ABSTRACT
Unlike other Asian-derived forms of popular culture such as Japanese anime, kung-fu films, or Hello Kitty paraphernalia, import car racing is made in America and is unquestionably Asian American. Excluded from the V-8, Anglo-dominated muscle car culture of the 1970s and 1980s, Asian American youth decided to start their own races and shows with their own cars and on their own terms. With its inception in the early 1990s, import car racing has become the most distinctive identity among Asian Americans in southern California. It is a sport or hobby for some, but for many Asian American youth, particularly males, import car racing and its lifestyle have become a socializing tradition. Although import racing has no overt political agenda, it has some parallels with the African American hip-hop culture in the sense that both cultural forms provide a sense of identity, community, and empowerment.
