Toyota Motor Corporation recently announced that it will enter NASCAR and debut the Camry in the 2007 Nextel Cup Series.
I do not watch NASCAR. There's something about 500 circular laps that loses my interest.
So when Toyota announced its bid into NASCAR, I fumbled for the remote to find something more entertaining.
But when Jack Roush, CEO of Roush Racing, came onto the tube, I gave the news a second chance.
Apparently, several professionals within the NASCAR organization feel threatened by Toyota's appearance in the Nextel Cup Series.
Roush is catching the majority of media attention for his outgoing distaste toward the foreign car manufacturer. He said that Toyota will cause chaos within the organization because of its large budget and desire to outbid the competition.
"We're going to go to war with them," Roush said in an open press conference.
Dan Davis, Ford's director of racing, said Toyota is a predator to NASCAR and could jeopardize the success of Ford's racing establishment.
Like I said, I don't really comprehend the ins and outs of NASCAR, nor do I have a burning desire to, but something about this doesn't add up. Why is Toyota so different from Ford, Dodge or General Motors?
Oh, that's right. Toyota is a Japanese car company. Despite employing nearly 150,000 Americans within the United States, Toyota is still catching criticism. I do admit that Japanese car manufacturers generally threaten America's automobile economy, but I'm speaking completely outside of NASCAR.
So I continued pondering. Is Toyota so much better than Ford that Jack Roush and Dan Davis have to panic to the media?
And this isn't even limited to the pros. A plethora of fans, still mourning The Intimidator, aren't too fond of Toyota, either. I don't get it. What the hell is so bad about a foreign car company?
It was at that moment a specific person came to mind. A man who impacted the world of sports and faced prejudiced and ridicule, just as Toyota is receiving from NASCAR. His name is Jackie Robinson.
I'm not crying racism here, but let's look at the similarities. I'm sure baseball players of the era claimed the Negro League players were at an unfair advantage because of their speed or performance. I'm sure they compared history and tradition. I'm sure they made every complaint except for the one they really wanted to say: "We don't want him in this league because he's black."
Toyota is facing a similar situation. The one advantage it does have is that it is an established organization and probably doesn't really care what NASCAR says about it. But the actions of the outside world are still all too familiar. Toyota's been criticized for throwing its oversized budget into the faces of the American car companies.
But the critics just need to say what they really want to say: "We don't want Toyota in NASCAR because it's Japanese." I wonder if the Toyota Camry will actually be booed at its debut at the Daytona 500.
I can picture it now. A 40-year-old male with a brown mullet, handlebar mustache and cutoff Budweiser T-shirt screaming toward the roasting asphalt: "Go home, ya foreigners. U-S-A! U-S-A!"
An unofficial organization has formed against Toyota, naming itself Fans Against Racing Toyota. Yup, FART. Trust me, they did this on purpose.
The front-page article of the Web site explained the importance to protect American car companies and the threat foreign car companies have on our economy. They forget to ask themselves one question: "What does this have to do with NASCAR?"
Even if Japanese car companies were an enormous threat to American economy, so much that it could cause the next depression, what does it have to do with a sport?
Toyota's debut in the Nextel Cup Series has nothing to do with the suspected diminishment of the American cars. This may all improve Toyota's image but it certainly won't hurt the image of American cars. So, to the NASCAR fans of America: learn something from Major League Baseball. Just let Toyota play.
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