Maybe I'm in the Dark Ages, but apparently there is some kind of unspoken war between imports and domestics. 

 Saturday night, myself and fellow Associate Editor, Pete Epple, rode down to Bradenton Motorsports Park for an event called Auto Wars. We knew it was an import-based event, but the flyer said that all makes and models were welcome.  Also, it was only $15.00 per person to get in, which included unlimited quarter-mile runs until 11:00. We figured the "war" they referred to would be import-based (Honda vs. Toyota or Subaru vs. Mitsubishi), but apparently we didn't get the memo.

Since we had some testing to do on Project Shake n' Bake and our '93 LX coupe, we loaded up the drag radials and a floor jack and headed down. The weather was nice, so we were looking forward to a nice evening of racing and checking out the scenery (if you have flipped through Import Tuner while standing at the newsstand, then you know what I mean).

It was very clear from the moment we drove through the gate that we were  not welcome. Many of the drivers and attendees gave us dirty looks, many pointed, and some shouted derogatory and profane statements, accompanied by hand gestures.

However, we weren't there to crash their party, we were there to run. So after waiting in the staging line for over an hour, watching guys push 15-second cars toward the starting line, we were greeted by a starting line that was basted with street tire rubber. Still, we were stoked about making a few passes and proceeded.

With almost 300 cars in attendance, we think there were only about 50 domestics total: track employees vehicles, track vehicles, 13 Saturns, 11 Cobalts, 15 Neons, three V-6 Mustangs, and us. Somehow, our cars seemed to be the only ones that didn't fit in, and I'm not sure why.

Worse than all of that, the ladies in attendance looked nothing like the ones that grace the pages of Import Tuner. Come to think of it, the cars didn't even  look like the ones on the pages of IT.

At any rate, we didn't really have a problem with anyone there, or their rigs. We were just very disappointed that guys and gals that we share an interest with feel such animosity toward us. Tuning, hot-rodding, or racing, we share the same principal hobby. I sincerely hope this attitude will fade with time.