Lewis Hamilton stormed onto the Formula One scene in the 2007 season as a rookie with the acclaimed McLaren racing team as a teammate of Fernando Alonso, the 2006 world champion. The Formula One world raved about the kid's racing prowess and how cool he was under pressure. I watched this season from day one, listening to every minute of coverage and commentary by the wonderful announcing of the Speed TV team. I was caught up in the Hamilton craze. It was so fun watching this kid come in and show such skill with so little experience. He continues to be a phenomenal driver and won the season opener on Saturday. That was not his first win.

On June 10, 2007, Lewis won the Canadian Gran Prix, only his 6th start in the premier series. This was a wonderful accomplishment the Formula One world was fully expecting based on his performance in his first 5 races.

ESPN ruined it for me.

In the 5 races leading up to the Canadian Gran Prix, the Formula One world, including the US based announcing team at Speed, uttered not a peep about the fact that Lewis was of African descent. He was a British rookie phenom; pure and simple.

My family and I were enjoying an early summer lunch at a sports bar with ESPN Sports Center on in the background. I happened to look up shortly after the end of the race and caught the announcer state, "Lewis Hamilton is the first black driver to win a Formula One race." End of story. In a split second, I went from elation in knowing Lewis accomplished this wonderful feat to anger and disgust over American sports television's ignorance.

ESPN ruined it for me by taking the focus away from the important part of the story.

My wife could not figure out what set me off. I explained how the ESPN announcer completely missed the point and the win had nothing to do with the color of Lewis' skin. It was about a rookie with a high level of skill winning a race very early on in his career.

This was the only time in the stories from the entire 2007 Formula One season where race was ever mentioned. It was only ever mentioned by American sportscasters not close to the sport. Of course, some Spanish fans made some despicable overtures during testing sessions in Spain in the months leading to start of the 2008 season. They were made presumably because of the upstaging of Lewis over their countryman, Fernando Alonso, in the previous season. The overtures were condemned by the FIA and track officials as they should have.

I bring this up today on the day Barack Obama gave a speech about bridging the racial gap in the US. He spoke partially in response to criticism over publicized remarks by his former pastor, Jeremiah Wright. He condemned divisive remarks Wright made in sermons to his church. He called for Americans to acknowledge the deep racial wounds in which the remarks were rooted. Until we do this, he said, we cannot begin to heal. He attempted to refocus the speech on his primary issues in the campaign of jobs, healthcare and the war in Iraq. This, in my opinion, is where campaign issues should be focused on. He made comments to the effect that he would lose if the presidential campaign become about race.

I agree with Mr. Obama on these points. The presidential race cannot be about the race of one of the candidates. We need to acknowledge the wounds and issues at the core of the racial tensions in America.

Then, we need to remove excuses attributed to racial oppression. We need to put a stop to racial stereotypes. In other words, we need to socialize the fact that color of skin has nothing to do with anything. Only then will people start to believe it and treat each other as individuals. This will not be easy.

Racial tensions, issues, etc. will never go away as long as we continue to focus on them.

The international community of F1 focuses on the capabilities of the driver and the technical advances of the team. Racial tensions only exist in Formula One to the extent that ignorant American sportscasters introduce them.