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Chevy, Ford, and Dodge: You are here.

2007 will mark the entry of the Toyota Motor Corp.’s Toyota Racing Division into the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series. Obviously, some of the less enlightened enthusiasts of NASCAR are taking offense to the introduction of a ‘Japanese’ or ‘foreign’ car company into an ‘All-American’ sport. Their reasoning is simple: Chevy, Ford, and Dodge are American companies, based in good ole’ Dee-troit, and provide jobs to good ole’ hard-working Americans (like the ones who watch NASCAR). Let in the foreigners, they say, and all of that apple-pie feeling will disappear, along with a bunch more jobs for hard-working Americans who will be laid off after the big three are forced to shut their doors for good. Now, it’s one thing to attack these folks for their inherently racist beliefs, or to call them ignorant and backwards because they’re unwilling to accept the ‘global marketplace’ for what it is, but that’s too vague, too open to debate. Here’s something that isn’t.

Of all the race cars on the track next year, only Toyota’s will be made in America.

What? Oh, yes. See, all of those good ole’ American manufacturers have taken to outsourcing jobs away from those well-deserving NASCAR fans in the Midwest, and sending them to Canada and Mexico, thanks to NAFTA. That leaves only Toyata, whose management, realizing that they must constantly fight ignorant, backward, and racist beliefs in order to build their brand name here in the U.S.A., has made sure throughout the company’s expansion into the U.S. to manufacture and assemble as much and as many of their cars here as possible. So, NASCAR fans, when the ‘foreigners’ come squealing onto the track in their shiny new Camrys, just remember that they’re driving the only cars that helped hard-working Americans put food on the table.

And one more thing. Mexico, I see…but why Canada?
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So this past week I had both of my cars in the shop for various necessary and unnecessary work, meaning I was left in the unenviable position of having to rent a car for a day. Since the place I work has a deal with Enterprise (and they have a branch across from the car repair place), I went there for my rental. For $26 a day, they put me in a 2005 Kia Rio sedan, the Korean manufacturer’s lowest-priced, smallest offering. Now, as if the $11,800 price tag combined with a 10 year warranty isn’t enough to make the car seem like an incredible deal, I was finally getting a chance to test drive one without being subject to the idiotic machinations of your typical moronic car salesman.