Wednesday, May 19, 1999 | 10:45 a.m.
Tim Graham's media notebook appears Wednesday. His page 1 column appears Thursday. Reach him at 259-4078 or [email protected]
A gruesome photo of bloody corpses wrapped in sheets at the VisionAire 500 earlier this month has cost a Sports Illustrated writer access to the Indy 500.
Although the Indy Racing League offered to credential a writer from the magazine other than Ed Hinton, Sports Illustrated has declined to cover the race at all.
The IRL was incensed by the Associated Press photo and Hinton's accompanying story headlined "Fatal Attractions" in the May 10 issue. The story outlined how tragedies such as the one that occurred in Concord, N.C., in which three people were killed by flying debris after a crash, could be avoided.
IRL spokeswoman Mai Lindstrom said that while some of the AP photos were "very graphic, to our knowledge, SI was the only publication that chose to run one."
The photo that ran in Sports Illustrated also ran on the front page of the May 2 Las Vegas Review-Journal sports section. The R-J intends to staff the Indy 500.
Lindstrom could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
"The photograph in Sports Illustrated was very tasteless and offensive, not only to the family of the deceased, but to many people, including us," IRL spokesman Fred Nation told the Associated Press. "The total coverage of the story, we thought, was offensive and inaccurate, and that's why we took the action we did."
Sports Illustrated and Valvoline publicly apologized for placing one of the oil company's ads on the page opposite the photo. The full-page ad showed four men working under the hood of a car with the words "You're born. You die. In between you work on cars. We should all be so lucky."
The Indy 500 takes place May 30 and is the IRL's premier event. If the Indy 500 is not covered by the biggest sports publication in the country, it could hurt all IRL races, including the Sept. 26 stop at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
LVMS director of public relations Jeff Motley, who handles credentials for races at the track, doesn't foresee Hinton, or any reporter, ever being denied access here.
"First let me say that I can't speak for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway," Motley said. "I'm sure they have their reasons. They can screen credentials however they see fit.
"But I can't imagine a scenario where we would deny credentials to Sports Illustrated or any accredited media organization, for that matter. Whether you agree or disagree, it's freedom of the press. You want these guys covering your events."
The decision to bar Hinton came from Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and IRL founder Tony George. Motley was asked if George could dictate the LVMS credential policy.
"I don't know if George could or could not," Motley said, "but I certainly would stand up for the media at our track.
"Ed Hinton's welcome here. If he applied for credentials for our Indy Racing League race, I cannot imagine any scenario he would not be credentialed."
* SWITCHING STATIONS: KBAD 920-AM and sister station KENO 1460-AM will shuffle programming so the former can become "ESPN 920."
Starting June 7, KBAD will air an entirely ESPN schedule. To accommodate the change, the "Fabulous Sports Babe" will head to KBAD, while John Renshaw and Jim Rome will flip to KENO.
The new KBAD weekday lineup: ESPN's morning show with Tony Bruno and Mike Golic from 6-10 a.m. (on tape); "The Tony Kornheiser Show" from 10 a.m.-1 p.m.; "The Fabulous Sports Babe" from 1-4 p.m. (on tape); ESPN's "Gamenight" from 4 p.m.-6 a.m.
The new KENO weekday lineup: John Renshaw from 6-9 a.m.; Jim Rome from 9 a.m.-noon; "The Clubhouse" from noon-2 p.m.; Peter Brown from 2-3 p.m.; Papa Joe Chevalier from 3-7 p.m.; Arnie Spanier from 7-11 p.m.; Bob Kemp from 11 p.m.-3 a.m; Damon Perry from 3-6 a.m.
* STATIC: The best nationally syndicated late-night sports talk radio program finally debuts in Las Vegas this month. "Sports Byline USA" begins May 24 on KSHP 1400-AM. Ron Barr hosts a segment from 7-10 p.m. and David Brody follows from 10 p.m.-3 a.m. KSHP replays Barr's slot from 3-6 a.m. ... KBAD 920-AM has the NIAA high school baseball title game live Saturday at 10 a.m. Tony Desiere, recently dismissed from his post as operations coordinator for KSFN 1140-AM, calls the action. ... Oscar De La Hoya is the subject of the centerpiece feature on CBS' "60 Minutes II" tonight at 9 p.m. ... NFL Films is coming to UNLV on May 25 to interview football coach John Robinson for a feature on Eric Dickerson for HBO's "Inside the NFL." ... More than 30 hours of Indy 500 coverage on ESPN and ESPN2 started Saturday and continues through race day, May 30. ESPN carries qualifying Saturday starting at 9 a.m. Big brother network ABC offers the race at 9 a.m. following an hour-long preview show. ... Fox Sports West debuts "Hardcore Baseball" June 1 at 5:30 p.m. The weekly series, a takeoff of "Hardcore Football," is hosted by Steve Lyons and Kevin Kennedy and examines baseball's slightest nuances.
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