“We are an endangered species, you and I. We lovers of speed. We devotees of power, performance and noise.
“Go away”, we are told, “and take your carbon-fibre and your fire-spitting V12s with you”.
There’s hardly a place out here for us anymore, not amongst all the commuters and congestion. Not in this growing age of safety and restraint, where practicality trumps adrenalin. Where the ratio of miles to the gallon is championed over horsepower to the weight.
The evidence is everywhere. You and I are being squeezed out, pushed aside and hunted down at every hairpin turn.
And yet there is hope. There is a safe haven, a place where we are free to challenge conventions, push the laws of physics and drive our powerful, our beautiful machines hard.
It’s not a racetrack in Germany or even a highway in Montana. It’s not even a real place, actually. It’s more than that. It’s a communal celebration of horsepower, torque, grip, leather, technology, beauty. It is the last bastion of automotive lust and it’s right there, in your living room.” - Jeremy Clarkson
After listening to these empowering words spoken by Jeremy Clarkson, something about this speech resonates with me just as it resonates with countless car enthusiasts all over the world. This may not be a personal story or personal speech, however, one thing that non-car people would possibly never understand is how much our small world is trying to be shut down as we currently speak. For the non-car enthusiast, there is a governmental agency known as the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) who are in the works to attempt to ban race cars and or simple modifications to one's car. In a way, this is a huge blow to the automotive industry because it limits what can be sold to the public even if it is something straight from the factory.
It still blows my mind that the government would go above and beyond in attempts to ban racing and modifications. For those that do not know, there is already an import ban on some of the most iconic JDM (Japanese domestic market) cars but that is another topic for another day. The logical side in me does understand that there have been various attempts and moves by some of the leading automotive makers to be completely EV (electric vehicle) within the next 10-15 years. However, it slightly seems like the government is “forcing” people to make the switch to EV. Would I personally switch to EV? The honest answer is it would take me a lot of convincing before I would ever consider making the switch. This is not to undermine the wonderful things EV cars have done and will continue to do in the near future, but as someone that has grown up around gas-powered vehicles their whole life and enjoys the smell of old gas being burned off (to a safe extent), there is no possible way you could get the same smell or feel from a gas-powered car.
With The EPA making their attempt to put this nonsense ban into place, there is a light at the end of the tunnel for the automotive community. SEMA (specialty equipment market association) has stepped in to start a movement to bring an end to the EPA’s ban. SEMA is the leading automotive trades market allowing vendors and car enthusiasts around the world to come together for one of the largest car shows in the U.S. SEMA at its core is made up of many car enthusiasts who come together for the common purpose to express their passion for everything automotive. There is light at the end of the tunnel for the car community. The EPA’s ban has a small chance of becoming law. With the support of the car community sending messages to their elected state representatives making our voice heard to stop the EPA in their tracks (no pun intended).
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