Today's Adventure

Today was supposed to be a kick-back, do-nothing day, but that didn't quite happen.

I did sleep in late, then noodled about on the blog until about two in the afternoon. Then Ken rang me up.

"Hey, dude," he said. "Why don't you join me and Beth at the Blackhawk Auto Museum? I'd like you to meet Eileen (Ed's widow) Roth and check out the exhibit."

"Sounds great," I said.

So I checked in with Anita, who was on her way back from Swazzle rehearsals in LA. "Go for it," she said. And off I went to Danville - about thirty-five minutes from the homestead.

Danville is an interesting place. Interesting in the way that it's probably the last place in the world that you would expect to have a car museum - especially one with a custom hot rod exhibit! The section of it that I saw was a huge, beige swath of planned communities. There was almost no one on the sidewalks, aside from the odd baby stroller or jogger. It made my college home of Valencia look like Mardi Gras!

The museum itself is very nice looking, but a big mall is sprouting up right in front of it - one of those malls with architecture that looks like a cross between Roman and American Southwest, and sprinkled with 'waterfalls' and 'streams' that make you feel like you're on Lastday in Logan's Run. It's so big that you can barely see the museum from the outside, and since the mall is still being built, the sign-age is not particularly good. I drove by the mall, and after looping through the plaza only to return to the street, I figured it had to be in there somehow!

Inside, I ran into a docent right away, and of course it was in full view right behind her as I asked. Sigh.

Eileen and Beth were busy selling Fink stuff under a tent in front of the museum. I got to meet her and give her a signed Happy Beaver toy. She seemed to enjoy it!:



I bought a membership to the museum, and went upstairs to find Ken. He was right at the start of the Roth section, painting away on a new piece for them. I got there at about three-thirty or so - it was quiet by that point, but apparently had been pretty busy all day. Baby Boomers + Father's Day + Rat Fink = Attendance!!

I wandered through the rest of the place while Ken kept working. Two floors of gorgeous classic cars, plus the Roth stuff! One floor of pre-1950 cars, another of post-1950 specimens. Just stunning!


My favorites were three Alfa-Romeo concept cars. Each of them was one-of-a-kind, and had all been sold and driven by various owners before their addition to the collection. Very bat-like - I hope someone makes die-casts of them at some point!

Ken wound up his museum day, and took the Fink painting home to finish up. Eileen couldn't stick around for dinner, and I hadn't eaten anything all day, so Ken, Beth and I met back in Martinez for Italian food...

...well, sort of. I didn't realize that the 680 freeway connected directly to highway 4, so I drove for fifty minutes to get to a place I could've reached in twenty-five! I guess that's why I have a hybrid - but I really need to get a GPS-thingy if I really want to save on gas. Once dinner was over, I popped back home to greet my baby after she'd been driving for six hours. I 'almost' matched her over the two days!

Anyhow, it was a great Sunday - so much for resting!

Parade Of The Three-Wheelers

LA TIMES: Three-wheelers have designs on sportiness, safety
Three-wheelers draw more and more interest. These new models demonstrate why.
By SUSAN CARPENTER, THROTTLE JOCKEY - January 2, 2008

Used to be that a three-wheeled motorcycle, or trike, meant one wheel in front, two in back. Then Can-Am sped onto the market with its snowmobile-esque Spyder, a three-wheeler that gave the segment a sporty makeover by putting the two wheels out front. In the year since the Spyder's unveiling, the three-wheeled segment is growing faster than a center fielder on steroids, with a number of new models coming to market throughout 2008. We take a sneak peek at the year's three-wheeled future.

Aptera Typ-1
Available: late 2008

The Aptera Typ-1 isn't easy to classify. It has three wheels, so it's registered as a motorcycle, but it has a steering wheel and seats two, so it feels more like a car. It's also electric. And did we mention it looks something like a dolphin?

The goal for this Carlsbad start-up was to make a passenger vehicle that has the same drivability, stability and safety characteristics as an automobile, only with higher energy efficiency, lower weight and fewer governmental hurdles than a company would encounter as a small-scale manufacturer of four-wheel vehicles.

The result is a future-is-now vehicle that's spacious, stylish, comfortable, eco-conscious, high-tech and so unusual looking that at one point during my time with the Typ-1, all the cars and pedestrians within a one-block radius were staring and/or snapping pictures.

Because the Typ-1 is a prototype, I wasn't able to drive it myself, but I did take a ride in the passenger seat. I just opened the DeLorean-type door, slid into the mod, green-and-white interior, closed the door behind me and strapped on my seat belt. Aptera Chief Executive and co-founder Steve Fambro turned the key to fire up the electric motor, pressed the pedal with the plus sign on the floor to accelerate, and we were off.

According to Fambro, the Typ-1 is capable of 80 mph and could travel up to 70 miles on a single charge while sustaining that speed, but he never took it up that fast and we didn't travel anywhere near that far as we cruised SoCal suburbia. The fastest we went was probably 45 mph, at which it felt stable. Taking corners, we went even slower, so I couldn't tell how it handled, but Fambro says the Typ-1 has been "designed for natural stability" and incorporates a traction control system that, in theory, can handle a 1G circle on par with a Honda Civic.

Riding in the Typ-1 is sort of like being in a high-tech fishbowl. There's incredible visibility from all sides except the back, which is equipped with a rear-view camera that displays whatever's happening behind the vehicle on a trio of computer screens.

The center of each of those three screens also displays the vehicle's speed, voltage and power, while a touch screen at the center of the dash controls the navigation system, stereo and other gauges, such as the odometer and temperature reading.

The Typ-1 is unusual for any number of reasons, the most notable being the body. Its water-worthy shape is formed from high-tech fiberglass that isn't just lighter than steel but 10 times stronger, according to Fambro. The Typ-1 has yet to be crash tested, but Fambro says the crumple zone on the Typ-1 is longer than that of a typical car, and the crush strength of the roof and side doors is stronger than what's been mandated for a regular passenger vehicle.

Can-Am Spyder
Available: July

If the manual-transmission Can-Am Spyder is a reentry bike for aging motorcyclists, the Canadian company's semiautomatic version may be more of a bridge vehicle for drivers of cars. The no-lean suspension on this groundbreaking three-wheeler already removed one barrier to entry for a vehicle you throw a leg over. Taking away the clutch and foot shifter removes another.

I was riding the first prototype of the Spyder with the SE5, or sequential electronic five-speed, transmission. With the exception of the thumb-operated shifter under the left grip, this version of the Spyder is otherwise exactly the same as the original SM5, or sequential manual five-speed, version that came out last year.

Considering the prototype was the first of three iterations before the SE5 Spyder goes into production, it was already highly evolved and well-functioning. In place of the foot shifter and clutch, there's a little black button that I pushed forward to upshift. I didn't need to roll off the throttle as I shifted. I just pushed the button and the transmission smoothly kicked it up a notch without bucking me like a bronco as it attempted to mesh gears; the sensation was similar to the seamless, continuously variable transmission of a car.

Downshifting, I had two options. I could push the button toward me, which required an act of finger contortion, or simply let the SE5 adjust to my slowing speed and downshift for me, which was my preference.

That made me wonder: Why didn't Can-Am just make the thing fully automatic on the upshift also? Mostly it was a matter of cost and efficiency. To make a fully automatic, CVT-type transmission would have required Can-Am to develop an entirely new transmission, instead of just modifying the one it was already using. That in turn would have upped the cost on the SE5 version, which already comes at a $1,500 premium.

Piaggio MP3 500
Available: February

Piaggio's groundbreaking MP3 250 hasn't even been on the market for a year, and already it's the bestselling scooter in the Piaggio brand lineup. So what's a manufacturer to do? Capitalize on that success with a one-two punch: a pair of 400-cc and 500-cc maxi-scooters that use the same twinned wheels and articulated front end to increase the bike's stability and riders' sense of calm.

While the profiles of the new maxis are bigger and more brutish, their dynamics are the same as the 250. The two front wheels, set 16.5 inches apart, lean in tandem, allowing riders to tilt the bike by as much as 40 degrees. Riders who are afraid to put a foot down can even lock the front suspension as they slow to 3 mph, allowing them to rest their feet on the textured metal floorboards instead of planet Earth. The bike also comes with a center stand, but it's redundant. The suspension lock and parking brake make the trike stable as a tripod when stopped.

The idea is that two wheels out front are better than just one because:

1) they provide a greater contact patch through turns and 2) they provide more stability on takeoffs, landings and at high speeds.

If the 12-inch front wheels hadn't been twinned, I wouldn't have been tempted to risk my life in pursuit of the bike's 89 mph max or to take it for 100-mile stints on the freeway, but I did. I even felt comfortable as I zipped along in the carpool lane, returning the many smiles and stares I was getting with a wave.

It's safe to say it was the three wheels that caused drivers to take their eyes off the road, but it could have been the style that prompted more than a few to accidentally veer into my lane. With its 500-cc version, Piaggio's showing its Italian heritage with a cutting-edge style designed to squelch any ideas that scooters can't be cool. Its matte black bodywork, tubular grill and fenced-in front lights are pure Mafia don. With its MP3 500, Piaggio is likely to have another hit on its hands.

TriRod F3 Adrenaline
Available: July

Unlike the rest of the three-wheeled field, which looks at the third wheel as a safety feature, TriRod Motorcycles sees it as a performance enhancement. The San Diego shop hasn't just added an extra wheel to the front of its F3 Adrenaline. It's upgraded the tires to automotive Pirellis and widened the spread of its twin wheels, so the F3 can carry more speed more aggressively through corners without running the risk of tipping over.

In the process, TriRod seems to have developed a new three-wheeling stunt: the side-sliding doughnut.

Like the Spyder, the F3 doesn't lean in turns. It's designed to ride like a three-wheeled Formula 1 race car with a sit-on versus sit-in design. The center of gravity is low for less body roll when cornering and the seat height is an exceptionally squat 17 inches. The front suspension is a pull-rod and crank-bell design that lessens unsprung weight for more responsive handling, while the double A-arms are unequal and not parallel for better grip on the ground.

Add a 120-cubic-inch, JIMS V-twin motor, and you've got yourself a three-wheeled missile.

I didn't get to ride the F3 Adrenaline because it's a prototype, but I did see it in action, so I will say this: TriRod isn't false billing.

It is, however, making itself into the Confederate Motor Co. of three-wheelers with a triumvirate of characteristics to match: high design, high performance and a high price: $55,000.

Vectrix V3
Available: late 2008

For its follow-up to the electric scooter it debuted last year, the Rhode Island manufacturer has gone the way of Piaggio. Literally. In order to make an electric version of a three-wheeled scooter, Vectrix had to license the right from the Italian manufacturer, which holds the patent.

While the V3 uses the same sort of independent, wheel-action suspension as the Piaggio MP3, allowing each front wheel to move independently but also lean in tandem and lock when stopped, Vectrix's front suspension is its own proprietary design.

I was able to ride a barely ridden prototype of the bike for the duration of a single charge, which, according to the digital dash, was about 45 miles. That is, if I'd ridden it the way I'd been asked -- on streets. But the Vectrix is capable of 62 mph and I wanted to see how it fared on the freeway, so that's where I took it.

Like all electrics, torque is constant on the V3, so it had amazing pickup as I got on the ramp and joined traffic. The production model should be even better because Vectrix will be upgrading its batteries. Instead of the Nickel Metal Hydride variety it used on its debut product, the Maxi, the V3's 125-volt battery pack will be lithium, which is quicker off the line. Vectrix anticipates the lithium-powered V3 will accelerate from 0 to 50 in a scant 5.2 seconds

On the freeway, the Vectrix did as well as I expected. It got up to its anticipated speed, but keeping it there reduced its range by about one-third. Anyone hoping to use the V3 as a freeway commuter would need to live fairly close to work or risk being stranded for a recharge.

Returning to city streets, I put the front end through its paces. At slow speeds and in turns, it didn't do as well as I'd wanted. It felt a little clunky and tin can-ish as I intentionally ran it over potholes and lumpy pavement. It's a good first effort for a fledgling manufacturer attempting a tricky front-end design, but it wasn't as fluid as its alpha-numerical competitor from across the pond.

susan.carpenter@latimes.com

Aptera Test Drive Clip

Check out this test drive video of the Type 1 Aptera, available on popularmechanics.com. It'll be available as a full-electric vehicle, as well as a hybrid model capable of three hundred miles per gallon!

Separated At Birth?

On the left, The 2006 Mercedes-Benz SCL-600 (or the 1996 F-200 Imagination) concept car, complete with joystick steering column. On the right, Ed Roth's Beatnik Bandit, with joystick steering - forty years earlier.

For more info on the SCL-600/F-200, click here.

Thanks to Ken Mitchroney for all the info!

Toy OTD: Tyco RC Cars Toy: Sally

Here's another great line of Cars toys - Tyco's 1:32 scale, radio-controlled (27 MHZ) vehicles! On the plus side, you can zip one around with the controller (it's simple enough for little kids to use), and the characters are nicely on model - they don't have the clear plastic "eye stalks" like the Disney Store toys. The minuses are that they're made entirely of plastic, Tyco hasn't made as many of the characters, they cost more, and they'll take up a lot more shelf space. Still, they're very well done!

You can get Sally for $19.99 + shipping at idcow.com.

Cars Toy Info

If you're interested in keeping up with what new Cars diecasts are being released, look here and here on exboard.com! I never know when anything's coming out, so hopefully this'll help!

Thanks to Roger Colton for the tip.

The Cars Toy Parade Continues

Here's another great larger-scale Cars toy - a 14" Red the fire engine! It's loaded up with lights and sounds - so cute!

Like the Dinoco helicopter, you'll have to camp outside a Toys 'R' Us if you want to buy it for retail ($20.00) - Red's all over eBay like a rash, so that means the e-scalpers are out in force, bumping the price up by at least ten dollars (not to mention shipping, which is usually too high as well). Sigh. Snag one for me if you see an extra!

UPDATE: Stand down on the extra fire truck - I discovered that you can get Red at Amazon.com (that's Amazon proper, not an eBay store or toy scalper website) for $24.99 + shipping, so I did just that. It's a little more than it would be at TRU, but I'll save that much in gas not driving around searching for it!

Another Neat Cars Toy!

A super-cute Dinoco helicopter that you can use as a carrying case for some of your diecasts - wow! Apparently, they're pretty much impossible to find in stores right now, but you can buy it online starting at $26.95 + shipping!

New Cars Toys Out Now!

Good luck finding them, though - most of the Disneyland stores were stripped clean by the time I found out about the new releases:

* Tex Dinoco
* Michael Schumacher Ferrari F430
* Red (Hydraulic) Ramone
* The Abominable Snowplow
* RPM #64 (Piston Cup entry)
* Bling Bling McQueen (from his fantasy sequence)

You can get most of these through stores connected with Amazon. A few of them are roughly retail, while others are pretty pricey. Tex is over $10, so I'm assuming he's being shortpacked (i.e, one per case). Since most of the rarer models are easy to get now, it looks like patience will reward the stingy!

Like Many Industry Jobs, Credit Is Slippery In Car Design

LA TIMES: Star cars set off alarms
Universal's cease and desist order against George Barris highlights the problem of accurate credit for famous movie vehicles.
By Bob Pool, Times Staff Writer
May 4, 2007

If he could go back to the future, maybe famed movie car icon George Barris wouldn't have had that gadget-filled DeLorean parked in front of his North Hollywood customizing shop during his big ceremony.

The "Back to the Future" DeLorean sat near the Batmobile, the Monkeemobile, the General Lee from the "Dukes of Hazzard" TV show, K.I.T.T. from the "Knight Rider" series and other automobiles symbolizing Barris' car-customizing skills on March 23 as city officials commemorated his six-decade Hollywood career.

Barris and City Councilman Tom LaBonge unveiled a street sign designating Riverside Drive and Riverton Avenue as "George Barris Place" while hundreds of fans clustered around the glitzy cars applauded and cheered.

There was no cheering from nearby Universal Studios, however. Or from some of Hollywood's other movie car customizers.

Studio officials responded with a cease and desist order demanding that Barris never again make "misrepresentations regarding any involvement with the 'Back to the Future' films." They called upon Barris to remove images of the flying DeLorean from his company's website and restrict his display of replicas of the gull-winged car used by Michael J. Fox to time travel in the popular 1985 movie and its sequels.

Others, meanwhile, complained that film cars such as the K.I.T.T., the General Lee and the Monkeemobile were not originally designed and built by Barris, either.

The dust-up illustrates the confusion that often exists among car buffs over "picture cars," which can come in different versions. "Hero cars" are the nicest and actors are photographed in those; "stunt cars" are less perfect and are used for chases and crashes; "promotional cars" are displayed for publicity and do not actually appear on film; and "replica cars" are privately built copies of the real thing.

That explains why there are multiple Batmobiles — countless fiberglass knockoffs owned by "Batman" movie fans as well as the original Barris-built version. And why more than 300 General Lees were said to have been jumped, crunched and crashed in the filming of the "Dukes" series — while hundreds of more orange-painted 1969 Dodge Chargers were customized by fans.

A replica of the "Back to the Future" DeLorean is what attracted the attention of Universal Studios during Barris' street-naming ceremony.

"George Barris had absolutely nothing to do with the design or construction of the DeLorean time travel vehicle," said Bob Gale, who was a writer and producer on the film. "The DeLorean was designed on paper by Ron Cobb and Andrew Probert, and it was built under the supervision of special effects supervisor Kevin Pike and construction coordinator Michael Scheffe."

Barris acknowledged that the DeLorean displayed at the ceremony was never used in any of the "Back to the Future" films. It is a replica car that was brought to the event by its owner.

According to Barris, an animated gallery of movie cars displayed on his website included the DeLorean because he once customized one for a Universal-licensed collector who wanted to display it. He said Universal also asked him to "clean up" a DeLorean stunt car that had been built on a Volkswagen chassis so it could be used for promotional work.

"I didn't work on the show and I've never said I did," said Barris, who is in his mid-80s.

Barris was responsible for creating the 1966 Batmobile, which he famously constructed from a 1955 Lincoln Futura concept car. But he played only a supporting role on the General Lee, the Ecto-1 and other movie cars, according to entertainment industry experts.

Credits for "Dukes of Hazzard" list Ken Fritz, Tom Sarmento, Rich Sephton, A.J. Thrasher, Andre Veluzat and Renaud Veluzat as car builders. Barris is credited for "car modifications."

For the 1982 "Knight Rider" movie and its 84-episode TV series, Scheffe designed and built the computer-crammed K.I.T.T. car used by David Hasselhoff. Barris was hired to build an upgraded version of the car for the show's third season with concept sketches from Scheffe.

But Barris "kind of makes it sound like he came up with the original concept," said movie car fan Nate Truman, a TV graphics operator who lives in Gardena and owns a replica Batmobile.

"Ghostbusters" credits do not list a designer for Ecto-1, the 1959 Cadillac ambulance that carried the ghost-busting team and its gear. But actor-writer Dan Aykroyd is usually given the nod for suggesting an Ectomobile in early versions of the script.

Barris, however, converted another Cadillac vehicle into a replica Ecto-1 that was displayed in an Illinois car museum. He shows the Ecto-1 on his website. "All we did was the promotional car, for publicity for the film," he said.

Cahuenga Boulevard cinema car customizer Dean Jeffries is credited with building the Monkeemobile for the 1960s sitcom "The Monkees." He built two of them — one for use in the show and one for display at car shows and other promotions — from a pair of 1966 Pontiac GTO convertibles.

Barris said he now owns the Monkeemobile show car. He displays it at his Riverside Drive shop.

"Dean Jeffries designed it and Dick Dean built it. We finished it and we bought it" and now includes it in his own collection of star cars, Barris said. "I always credit Dean Jeffries for doing it."

Jeffries said he has grown weary of Barris taking improper credit for work — including the painting of the words "Little Bastard" on the Porsche that actor James Dean was driving when he was fatally injured in a 1955 crash.

But the credit line is sometimes confusing.

Barris often autographs movie cars in his own collection that were actually designed and customized by others. That's how car collector Christopher Ingrassia of East Dundee, Ill., came to own a car from the film "Taxi" that bears Barris' signature on its hood when, in fact, it was built by film-car customizer Eddie Paul.

"It leads somebody to believe that he did the original car, and he didn't do it," said Ingrassia, who plans to buff off Barris' name. "I don't want to diminish George. I just want the record straight."

Paul, an El Segundo customizer who created cars for "Grease," said he now photographically documents all of the vehicles he makes for movies.

"The car guys want to get the story out while George Barris is still alive and can be confronted," Paul said. "I don't personally dislike him. But he's messing up the industry by misrepresenting history."

K.I.T.T. creator Scheffe, a Mar Vista resident who now is an art director for Sony Pictures Imageworks, agreed.

"George is an institution. He's done amazing things. I don't want to step on anyone's toes. But it's good for the people who did the work to get credit for it."

For his part, Barris said his references in interviews to "our cars" and "my stunt crew" reflect his allegiance to the Hollywood car community as a whole. Over the course of a lengthy TV series' production, picture car construction can be "a group effort," he said.

He signs other craftsmen's cars "if they're in my Barris Star Cars Collection. It doesn't mean I built it," he said.

"I promote and encourage the car industry. That's what I've always done."

bob.pool@latimes.com

Real-Life Wacky Races Cars

Apparently, there's a racing event in Britain called the Goodwood Festival of Speed. There's a show within the event called the Junior Festival Of Speed where working mock-ups of the Wacky Racers amuse the crowd! Eight out of the eleven cars on the show are now represented in the flesh. Cool!

Toyota Enters NASCAR

NY TIMES: The Jingoism 500
By MICHAEL YAKI
Published: February 17, 2007

TOMORROW, ordinary citizens will be bracing themselves against the howling sound of Japanese engines throttling up and bearing down on their beloved American heroes. No, it’s not a squadron of dive-bombing Zeroes re-enacting Pearl Harbor. It’s the Daytona 500, the kickoff to the Nascar season, and for the first time in Nascar’s history Dodge, Chevy and Ford will be joined by ... Toyota.

Japan’s biggest car company, which is poised to overtake General Motors as the largest car manufacturer in the world, has entered the hallowed tracks and pit rows of that most American of race circuits, the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing. But to hear some Nascar fans talk, when those engines fire up it will be Dec. 7, 1941, all over again.

The war metaphors have been brought to the fore by Jack Roush, a prominent racing team owner. Mr. Roush has said that “we’re going to war” and that he’s preparing himself “for siege.” He has accused Toyota of having bought its way in, of raising the costs of owning a team and generally spoiling the pot. Other Nascar columnists, pundits and fans, even a Web site dedicated to being “against racing Toyotas,” have chimed in against the auto maker’s entry into Nascar.

Nationalism and pride in one’s country can be admirable traits. Nationalism, however, is the razor’s edge in the American psyche, where just a push turns it into xenophobia. Nascar, like so many professional sports before it, may soon be faced with a situation where deliberate ignorance of simmering prejudice is not an option.

I am an American of blended Asian ancestry, including Japanese, and a certain insult — a word as odious as its counterpart for African-Americans — sets me off. That word has been flying fast and furious in many Nascar-related forums and chat rooms. It offends me so much I cannot even abbreviate it here. One person wrote that “we don’t need any foreign nameplate in Nascar.” Others have taken up the “if you love them so much go live in Japan” theme and, curiously, wondered that if the Iraqis built a car would drivers of Japanese cars “become fans of the terrorists?”

The drivers hired by Toyota have been subject to the same opprobrium. Dale Jarrett, whom Nascar has named one of the 50 greatest drivers in its history, has been called a sell-out. Michael Waltrip, a Daytona winner, has been invited to “leave America” with his Japanese truck. (His recent woes at Daytona, including accusations that his team was cheating during qualifying, have only increased the vitriol.) Nor have the up-and-comers Brian Vickers and Jeremy Mayfield been spared. In blogs and on fan sites all have been characterized as traitors for driving “rice burners.”

Although team owners like Joe Gibbs and Rick Hendrick have welcomed the competition from Toyota, Nascar itself has said little during the rants and grumblings, apparently hoping it will all die down. That is unacceptable. There are, of course, Asian-American Nascar fans, and several of Nascar’s races are held in California, the state with the highest population of Asian-Americans.

Nascar’s goal has always been to ensure competition from inside the cockpit, not on the outside. It is all about devising a race where one variable — human skill at 200 miles an hour — is prized above all. When I watch the races (I am a fan; my mother-in-law is an uber-fan), I am fascinated by the men and the occasional woman maneuvering around banked tracks at speeds I cannot fathom with the touch of scrimshaw masters. I am not thinking of a Chevy Monte Carlo or a Dodge Charger or a Ford Fusion — or a Toyota Camry. I am watching Jeff, Junior, Tony, Mark and all those others with the courage, talent and sheer guts it takes to withstand, much less win, a 500-mile race when my legs cramp up after a leisurely two-hour drive.

Nascar’s roots in the South’s “good ol’ boy” mentality are a part of its lore and charm that cannot be denied. Movies like “The Dukes of Hazzard” and “Talladega Nights” both spoof and glorify its origins. Its partnership with the American auto industry is also a part of this history, born in the myth that you can drive the same “stock” car that Richard Petty drove to victory. But Nascar has become a global superbrand, still undeniably American yet ubiquitous enough for the world’s best — not just auto manufacturers, but racers like Juan Montoya, the Colombian who has dominated Formula 1 — to want to test its drivers and its superspeedways.

More than 20 years ago, this country feared that Japan would take over American industry. It didn’t happen. But today the Big Three are still on the ropes and, combined with Chrysler’s recent layoffs, a Toyota victory in one of Nascar’s events could reawaken latent fears of Japanese domination. We cannot forget that in 1982 a young Chinese-American, Vincent Chin, was killed in Detroit because two autoworkers assumed he was Japanese. Apparently there remain embers just hot enough to re-ignite the flame of racism.

You can be pro-American, and you can declare that Americans should buy American cars. But doing so involves a degree of hypocrisy. Today an “American” car could have been assembled in Mexico, or had most of its parts manufactured offshore. And Dodge, part of the Chrysler brand, is owned by Daimler of Germany. Yet I don’t hear anyone disparaging the patriotism of the racers driving Dodges. It’s another indication that the opposition to Toyota is rooted not in patriotic pride, but racism.

Along with millions of others, I will watch the Daytona 500 tomorrow. There would be nice symmetry if the Great American Race also meant that in the arena of race relations, Nascar, like all major professional sports, were to take measures to reject the appearance and insinuation of intolerance and prejudice in its ranks.

Michael Yaki is a member of the United States Commission on Civil Rights.

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You can be pro-American, and you can declare that Americans should buy American cars. But doing so involves a degree of hypocrisy. Today an “American” car could have been assembled in Mexico, or had most of its parts manufactured offshore. And Dodge, part of the Chrysler brand, is owned by Daimler of Germany. Yet I don’t hear anyone disparaging the patriotism of the racers driving Dodges.

Exactly.

New Cars Toys Are Out!

I had such trouble getting these toys before, that I'm just going to order the new ones that I want from eBay. All of the perviously released models are available again with new "Turbocharged" backcards. New cars include the Woody, Buzz and Hamm cars from the epilogue, a decorated Doc Hudson, the "Radiator Springs makeover" version of Lightning McQueen, and a gold Ramone. I'm not sure if the flamed Ramone was available before or not.