[IROC]

In more than one recent religiously-oriented thread, some have questioned why Christians can't discuss something among themselves without being criticized or called "idiots". I thought about this a bit and came up with an analogy:

Say there was a large group of guys that were really into Yugos and formed the Yugo Owners Club(YOC). These guys not only cherished these cars but also used them very frequently at their own autocrosses and track events. The majority of the rest of the automotive enthusiast world basically said "hey, whatever floats your boat". YOC members would meet regularly and discuss performance mods, etc. and take an active role in recruiting new members because these guys were convinced that everyone should see the virtues of the Yugo and enjoy them like they do.

Proud of their cars, the YOC always talked about the proficiency of their Yugos and how great they were on the autocross course and track. They spoke of how their Yugos could easily turn 1:35 lap times at Road Atlanta (an extremely difficult time for a Yugo to run there, for those unfamiliar with RA) and how 5 second 0-60 times and > 1g lateral acceleration were easily achievable in their cars. Most people who aren't really into cars didn't challenge these numbers and even openly accepted them because it really doesn't affect them in their daily lives, but other auto enthusiasts would openly debate these folks and the accuracy of their claims.

Just to see what all the fuss was about, one enthusiast showed up at a Road Atlanta YOC track event with a stopwatch. After watching the Yugos lap after lap, he approached one of the YOC members and said, "My stopwatch is showing that the quickest guy out there is lapping around 2:25 - where are these 1:35 lap times?". The YOC member says that his blind hatred of Yugos has lead him to fabricate the higher lap time and that his method of measuring lap times is very suspect. The enthusiast then asks why Road & Track, Car and Driver, etc., agree with his findings during their tests here. The YOC member replies that the mainstream media is biased against Yugos and so they slant their tests accordingly.

YOC members are also very active in trying to get other enthusiasts to join their club. Why, one day while I was in my garage working on my 911, a YOC member came in and asked me if I had a Yugo and was aware of the phenomenal performance capabilities. I replied that not only did I not have one, but I was very skeptical of the extraordinary performance claims as I didn't see any evidence to support them. At this point the YOC member became visibly upset and said, "You suck and I hope you're in accident!". YOC members sometimes react emotionally when you don't believe what they believe.

YOC members also hold regular autocrosses on Sunday mornings. I've actually been to some of these autocrosses and have studied their alignment settings and exhaust configurations, but I just don't get it. Many YOC members (and most of them are very nice guys) implore me to shed my prejudices and open my mind to possibilities of a Yugo. They tell me that if I loved the Yugo like they do, then it will all make sense. I've read about the Yugo in the mainstream media and even read the YOC club newsletter and Yugo Performance Handbook (known as the "bible" among YOC members), but I just can't understand their faith in the car and reconcile the vast differences between the performance numbers they claim and what all of the evidence seems to point to.

The internet is also filled with stories of people who have become YOC members and bought a Yugo and performed the secret camber mod and attended all of the autocrosses and even went to other people's garages extolling virtues of Yugos, but finally realized that the car just wasn't that great and sold it.

So...when a YOC member starts a thread entitled, "Sub-5 second 0-60 times for Yugos" or "Why does my Yugo so easily outrun far more expensive cars", you might understand why some enthusiasts might have to chime in and challenge some of the claims made in the posts. The YOC member might feel persecuted, but they need to understand that their devotion to the Yugo doesn't make alot of sense to rest of the automotive world.

Now if those crazy Trabant Owners Club guys would stop slashing everyone's tires because the owners of all other cars are supposedly "infidels" then maybe this world would be a nicer place to live.

Mike