Notorious Beam Team

"A bad case of Southern discomfort"

Nascar used to be uniquely American, but now the Japanese are coming and they are causing trouble...

The countdown to today's 'Great American Race', the Daytona 500, which kicks off the 36-event Nascar season, has been dominated by talk of what the Japanese invasion means for the future of the US's most popular form of motorsport. Here are some (verbatim) views from Nascar messageboards:

'Toyota in Nascar... its just aint right! It's like putting a turd in a bowl of M&M's, it just dont fit and stinks the whole thing up.'

'I just read Toyotas are the No1 choice among gays and lesbians. And im not gay bashing either, my cousin is a lesbo. but i am saying anyone who favors Toyotas over the big three is gay.'

'I wish I had a billion dollars to give Nascar to keep all the race cars American, screw any and all Japcrap cars, drivers and fans. I'm done after this year, no more races on tv or at the track.'

The reply to that view, posted by Joey, was, 'Japcrap cars? You have a lot to learn, Joey! Toyota employs over 386,000 Americans. Bingo!'"

Seems Nascar is so all American that it might be detrimental to US brands' image abroad.