The Need for Speed: Asian Car Crews: Past, Present, and Future

By Ryan Masaaki Yokota
posted 9/10/02

(See letters in response at the end of the article)

Preface
From the back-roads to the racetracks, Asian Car Crews are ubiquitous nowadays. Even still, however, Asian activists have failed to integrate themselves into this scene to organize the youth towards higher political issues, despite the scene's importance in providing youth with an alternative to gangs and despite the issues of police repression that these youth face on a daily basis. Activists should look into this scene to realize that the history of this counter-culture is a history where poor, urban, Asian youth, both male and female, successfully developed a distinctly Asian American popular culture. By recognizing this, activists can hopefully tap into this scene to truly develop a mass base and raise consciousness before consumerism and crass capitalism completely change the nature of this scene for the worse. 

"The Old, Old Days"
Asian Car Crews are as old as cars themselves. Even in the old days, Asians used to roll deep in their Model T's, kick it and go to picnics in packs. Partly out of protection and partly out of pride and a need to floss, these Asian hipsters used to cruise the boulevards decked out in their Sunday's finest, picking up ladies and waiting for drive-ins to be invented. But this isn't about those old, old days, but is particularly about the Asian Car Crew racing scene, which as a phenomenon started in the eighties and evolved into its current state today.

"The Old Days"
Back in the seventies and eighties, only white people raced. These were the days of huge spoilers that ran out from the sides of cars, or big burners popping out of the hood with flames painted on the car doors. People only raced domestic cars from Detroit and wouldn't be caught dead in an Import. You remember those cars don't you? You know the Hot Wheels street rods that you used to play with as a kid. Back in those days, while Asians loved cars, not a lot of them raced. Except for Speed Racer of course, who was deep into it from way back.
All that changed when the oil crunch of the eighties brought on the growth of the Imports market. After the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations got sick of being bossed around by the U.S., they set up an oligopoly and decided to up the price of oil. This became important because no longer could Americans drive around in the big boats that they were used to driving, but now had to, dare I say it, conserve gasoline. Horror of horrors!
This led to the first spurt of growth in the Japanese Import market, and the first Datsuns rolling across the Pacific. At first these cars were boxy and ugly, and were associated with being cheap, but hey, they conserved gas, right? And price-conscious Americans were hungry for a cheaper ride than the typical Detroit gas-guzzler. In a couple of years the Japanese started to upgrade their cars' looks and since Asian Americans were pretty down for buying these rides, Asian kids started driving their parents' cars, and thus, the Asian Car Crew scene was born.

Need for Speed 2- Go, No Show