[MichiganMat]

In a nutshell:

Gates a few shipped a pair of 959s into the states thinking he could just keep them and not drive them. No problem, they will just change things with the DOT and they'll be drivable. I seem to remember that Porsche made a fool out of the head of the DOT back in the original importation and he had a major stick up his butt. "The 959 will never drive on American soil" he's quoted as saying. The cars sat at the dock for years.

10 years go by, and finally Canepa and Gates and the lawyers get some congressman/senator who is a friend of MS to toss on this transportation bill onto some other really important bill that was guaranteed to go through and...

Viola.

They completely bypass the DOT with the legislation, the head of the DOT nearly loses his mind. 12 or 13 years after the first 959 came to the states it was released out of the holding zone in Oakland CA and sent to Canepas for federalization.