Down the drain Fast and it makes me Furious

Commentary: Down the drain Fast and it makes me Furious

By Chris Nelson | IDS

POSTED AT 09:43 PM ON Apr. 6, 2009

I’ve never been so excited and so disappointed in myself at the same time as I was this past Thursday.

The reason for these feelings was the fact that I attended the midnight showing of “Fast and Furious.”

Even though I love cars, I’ve never admitted to liking any of the “Fast and Furious” movies. I didn’t even drive my own car to the theater because I was scared of being too stereotypical.

So while I watched the juxtaposition of R34s and 454s, I got to thinking about how the import car scene has changed, for better or worse.

I’ve been on the scene since I was 12. I’ve worked at Hot Import Nights and have hung out with Ken Gushi at Formula Drift in Chicago.

The first Hot Import Nights I went to couldn’t have had more than 100 cars in the building. Last May, when my team, Guerrilla Racing, was in the show, organizers had a hard time just trying to figure out where to put all the cars.

But, in all honesty, I wish things on the tuner scene were more like they were when I was 12. Sure, parts are cheaper and it’s nice being involved in something with such a big following, but there’s more to it.

And it was in the movie theater that it came to me. It’s not the cars that are getting worse – it’s the people who drive them that are killing the scene.

We’ve all seen it – the Honda Civic on 20-inch rims, a giant exhaust and yellow headlight bulbs. But the worst part of the entire car can be found behind the wheel in the driver’s seat.

Wearing their Oakleys on top of their backward hats, head bopping to the sweet techno beats pulsing through their subwoofers, these people are the primary cause of the demise of the import scene I once loved.

I guess it’s what comes with popularity, but something needs to happen before things become irreparable.

If I had my way, I would ship all these kids, along with the people who can’t drive stick, to some random island and let them live their lives out. But luckily, that choice isn’t up to me.

I will admit I’m probably a little more aggravated by these kinds of people than the average person, but we all deal with them in our everyday lives.

I always see some horrendous car floor it in traffic only to have to slam on the brakes 100 feet later because there’s a car in front of them. And after listening to the hum of their engine, they roll their windows back up and vibe to some techno.

These drivers give a bad name to the entire import scene. The truth is, most drivers on the scene respect their cars and, even more so, other drivers on the road.

So even if you’re not a car person, make your opinion of these drivers known. Maybe if we ignore their tacky rides and cheesy music long enough, they’ll just disappear.