Mr. Excitement Strikes Again

Over the weekend the typically idiotic (and sponsorless) NASCAR driver Jimmy Spencer let forth another good salvo. His target this time was Toyota, which enters the NASCAR world in the Crafstman Truck Series with the new Tundra this season. Jimmy opined that "they bombed Pearl Harbor, don't forget," and wished openly that Toyota is "humiliated" by Ford, Chevy, and Dodge. It was a Dodge that Jimmy drove last year. You know, Jimmy, the Dodge that is now a German company? We fought them in the 1940s, too.

The popular anger at Toyota coming into NASCAR is sad. The idea that NASCAR should be limited to 'Murican companies is quaint in the modern economy. Where are most Fords made, anyway? Not in the US. Meanwhile, "foreign" companies from Toyota to Honda to BWM are building plants here and employing Americans. Toyota makes engines not too far away from my humble abode. I'm sure the West Virginian's employed there don't have a problem with Toyota running in the truck series.

For the record, I can't see why Toyota wants to race in NASCAR. To do so it has to step backwards several decades, technologically speaking, to get in step with the NASCAR formula. Who needs an 18,000 rpm V-10 that screams out 800 horsepower when you can build a good ole' pushrod V-8 that was state of the art in 1960?