Michael Crichton Meets Nascar as Toyota Rises: William Pesek

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&refer=columnist_pesek&sid=aEj7lNN0XXyo


Feb. 26 (Bloomberg) -- ``We're Creating a Stink.'' That's the slogan sitting atop www.fansagainstracingtoyotas.com (http://www.fansagainstracingtoyotas.com), and the sentiments expressed below it aren't subtle.
The stink in question is Toyota Motor Corp.'s debut at the Daytona 500 on Feb. 18. ``The hype is over, but our war is just beginning,'' wrote Bill Bagwell, a General Motors Corp. worker who's running the Fans Against Racing Toyotas Web site. It lists the ``sold out drivers'' daring to race Toyota cars, offers lots of hot air and seems to find no irony in using the acronym FART.
War? Strong words, indeed, yet ones Toyota seems to expect to hear more and more as it closes in on becoming the world's biggest automaker.
A Feb. 15 Detroit Free Press article detailed how Toyota is bracing for a possible consumer and political backlash amid rapid growth in the U.S. The report, based on an internal Toyota memo, carried a prescient quote attributed to Seiichi Sudo, president of Toyota's North American production group: ``Our competitors are jealous of our success.''
Angry, too, if a quick perusal of Nascar-related Internet chat rooms is any guide. Michael Yaki, a member of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, put it well in a Feb. 17 Op-Ed in the New York Times: ``The way some Nascar fans talked before the race, it was Dec. 7, 1941, all over again.'' The column was aptly headlined ``The Jingoism 500.''
One could be excused for wondering if it's the 1980s all over again, too. Fears that Japan Inc. is about to gobble up Detroit are causing some to scream conspiracy, serving up reminders of Michael Crichton's 1992 novel ``Rising Sun,'' which hyperventilated about Japanese economic imperialism.




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I guess the barbarians still live among us.



.................... as a result, the overpopulation of "GM/Ford fanboys" on this board is NOW justified.................... :thumbup:


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It lists the ``sold out drivers'' daring to race Toyota cars.

I wouldn't call them sellouts. I would call them "washed up" and "unproven". Dale Jarrett, IMHO, has never been that good, and is one of (if not the most) boring drivers to watch, ever. Michael Waltrip is a fair driver, but as weird as they come, and his brother is an IDIOT!!!! Jeremy Mayfield is fair, at best. AJ Allmendinger is new, so who knows. And the best driver they have, Brian Vickers, is great. He actually races (unlike Dale Jarrett), and is fun to watch.

As far as "Domestic fans" not wanting Toyota to race. . . . .I remember the same thing happening on the west coast when GM introduced the GTO in the D1 drifting competitions. Every time the GTO went out on the track, it got booed. . . . . I don't understand it, competition is a good thing. . . .

^For California Dale Jarrett had to take one of his 6 champions provisionals. Waltrip did not qualify for the race and sat it out. David Reutimann has crashed in the last two races and took one hell of a lick yesterday, it looked like he blacked out for a couple of seconds.

I agree 100%, Vickers is the best in their stable, finished 10th yesterday. I think he can get a win or two this year. I had him in my Nascar pool last year and he won me some money :) He has made some rookie mistakes and has a lot of fans upset at him, not for driving a 'yota, but for taking out jr and his teammate, Jimmy Johnson in the final turn of Talladega last year. Nascar fans have long memories :lol:

Edited :D

I didn't realize that was AJ who took the hard lick yesterday. . . . .Man, that was one hard hit. I agree, it did look like he blacked out. Funny how instincts take over because once he came to, it looked like he was trying to put the car in nutral, even befor he picked his head up off the steering wheel. . . . .

^My bad, I don't know what I was thinking, it was David Reutimann that took the hard lick yesterday and also crashed out of Daytona. I don't believe AJ has qualified for either race yet.

Between Toyota coming into the series, the high number of rookies, another high number of changes by NASCAR, drivers swapping teams and sponsors, and the car of tomorrow, there is A LOT to keep track of this year :(

no big deal. . .

and yes, there has been alot of changes in NASCAR this year. . . .and it is hard to keep track of who's driving what. . . .

Reading the article reminded me of how great it is to not care about racing. Just the thought of cars going round and round and round nearly puts me into a coma.

Didn't watch the Oscars last night, either. :rolleyes:

C

Reading the article reminded me of how great it is to not care about racing. Just the thought of cars going round and round and round nearly puts me into a coma.

C

^^^"Toyota's are the best, Toyota's are the best, Toyota are the best, Toyota's. . . . ."

http://www.wpclipart.com/animals/birds/O/ostrich_head_In_Sand.png

^^^"Toyota's are the best, Toyota's are the best, Toyota are the best, Toyota's. . . . ."

http://www.wpclipart.com/animals/birds/O/ostrich_head_In_Sand.png

Heh, heh! Race car engines have about as much in common with production cars as with a donkey cart. If racing actually produced better production technology, wouldn't Ford and GM be warping past Toyota?!

C

Still trying to find a reason at all as to why I should care about this article...

... and why such a big deal is being made about it