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For those of you who have not read the article - it's about how Obama will kill our hobby. The end to high performance cars .. using the Beach Boys songs and cars as part of American culture "Fun Fun Fun till your daddy takes your Prius away ..."

This is what I sent to the author yesterday ...

I went to Costco last week and bought the Frankie and Annette collection of Beach movies (which includes Fireball 500 and Thunder Alley), grew up with the Beach Boys (and Beatles), and muscle cars. Own a couple of muscle cars and a BMW.

In twenty years when you turn on the television to watch the Daytona 500, you'll hear the silent wind of Prius and solar powered cars taking the high oval bank at a blistering 100 mph. There will be no pit stops for fuel or tire changes. The fans will be wearing green team shirts sipping their recycled bottled water or drinking white wine. The tailgate parties will have celery and carrot sticks with veggie burgers (although they will probably try to take public transportation). There will be no "fly over" by the US Air Force because of the downsizing of our armed forces and the lack of parts …. NASCAR will be dead. A new series will be developed that will race rice rockets (for gen x and gen y). Long gone will be the American car sponsors being replaced by Toyota, Honda, and Nissan.

It's obvious that President Obama has never attended a local car show sponsored by a car club for a charity. Many towns and cities host car shows to draw in crowds. (check out your local Mustang/Ford, Chevy and Mopar car clubs) Can't imagine 300 hybrid cars parked downtown to draw in business …. All he has to do is watch "Cars" by Pixar/Disney - the death of a small town because of the new interstate freeway (car culture) … Remember Route 66? He's talking about rebuilding our roads (car culture) and infrastructure, but taking a road trip in a Prius is a lot different than purring down the freeway in a Cobra.

I wonder if he (or his staff and congress) ever attended the Detroit, Chicago, NY, or LA International car show? Should be interesting in the next few years (exotics = low gas mileage/high performance, domestic = Ford, foreign = China, BMW, MB, and new category = US Government owned)

Has he seen the prices of historic, classic, and American muscle cars? Maybe I should look for a 1st generation Prius and store it for 40 years? (of course, I would take the batteries out - in fear of acid leaks and burning down my house)

Ford came out with the successful retro Mustang a few years ago. Chevy (Camero Z28) and Plymouth (Challenger RT) are a day late, dollar short, and now with the government and the unions owning the car companies, good luck. GM is a pension fund that happens to make cars … My local Toyota dealer has a lot full of Prius cars - all the tree huggers that wanted a hybrid have purchased them. (and they will buy another one in 7 years when their batteries need replacing ... Hummmm, toxic waste?)

Witness Visteon today. Who's next? Your local Speed shop will be a long lost memory. (small local business is what built America!) This was a place a bunch of local gearheads would go on Friday afternoon or Saturday morning to sit at the counter and talk cars with the owner, to see the latest carb/manifold or gauge set up. And for any true muscle car owner, they will tell you that they have spent THOUSANDS of dollars to keep their baby shinny, updated with cool parts, and fast … not likely for the Prius owner … Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines will be replaced by Green Machine and Solar Power!

Can't wait for the new generation of car clubs of Prius owners to go to the local burger joint, pop open their hoods, and talk about how big their high performance batteries are! Can't wait for our SF Police and California Highway Patrol forces to purchase Prius cruisers … I can't wait for catalytic converters to be placed on Harley Davidson motorcycles (that would start a riot with the Hells Angles), farm tractors, big Caterpillar equipment, big rig diesel trucks, and lawn mowers (and no more leaf blowers) …

Win - win - win? For whom? For Toyota and Honda hybrids, for BMW and Mercedes Benz (they will own the big car and luxury market) and the unions.