Published October 5, 2007
Earlier this year, Toyota entered three racing teams in the NASCAR circuit and was caught off guard when their entry created a backlash by other sponsored teams and by fans. They mistakenly thought they would be welcomed on the famed racing circuit, especially with one of their teams owned by NASCAR icon Michael Waltrip.
The negative reaction by other teams was based on the unfounded assumption that Toyota would invest undue amounts in the development of their cars' racing engines to give them an edge, despite NASCAR's strict uniformity rules. But it was the fan reaction that Toyota completely misjudged, even as they undoubtedly were being advised by a large mainstream PR firm.
Back in the late 1970s, when Toyota agreed to invest over $1 billion to create over 3,500 jobs by putting a plant in Kentucky, they were baffled by the reaction of Kentucky residents and the outcry of the UAW in the area. After all, they were bringing money and jobs to the area and couldn't understand why there was so much negative reaction at their announcement.
The South, with all its southern hospitality and southern gentility, was still the South. And Toyota thought all they had to do was announce their arrival and they would be greeted with open arms. Wrong. So wrong.
The result was predictable in the 1970s when there was so much Japan-bashing focused on the auto industry. And once again, Toyota has been caught off guard with the hostile and volatile reaction to their announcement that they were entering the NASCAR circuit.
What Toyota doesn't seem to realize about NASCAR is that it's a southern sport, something that belongs to the good old boys. It's as exclusively southern as anything is in that region. Just listen to the drivers. They almost all speak with heavy southern accents.
Stock car racing on dirt tracks began back in the days of prohibition, when moonshiners in the South used to drive at break-neck speeds over backcountry dirt roads to avoid law enforcement. Some of them were amazing drivers who used to get together to race each other when they weren't busy delivering their moonshine. Over the years, stock car racing remained a southern sport run on oval dirt tracks until television saw entertainment value in it and made it a multi-billion dollar industry.
At the time NASCAR hit television, many of the cars still ran with confederate flags painted on their roofs and hoods. For the American viewing public who wanted speed but didn't understand Grand Prix racing, NASCAR was a perfect entertainment item. One sports writer who loved Grand Prix racing for its demands of finely tuned machines, intricate skills and high risks wrote back in the early days of NASCAR on television, it's the dumbing-down of high speed auto racing, perfect for American white audiences, not just from the south, but all over the country.
Unlike the Indy, Cart, or Champ racing circuits, which attracts international drivers from Formula One racing, NASCAR has almost always been exclusively American. It's always been and still is a good old boys sport, and with the occasional exception of someone like Jeff Gordon (from Vallejo, Calif.).
So when Toyota announced it was entering cars in the NASCAR circuit, it was little wonder that the reaction would be so immediate and negative. This wasn't like when Honda entered the Grand Prix circuit, or when both Toyota and Mazda entered cars in European Rally series, both truly international sports.
And this wasn't a foreign car manufacturer breaking new ground so much as stepping on sacred ground. If they had thought about it, they would have seen that the reaction could only be negative. Again, it was so predictable.
There's something much more troubling about NASCAR fan reaction to Toyota's announcement. It's not just the good old boys in the South who reacted but was all over the country, and it's not just guys who follow NASCAR: women are also a huge part of the fan base.
What's happened is a barometer of attitudes in this country, and the barometer seems to be turning anti-Asian, reminiscent of the anti-Japan sentiments of the 1980s. In my seven years as the JACL's national director, I saw evidence of a growing anti-Asian sentiment across the country, and this is only symptomatic.
It's difficult to know what's caused it: the explosive increase of the Asian population in the U.S in the past 30 years, APAs gaining in the job market (up to a point), a growing xenophobia against immigrants of color, or any number of factors. Whatever they are, they've raised the ante on us once again, and this is something we're just going to have to deal with. Once again.
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