Keep On Truckin'

Nobody asked me but . . .

In just its third season of NASCAR racing in the Craftsman Truck Racing Series, with 14 of the 25 races having been run in the 2006 season, Toyota sits atop the manufacturer standings with seven wins to next-best Ford with four. And Toyota drivers Todd Bodine, David Reutimann and Johnny Benson are one, two, three in the driver points standings.

So, whatcha thunk?

Is it fair to have a “for-in” auto manufacturer, with headquarters in Japan, no less, racin’ for greenbacks and glory against our good ol’ boy dough-mess-tic auto companies outta Deetroit?

Next year Tie-oda is movin’ up the ladda to the Nextel Cup with a racin’ version of the Camry. This ain’t hearsay. But is it heresy? Is Bill France, Jr. and Company buckin’ tradition and sellin’ out to Japanese yen? Should the Nextel Cup exclude forriners. Or do most consider Tie-oda a dough-mess-tic company these days?

Heck, they got plenty of manufacturing plants in the U.S. of A., including an all-new truck plant in Texas. Does that count for anything? Or nuthin?

Are them racers from North Carolina, Alabama and other far flung places in the Southeast—and the rest of the country these days—sellin’ their souls to the Tie-oda devil? Or are they simply recognizin’ the times they be a changing?

I’d shore like to know whatcha thunkin.

Sin-seer-lee, Billy Bob Mudgeon