post.

[FRANKY]

I honestly had never heard of that word until this post.

June 2004 at CW too.

[datachicane]

I honestly had never heard of that word until this post.

The Rockefellers, the Freemasons and the World Bank spend a lot of money to keep it under wraps.

:D

[Rocketdoc]

Well..... A google for gomerati isn't very helpful. It's interesting that OC is the first hit for it tho. Maybe it was Venkman in this (http://offcamber.net/forums/printthread.php?t=4739&page=3&pp=30) thread here? It predates any of the other hits of all the forums. :saywhat:

Actually, it was formed from a combination of people.

One, I was responding to someone on that quote, and two, I used to call the true sycophants at Crackforum, Illiterati, and many, including Ziggy and Mike Kellner, et., al, have always called them "Gomers" in reference to Gomer Pyle, who sings at one of their IRL races each year.

It's something like "Crapwagens": its source may remain clouded in myth forever... or at least until the IRL implodes.

[rosawendel]

It's something like "Crapwagens": its source may remain clouded in myth forever... or at least until the IRL implodes.

i thought that was a tracy-ism...

[Opposite Lock]

The Rockefellers, the Freemasons and the World Bank spend a lot of money to keep it under wraps.

:D

Don't forget about the Stone Cutters. In addition to keeping their cloak of secrecy, they also keep the metric system down, keep Atlantis off the maps, keep the Martians under wraps, hold back the electric car, made Steve Guttenberg a star, robbed skatefish of their sight, and rig every Oscar night. Totally badass.

By the way, I'm pretty sure that Bob effin' Cole is a high-ranking member of the Gomerati.

[Cam]

Actually, it was formed from a combination of people.

One, I was responding to someone on that quote, and two, I used to call the true sycophants at Crackforum, Illiterati, and many, including Ziggy and Mike Kellner, et., al, have always called them "Gomers" in reference to Gomer Pyle, who sings at one of their IRL races each year.

It's something like "Crapwagens": its source may remain clouded in myth forever... or at least until the IRL implodes.

You may be right..... However I hereby lay claim to the term Gomerazzi.... This is now officially the title afforded to Cave-In and his ilk..... :D

[Andrew Longman]

i thought that was a tracy-ism...

If memory serves, crapwagon was used a lot on 7G to refer to the IRL chassis spec prior to the current spec. The big airbox and wings drew immediate remarks that it looked like crap.

Tracy immortalized the term and gave it wider use when he said after his I500 win that he won't drive a crapwagon ever again.

[rosawendel]

that makes sense, given that PT's mom was a member.

[Brickman]

Kellner at SpeedNet before 7G was even a gleam in anyone's eyes. His wit was only second to his knowledge. But the lack of it got him booted.