Never have and never will.

Just leave them be.

As an avid fan of most motor sport, that’s the attitude I try to take, but there is only so much distasteful “banter” one can handle before reaching breaking point.

If you didn’t read The Notebook in yesterday’s Advertiser and you’re a fan of motor sport, I suggest you leave it unread.

The Supercheap Auto Bathurst 1000 has every right to be viewed with the same level of respect as our other sporting codes and their grand finals, just not if you’re a particular sports editor.

“The Great Race” is often referred to as Australia’s grand final of motor sport, transitioning from the original Armstrong 500 of 1960 to the 1000km “sprint” we know today at Bathurst.

After all, the Bathurst 1000 is a celebration of the talent, hard work and determination of drivers, their teams and the collective V8 Supercar entity on the biggest stage, just like the footy codes.

And what a year the 2014 instalment proved to be.

From start to finish it was full of ebbs and flows as the fast men came from the back to the front – and repeated the feat after dealing with mistakes and penalties.

The eventual winners, Chaz Mostert and Paul Morris driving for Ford Performance Racing, didn’t even take the lead until the last lap after starting dead last on the grid.

To say that the day was defined by crashes – or that they were the only highlights – is utterly stupid and misguided.

Yes, there were 10 safety car periods and an uncustomary suspension, or “half-time break”, to fix a broken track, however these factors only added to the spectacle – they did not define the race or affirm its relevance.

For those in the know, the 2014 race will be remembered for the exceptional talent the drivers displayed in taming the new surface, the record-breaking one-lap pace and the utter despair on the faces of those who looked to have the race in the bag, only to stumble in the latter stages.

It was an emotional rollercoaster, one that had viewers climbing high up Mountain Straight and dipping lower than The Dipper for more than seven hours. 

To say that Bathurst is all about the crashes demeans the skill involved in driving a V8 Supercar at full tilt around a public road that usually carries a 60km/h speed limit.

Uninformed people think that motor sport is easy just because everyone from a certain age onwards can drive.

This couldn’t be further from the truth – especially at Mount Panorama.

It takes courage to keep the throttle wide open when the road dips away steeply over Skyline, and only a few could even contemplate taking the right hander entering the chase at 300km/h, let alone do it.

Hitting corner apexes, staying off the walls that seem all too close and dealing with the elements aren’t feats that should be glossed over – it’s like suggesting rugby league is all about the biff and not the ball skills.

Saying that the race is all about crashes takes away from the years of heartache, dedication and exemplary skill of the 52 drivers competing in this year’s race.

The annual event around the mountain is full of drama, theatre, passion and sound, something that is enjoyed wholeheartedly by fans on that certain Sunday in October.

Everyone else is just jealous their moment doesn’t last as long.

The real truth is that only those with closed minds believe motor sport is solely a “niche sport with limited appeal”.

The lack of traction in the media is endlessly frustrating and usually down to ignorant newsrooms that think anything without a ball isn’t sport – that only horsepower comes from an animal.

The record TV audience of 3.75 million recorded by OzTam (combined peak viewership for metropolitan and regional areas) for the 2014 race is proof that Bathurst is no small fry in terms of the idiot box.

It’s proof that the viewers are switching on and engaging with motor sport 

despite what some naysayers would have you believe – it does have its place, and that is in primetime along with other major sports.

On top of that, 195,261 trekked to the country town of Bathurst for the four-day feast –the second-highest attendance in the history of the event.

This is a significant feat given that the Bathurst track can’t be moved to any of our big cities, meaning the 1000 is already at a disadvantage to sporting codes hosting finals in Melbourne and Sydney.

The Bathurst 1000 has, and will always be, a feature of the bristling Australian sporting calendar.

Unlike what the murmurs from a melancholy minority would have you believe, this year’s 161-lap epic of The Great Race deserves all the limelight.