Michael Schumacher, originally uploaded by kpangel68.

Michael Schumacher has announced he is retiring from Formula One racing. This is someone who has built his career on dirty tricks and a lack of sportsmanship.

Schumacher captured his first World Championship in 1994, by deliberating crashing into the car of rival Damon Hill. Schumacher’s car was damaged and wouldn’t have finished the race. The only thing Hill needed to win the championship was to finish. Schumacher crashed into him, so neither could finish and Schumacher won the championship.

He has practiced similar tactics ever since. The reason he was allowed to do so is because Formula One cares more about making money that sports, so things that would be outlawed in any real sport are allowed when you’re behind the wheel of a machine that can kill.

This morning the BBC interviewed someone who was going out of his way to defend Schumacher. But even this apologist admitted: “He exploited sportsmanship to its brink.”

A few years ago Schumacher got caught in the next to last race of the season with illegal equipment in his car. His disqualification would have given another driver the championship. But that would have made the last race, in Japan, moot, and less profitable. So the rulers of Formula One looked the other way and did not implement the disqualification that was in their own rules.

I’ve often wondered why driving vehicles is considered a sport, any more than playing chess? Why not try lawnmower races instead, or perhaps Expresso machine contests?