lig

You're going to have to show up at Tacos.

We can do 4 shots each and then have a spelling bee.

That would kick ass.

You honestly can't believe that NASCAR is a paragon of diversity.

One more thing - re: Asian folks in attendance in Vegas - that my friend is completely different than pretty much any other NASCAR venue. Vegas is one of the number one destination cities for Asians (because my people love to gamble )

You won't find anything even remotely like that happening at other NASCAR venues.

You saw tourists from other countries dude - not Asian Americans. We're too cool for NASCAR, remember?

oh yes... corner!

MikeinSeattle

Well hells bells! If my company could get me back to working days again (promised two months ago, may happen next month... yeah right.. At least I feel important for being #1 network maintenance accross the country nerd by success) Amanda and I would be at Tacos like we used to!! Trust me, that is not by choice. My social circle is as small as ever and I always had a blast with you clowns.

Regarding the Asians at NASCAR, you are on crack bro! All they need is a betting booth! There is a lot of Asians in the NW (like you did not know heh!) and I am betting if a track was built, they would come regardless of the betting. I am "betting" there is a ton of Asian folks **here** who would love to hear the roar of 43 V8 vehicles at 9500 RPM (which almost requires ear plugs) running 112 octane race fuel that gives a buzz that you have to experience to believe. Anybody who has gone once, says "I have to do that again". The smell of the fuel and exhaust almost makes the whole trip worth while and borderline orgasmic for gearheads like myself.

I am not gonna reply to anything else on this thread unless Jerry would like to grant me my white trash born wish, and change my screen name to MikeinKent. That would be cool (no joke Jerry)

mikegarrison

Mike, once you work around REAL high performance machines, mere cars tend to be less impressive. Those Air Force commercials don't lie. (Well, except maybe when they imply that if you join up you'll be a fighter jock, instead of being the private who is assigned to clean the bathrooms....)

I gotta admit, though, there is something about the sound of a Mustang V8. It just sounds good when it is at full throttle driving down the track. I'd rather have an S2000, of course, but the sound of those Mustangs is hard to beat.

lig

I love the sound of a small block V-8.

Jeff Winchell's Cobra sounds great.

There is a guy autocrossing a V-8 Camaro that sounds really good as well.

And MikeinKent -

$100 says that on average - the attendance @ any future PacNW NASCAR event is less than 15% Asian.

mikegarrison

I walk through Chinatown at night. (Only I call it The ID, most of the time....) I'm more comfortable there at night than Pioneer Square, for instance. And AFAIK the Asian guys didn't start the fight or "have a loud mouth", but I wasn't there so I don't know for sure.

Baseball was institutionally racist for a long time. Not only the way they treated black players, but much more recently as well. You remember how the Lords Of Baseball almost tried to stop the sale of the Mariners because the new owner would be Japanese? Bunch of rich, white, Easterners who didn't care that people in Seattle, of all races, considered him to be a hero for saving their team, not a foreigner who was stealing it away.

And Baseball is still incredibly homophobic. People get away with saying almost anything about gays -- stuff that would get them run out on a rail if they said it about blacks or asians or hispanics.

But Baseball has come a long way since the 40s. NASCAR and most other pro auto racing series still lag behind.

MSRS2K

I was leaving a bar in Downtown Raleigh in the college part of town (NCState) with a group of 3 or 4 friends (white, male and female). We were all various levels of drunk. A group of 6 black guys were walking toward us. As the two groups passed I was shoved several times. I looked back, angered, but not pissed, to see them grab one of my friends and throw him against the base of a tree. Now I'm pissed. In my drunken state I start after one of the black guys. A less drunk friend grabbed me around the chest, picked me up, spun me around and marched me away from the situation. That was very nearly a bad trip to the hospital, or much worse.

I went to a middle to lower class high school in Charleston SC my seinor year. It was about 50% black. Coming from rural Illinois, I was extreamly naive about race. I could relate several stories similar to the one above.

I've traveled to a few third-world/poor countries. I was never harassed, but was often in situations I felt threatened.

Racism (classism, whatever) is nearly universal. It's more prevalent in some societies than others, but no group is immune. Japan is very homogenious and has a very racist past. I don't know much about racism in present Japan, but I doubt I'd be free of harassement if I lived there.

"Societies differ, but people are people."

- Michael

lig

Michael - that's not a fun story. How about in Washington state? I just don't seem to recally any of my white friends (and I do have a lot of them ) really having many problems - particularly from Asians.

I can't really comment on the black/white thing other than to say that my high school was roughly 70% black. No real problems between blacks/whites or the 17 "others" like me.

In Japan - you would have no problems whatsoever.

Much better to be white in Japan than Korean or Chinese or Filipino.

I've had my share of problems with some Japanese nationals. Got into a row at a Giorgio Armani sale of all places with one and had shoved one guy @ the Tokyo Auto show who pretty much stiffarmed my wife!

There are definitely some other countries that might not be as friendly for you as Japan though.

My pals were scared sh!tless in Mexico when were in a little dirt-floored bodega buying beer. No real reason for it other than a snarling dog and a less than friendly vibe.

MSRS2K

In my opinion, no, not racist. But you are attacking a certain segment (class) of society without recognizing that there are vastly more good people in that society than bad, or that other societies have the same flaws. Were I to lay into urban blacks the way you are laying into rural whites, I'd be branded a racist by every liberal thinker in the world.

- Michael

lig

Interesting. I didn't think I was laying into rural whites. I certainly quoted a few of them.

Can you tell me in your opinion where exactly I laid into rural whites? You've got me curious - and of course "it's difficult to see the picture when you are in the frame"

MSRS2K

Hmmn, that didn't come out quite right. Too critical.

Didn't mean to say that all societies are equal, or that you're wrong to criticize. I ment that more as a comment on political correctness and the double standard about what is accectable and what's not. Anyway...

- Michael