This is the Statt Mann Baby!!  Time to Scatt a little bit.

The man who first married the Internet and motorsports died this week.  The moment passed with little mention but millions are in debt to Michael Hollander’s vision.

I met Michael through a mutual friend more than 30 years ago when he ran a bulletin board for car techies at TRW here in Southern California.  His brilliance moved me to jealousy.  I was that small.

Mike’s brilliance followed him throughout his life.  Before there was the World Wide Web with graphics and video, Mike was delivering motorsports journalism worldwide in a nerdie community called CompuServe on this text based thing called the Internet. 

The internet was created for educators and war mongers but Mike used it in a constant battle to educate us about motorsports. 

Even the idiots who blather on about useless nonsense owe him a thanks.  They wouldn’t have a voice if it wasn’t for Mike.

He thought enough of me to let me participate in his Motorsports Forum.  I was proud of that.  Mike included me in his vision.

How do you replace someone who looked into the darkness, stepped into it and built a road for us to follow? 

The point is you can’t.  Like the commercial says, Mike was a human being.  And we all benefited from it.

Peace.