Tuk-Tuk Nascar

Although rare, the crafty tuk-tuk driver has been known to find his (or perhaps her) way into the occasional NASCAR competition. Crowd-shocking events such as these have been known to occur frequently during the low tourist-season periods of the driver’s respective homelands, when work is often harder to come by.

In the photo above, we see an elderly Indonesian tuk-tuker in the early heats of a recent exhibition race held in an unknown location in Mexico. Besides being somewhat in the middle of the pack at the time of the photo, it was reported that the tuk-tuker won the race with ease.

NASCAR has official refused to comment on the said events in the past but is widely understood to have an unofficial ban on tuk-tuks in sanctioned races. This is believed to be due to the fact that the tuk-tukers often dominate the competition due to superior driver skill, as obviously opposed to mechanical advantage. Tuk-tukers will claim that competing in a high-tension stock car competition is nothing compared to, let’s say, a trip to the airport during rush hour traffic, or dodging road construction in downtown Bangkok -- daily routines that must be performed to perfection if the tuk-tuker is to survive within the industry. Nascar Tuk-tukers will also often play mind games with themselves for added motivation, such as pretending cheering fans are attempting to flag them down amongst a sea of fierce competition, and thus the tuk-tuk driver must accelerate with wild abandon to grab the prize.

So all of this begs the question, will NASCAR ever relax its laws and allow the brave tuk-tuk to compete openly within its ranks, free from discrimination and scorn? Probably not. But, one can only hope that someday things could be different.