AUTOEXOTICIZING: Asian American Youth and the Import Car Scene

Abstract

The import scene, which formed in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a small oppositional Asian American youth car subculture in the streets of Los Angeles, has grown in popularity among car enthusiasts around the world and today fuels a billion-dollar after-market car industry. As with any underground subculture that gains popularity in mainstream society, the import scene has experienced increasing corporate sponsorship as well as a flood of new participants, particularly of Latino and white youth. Kwon localizes the import scene by drawing on an ethnographic study of the Asian American members of an import car crew, for the purpose of illustrating the cultural production of an oppositional Asian American subculture by Asian American youth.

IT IS LATE MORNING ON A WARM SATURDAY AFTERNOON and the line to purchase tickets for the car show, "Import Showoff," already has snaked around the San Jose convention center. I wait among the throng of young Asian American males dressed in baggy jeans, puffy jackets, and tennis shoes and females dressed in midriff-baring baby T-shirts, tight jeans, and highheel sandals. Once inside, hip-hop music is blasting from the speakers and all I can see are neatly lined rows of highly modified, "souped up," import cars parked side-by-side, hoods open and engines displayed. Standing next to the cars are the proud owners who talk eagerly to spectators and bystanders about engine specifics, body kits, paint color, and interior design. Heads turn when a group of Asian American women dressed in tight tank tops with "Asian Scene" written across their chest and short mini-skirts come strolling by arm-in-arm and stop to pose for photos in front of a car and its wide-grinning male owner. A group of guys shove and scoot their way up to the front to get their pictures taken with the import models. Nearby, vendors in tents promote aftermarket car products and hand out promotional posters, stickers, and magazines. Meanwhile judges work through the crowd, methodically examining each import car to determine which will be named the " Best of Show" in today's competition.

This is a glimpse of a unique and popular youth car subculture referred to as the "import scene." The import scene, which formed in the late 1980s and early 1990s as a small oppositional Asian American youth car subculture in the streets of Los Angeles, has grown in popularity among car enthusiasts around the world and today fuels a billion-dollar aftermarket car industry. As with any underground subculture that gains popularity in mainstream society, the import scene has experienced increasing corporate sponsorship as well as a flood of new participants, particularly of Latino and white youth. The current import scene includes a diverse group of enthusiasts across the nation and internationally.

The purpose of this article is to localize the import scene by drawing on an ethnographic study of the Asian American members of an import car crew, for the purpose of illustrating the cultural production of an oppositional Asian American subculture by Asian American youth.1 My analysis of the import scene stems from a three-year ethnography (19992002) of Team Kaya (pseudonym) in Northern California Bay Area, a well-known, all-male import car crew.2 What struck me most in the beginning of my research were the dominant visibility of Asian American youth in the import scene, the ways in which a pan-Asian ethnicity was assumed, and how a sense of "Asian pride" was asserted. The rest of this article explores how Asian American youth carve a space that is uniquely their own through the cultural representation of cars.

The post-1965 immigration era has brought a massive influx of Asian immigrants to the United States, and many of their children have recently "come of age."3 Concentrated in major urban centers such as Los Angeles and New York, these second-generation Asian American youth are a visible force in society. Some studies of second-generation Asian Americans suggest that ethnic identity may be one of the most important topics in understanding their experiences, and more studies are needed to address this population.4 I explore Asian American youth identities and the social processes of identity-making among youth who are part of the import scene.

Young Asian American males and females appear to use the import scene as a space in which to articulate and redefine what it means to be an Asian American youth today. Through an assertion of "Asianness " they mark the import scene as an Asian American cultural space, and panAsian identities are invoked through their sense of "Asian pride." They negotiate social relations among each other that are very much embedded in relations of race, class, and gender. Asian American males also seem to use the import scene as a means of reconfiguring Asian American male identity and masculinity by replicating dominant ideologies of male heterosexism, particularly in the construction of "girl racers." By paying attention to the daily practices of Asian American youth participation in the import scene, this article illuminates the workings of popular culture and the complex processes that come into play in the construction of a youth culture and "youth."5

AUTOEXOTICIZING: THE IMPORT CAR AND ITS SCENE

Asian American youth in the import scene borrow from dominant ideologies of the "Orient" by appropriating essentialist Asian symbols as markers of the import scene. Marta Savigliano refers to the practices of "autoextocism," when colonized people reproduce their own exoticism by looking through dominant Western paradigms.'1 By appropriating and exoticizing "Asian" symbols such as "Asian" (Japanese) cars, written Chinese characters, and "Asian"-sounding names for import car crews-all of which I refer to as an assertion of Asianness-youth in the import scene create a unique Asian American cultural space. Although Savigliano warns that autoexoticism can lead to "further colonization,"7! assert that in this practice of autoexoticism, Asian American youth threaten hegemonic representations of them and forge new cultural identities.

The car is the central point of departure in the study of the import scene. The car, a commodity, is the vehicle in which alternative cultural representations and practices among Asian American youth are produced and negotiated. "Import" takes its meaning from the types of cars that the participants soup up-traditionally Japanese sub-compact cars such as Honda Civics and CRXs, Mitsubishi Eclipses, and Acura Intégras. The type of cars selected for modification now includes European models such as BMWs, Volkswagen Jettas and Golfs, and more recently an influx of domestic cars such as the Ford Focus, Dodge Neon, and Chevrolet Cavalier. A typical import is modified from the manufacturer's stock model by using aftermarket products (parts that do not come from the original factory) such as body kits, special rims, lights for visual appeal, and engine modifications to increase the speed of the car. As Brenda Bright claims, "the automobile is a center of a constellation of cultural practices, a mobile canvas for cultural representation and critique. . . . The presence of such a cultural alternative allows for the reworking of the limitations of mobility placed on racialized cultures in the United States."8 The import scene, as an oppositional subculture, allows Asian American youth to participate actively in negotiating and producing on their own terms what it means to be an Asian American youth today.

Racing and customizing the look and performance of an automobile is a historically oppositional practice in American youth culture. In the post-World War II era, young men started racing cheap modified cars on the streets in California, which in turn created the necessity to build legal drag racing strips.9 Drag racing and specifically modified cars built for speed to outperform and beat the fellow racer were popularized on the big screen in the 1950s by American idol James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause. Mainly working-class white males, referred to as "hot rodders" raced "muscle cars"-stripped down V-8 engine American cars such as Ford Mustangs and Chevrolet Impalas. This subcultural practice of modifying cars also is evident among Chicano males, whose "low rider" cars are associated most closely with the distinctively Mexican American oppositional style, pachucismo. The low riders take used cars, similar to those of the hot rodders, and create a unique Chicano style that borrows from dominant cultural practices of car modification.10

The import subculture among Asian American youth who modify (or soup up) cars may be viewed as an extension of this larger oppositional and male-dominated, car-based cultural phenomenon. Yet many Asian American youth in the import scene, including members of Team Kaya, vehemently oppose comparisons to other car cultures and claim the import scene as a unique subcultural practice created by Asian Americans. Although the import scene encompasses participants of different ethnicities and backgrounds, many of the original participants of the scene acknowledge it to be of "Asian origin" or "Asian influenced."

Dorrine Kondo emphasizes the importance of Asian American cultural production and identities in their own right:

Such an identity would be neither Asian nor American if the latter means Euro, nor does it mean hyphenated Asian-American, if that means riding on the hyphen "between two worlds." Rather, I think Asian American playwrights, writers, artists are creating identities that defy binary categorization into Asian or American, or into some mediating third term. They are articulating for Asian Americans something new, something that exceeds previous categories. I would suggest that despite the human suffering incurred through dislocation, incarceration, and diaspora, the historical experience of Asian Americans can become a source of strength, the openness of identity a field of possibility.11

The import scene seems to offer Asian American youth a cultural space in which to create new and creative identities. In the practice of "autoexoticization," these Asian American youth produce alternative Asian American identities that contest dominant representations of themselves as the "model minority."

IMPORT SCENE

The import scene has its roots in Southern California and is recognized by its original members as a unique Asian American car subculture that grew out of the practices of Asian American males.12 Three veterans of the import scene-Ken Miyoshi (the founder of the original import car show, "Import Showoff"), Frank Choi (the founder of the first import drag racing event, "Battle of the Imports"), and Rodney Willis (the creator of TMR, toy machine racing m'zine, the first auto magazine that represented the import car scene)-were featured in an import magazine where they all pointed to the dominance of Asian Americans in creating the import scene.13 Miyoshi, a Japanese American, explained in a personal interview that the scene started on the streets of Los Angeles in the late 1980s and early 1990s when mainly third-generation (sansei) Japanese Americans started fixing up their parents' old hand-me-down Japanese subcompact cars.14 Although some argue that the import scene is a reworking of the hot rod generation by Asian American youth,15 Miyoshi claims that Japanese American youth were influenced by a particular car culture in Japan. They copied its particular style of modifying Japanese cars, referring to imported Japanese car magazines and ordering many of their car parts directly from Japan. Willis adds, "Something happened in the 1990s. . . . The third generation of Asian born Americans gave way to a new version of the 1940's hotrod scene."16

In these early days of the import scene, Asian American males, ages sixteen to twenty-five, comprised the dominant number of participants. Market research from Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA), a large automobile trade association, reveals that in the mid-1990s Asian American males made up approximately ninety percent of the participants and consumers of the import scene.17 In her research of the import scene in the Southern Los Angeles area of Orange County, Victoria Namkung calls the import scene an "Asian American phenomenon," referring to the number of Asian American youth who make up the majority of its participants.18 My own observation at numerous cars shows and events confirms as well the dominant participation of Asian Americans in the import scene.

In 1995, the premiere import car show, "Import Showoff," was held in Los Angeles. It was started by Miyoshi's company after he noticed that "youth did not have a good atmosphere" in which to show off their imports, as most car shows were reserved for hot rods and low riders.19 Miyoshi, who was originally a DJ and promoter at Asian American clubs and events in Los Angeles in the early 1990s, observed how the parking lots at these activities were filled with souped up import cars. He wanted to create a space in which these Asian American youth could gather socially to "put music and imports together."20

Import car shows such as "Import Showoff," "Hot Import Nights," "Import Revolution," and "Import Auto Salon" are a forum for competitors and fans alike. These shows have become enormously popular, and the better-known ones such as "Hot Import Nights" can draw over ten thousand attendees to one show. Many car crews such as Team Kaya enter their cars as a team and also compete for individual and team prizes such as "Best Civic," "Best Integra," "Best of Show" and "Best Team." At one particular "Import Showoff," I counted twenty-one categories during the awards ceremonies. These car shows thus provide a place that is unique to the import scene, where Asian American youth contest dominant cultural representations.

Another component of the import scene is drag racing, both legal and illegal. Choi, a Korean American, describes the early days of drag racing on the streets of Los Angeles as ethnically mixed, including "some Asians and Blacks and Caucasians and Hispanics"-until 1994, when there was a "tremendous rise in Asian participa[nts]" who came out with frontwheel drive compact cars such as imports.21 Import drag racing featured the same thrills of late-night racers and dangers of police crackdown as other forms of illegal drag racing. The difference was that import drag racers had no alternative because they were not allowed to race at sanctioned drag events. Larger V-8 engine hot rods and their white owners, many of whom considered imports to be "weak" cars, dominated such events. Choi recounts the discrimination and frustration he felt in trying to race his import at local racetracks, which spurred him to create an "import only" drag racing event:

So, I would actually take my car up to the racetrack and the closest racetrack to me was LA Country Raceway in Palmdale, 'cause I live here in LA County. . . . Well, uh, they basically turned me away saying that I couldn't test my car that day because there happens to be a domestic V-8 event going on at the time. I explained to them, I go, "Look, I drove 75 miles, couldn't I just run a time-only test?" Nope. So I, I turned around and went home. And that happened to me a total of two times before I thought it was probably something personal as far as these racetracks really not caring much for the import cars. Um, so I said to myself, "Well shit, this sucks. Well, what if I had an event where if a V-8 came up to test his car, I would be able to turn him away.22

In July 1990, Choi organized the first "Battle of the Imports," a legal import drag racing event that challenged the dominance of whites in drag racing. His story illustrates the marginalization of Asian American males and import drag racing as well as his subsequent efforts to create a space that allowed for their participation.

Today, "Battle of the Imports" has become the largest import drag racing event in the country, leading to the creation of the International Drag Racing Association (IDRA), the largest sport compact drag racing organization. Import drag racing also has impacted professional car racing circuits such as the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), which now has a category for sport compact cars, and the creation of the Import Drag Racing Circuit. Amateur events such as "Import Challenge" and "Street Car Shootout" continue to thrive as well. These races not only draw large crowds of fans; they also include a nice purse for the winner.23

Currently, import car shows and drag races are held monthly in cities such as Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Seattle. International events also are held in Canada, Japan, and England. Although the import car is the focus of any import show or drag race, these events include numerous social activities that reflect a party atmosphere. Most of these events feature music and DJ spin-offs, break dancing, and a dance floor, creating a club-party atmosphere. Sometimes they add import model searches and bikini and wet T-shirt contests. Youth in the import scene also gravitate towards places that are common to many urban and suburban youth, such as movie theaters, cafes, fast food restaurants, and their parking lots, many of which are marked particularly as import "hangouts" by those in the know within the scene. For many participants of the import scene, therefore, it is not just about the cars but about a lifestyle.

Import car shows and races are the two major social contexts in which an import scene identity is produced and re-appropriated by its members. Numerous magazines and Internet websites, such as import Tuner, Import Culture, RPM Magazine, Sport Compact Car, Super Street, and turbo & High Tech Performance, also cater specifically to these youth. Feature articles about car shows, races, and car reviews are featured in on-line Asian magazines such as Asian Scene, Asian Avenue, and Kindea,24 which deal with contemporary Asian American youth issues in addition to the car culture.

Today the import scene has changed dramatically, and in some places it can no longer be considered as an exclusively Asian American subculture. I discuss this changing nature of the import scene at the end of this article. My purpose here is to situate and localize the import scene in relation to the participation of Asian American youth-particularly the members of Team Kaya-to reveal how in the practice of autoexoticization oppositional Asian American identities are formed and notions of panAsian ethnic identities are created.

AN ASSERTION OF ASIANNESS AND PAN-ASIAN IDENTITY

In creating a cultural space that is dominated by Asian American youth and by appropriating essentialist Asian symbols, Asian American youth autoexoticize their cars and the subculture through the formation of an oppositional import scene. In so doing, they challenge dominant representations of Asian American youth as the model minority and show formations of pan-Asian ethnic identity, expressed through "Asian pride."

There are explicit ways in which Asianness is asserted in the import scene. The most evident is the dominance of Asian Americans among the participants who make up the import scene, approximately ninety-percent in the mid-1990s.25 In Team Kaya for example, all but three of its fifteen members are Asian American.26 Wayne, a third-generation Chinese American member of Team Kaya, said of the import scene, "It's mostly Asians, and the Asians are typically, you know, they go hand-in-hand with imports. Asians-Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Filipino-um any race-but it is mostly Asian."27 The dominance of Asian Americans is most evident at import car shows where ethnic, specific (such as Vietnamese or Filipino) and pan-Asian car crews are the norm. Some car teams include non-Asian members, as found in Team Kaya, because according to them, involvement and acceptance in the import scene also is based on youth's common interests in import cars.28 Asian American prevalence was reflected at the show "Import Saga," where I observed more than fifteen of its twenty-plus prizes go to Asian Americans.29 The primacy of the import scene as an "Asian thing" is confirmed by a comment made by a Japanese American male to my question of how he got started in the import scene. He said, "It is safe to say that if you are Asian growing up here in California, you know about imports. You may not like them, and you may not drive one, but you definitely know about them."30 And although ethnic, specific car crews seem contradictory to pan-Asian identities, these youth identify themselves as partaking in an "Asian" car culture, where pan-Asian consciousness is implied.

Many Asian American youth are drawn to the import scene precisely because it is marked as an Asian American space. Many members of Team Kaya intimated that they primarily were attracted to the import scene because they were proud to participate in a subculture that was marked culturally as Asian American. Sam, a Chinese American, explains, "I think the main reason was because it's like Asian dominated really. I wanted to do something that all Asians can get together and do something fun. And cars are something people like. Most of my friends were into it."31 He elaborates that his entrance into the import scene was facilitated by the sense of "Asian pride" he had developed during high school, when he "just hung out with Asian people," a result of the discrimination he felt as an Asian American growing up in a white suburb. Sam's story thus reveals an early oppositional identity formation against the dominant white society and a sense of pan-Asian ethnicity, which he carried to the import scene.

Asianness also is asserted by the members' decision to give their team an Asian name (usually written in Chinese or Japanese) or to make it sound Asian. Club names include Team Hayaashi, Team Hokori, Team Kosoku, Team Rocketsu, and Z.Team Yossi. Members identifying with a particular car crew display their team logo, usually in the front or side window of their cars. Team names often are written in Chinese, or in the Roman alphabet but stylized to resemble Chinese or Japanese characters. This stylized font is popular in import car magazines.

Import enthusiasts choose to purchase and modify "Asian" cars-meaning Japanese imports. Today, Japanese automobile models are top consumer choices, and they have a reputation for high quality and performance. However, during the economic decline of the 1970s and 1980s, purchasing foreign cars was seen as anti-American as noted by the editors of A.Magazine: "For most of the 1980s, buying a Japanese car was considered downright unpatriotic by those sympathetic to the American auto industry."32 Early Asian American youth of the import scene in the late 1980s and early 1990s deliberately sought out Japanese imports such as Honda Civics, which were readily available as hand-me-downs from their parents, to mimic a particular car subculture in Japan.33 In the process, they contested lingering perceptions of Japanese cars, which were touted initially as weak performance cars or "tinkertoys," by modifying these imports and racing them against bigger and stronger American "muscle" cars. Some Asian American youth (many who are not of Japanese origin) in the import scene today take particular pride in owning a Japanese import. A Vietnamese American youth, for example, boasted to me that he was proud to be part of the import scene because "we buy our own."34 This statement is indicative of the new forms of pan-Asian identity among the current generation of Asian American youth.

Many import cars also are modified in the Japanese Domestic Market (JDM) style that utilizes Japanese aftermarket products. For example, among the popular items on JDM imports are recycled Japanese license plates used in Japan, which are bought on the Internet. This is not to argue that all Asian American youth in the import scene are carrying out an intentionally oppositional practice to reject dominant American patriotism. Yet their focus on Japanese imports and modifying them in JDM style does suggest a conscious decision to mark the import scene as "Asian."

Through the autoexoticization of the import scene as an Asian American subculture, youth construct and affirm a sense of a pan-Asian ethnic identity that is shared in the cultural practice and symbolic representation of the import scene.35 Such pan-Asian consciousness and identity is exhibited by Asian American youth in the import scene in the following ways: they participate because of their sense of Asian pride; they form and join ethnically specific and/or mixed car crews that are marked visibly as Asian; they race Japanese imports; they drive and modify Japanese imports in the JDM style; and they interact with other Asian American youth in a socially constructed "Asian American" youth subculture. These identities are not homogeneous, however, nor are they always explicitly stated; and differences exist as well, particularly in relation to class.

The fundamental requirement to be an active member of the import scene is, first, to own a car and, second, to modify it. But the extent of modifying one's car is largely dependent on how much money one can afford to spend on it. Members in Team Kaya take pride in having "show quality" cars and snub "bondo" cars (cars that look like they have body kits attached by bond-like glue). A popular import website's sole purpose is to post photographs of "cheap" imports parked on the streets and to deride their simple modifications, or use of stickers in place of body parts, thus illuminating the site's class biases. To be competitive at an import car show or race, one must make a minimum level of car modifications, which can cost about $20,000-$40,000. Wayne said, "You know the fact is you need money to play in the scene; you really do need money, [or] you can't have a nice car. So most of us have nice upbringings; we're from typically pretty well off families."36

Most of the guys on Team Kaya come from middle or upper-middle class families. Some work part-time or summer jobs to supplement their parents' contribution to purchase and fix up their cars. Wayne and Sam are brothers who come from an upper-middle class family. They work part-time at their parents' business, and their mother helps to pay for their credit card bills. Wayne also earns an income writing for various online and car magazines. Tim comes from a similar socioeconomic class background and works during the summer so that he can afford to soup up his car. The majority of his earnings are spent on his car, although he

realizes the limits of such spending. He feels that modifying his car is an "impractical hobby" and continues, "It's all right for now that I spend 80 percent I earn on my car. But at some point when I have to support myself, I can't do that. . . . I'll probably hang out with the guys but I probably won't do anything to my car."37 Other teammates like Danny, a Vietnamese American, and Adam, a Japanese American, depend on their parents for money that is promised in exchange for good grades in school. In contrast, Mark, a Korean American college graduate and full-time corporate employee, spends all his disposable income on his car. Some youth also receive monetary sponsorship from import car shops or companies. Others receive parts or labor in trade for advertising company products at import car shows. Although the import scene is touted to be open to all import enthusiasts, the cost of participation indicates that it is heavily biased towards youth who come from middle to upper class economic backgrounds by limiting it to those who can afford a very expensive hobby.

OPPOSITIONAL IDENTITIES AND THE REWORKING OF ASIAN AMERICAN MALE MASCULINITY

British cultural studies scholars of the Birmingham school describe youth culture as an oppositional "subculture" to dominant culture.38 Dick Hebdige asserts that youth subcultures interrupt dominant culture through a particular style: "Youth culture was constituted by a series of spectacular transformations of a whole range of commodities, values, common-sense attitudes, etc. It was through these and adapted forms that certain sections of predominantly working-class youth were able to restate their opposition to dominant values and institutions."39 In this vein, Asian American youth are drawn to the import scene as an oppositional Asian American subculture that contests dominant representation of them as smart and successful, fueled by the "model minority" myth as reflected by Sam:40

I know a lot of Asian kids that play tennis. But you know what I'm saying, they are always stereotyped, Asian people, to be smart geeks with glasses [who play] tennis and piano; that is kind of like, it's not really cool. You know what I mean? That is why the import scene was something cool that everyone could do.41

For Sam, partaking in the import scene is as much about countering the image of a geek as it is about doing something that is "cool."

The "cool" factor comes from their participation in a masculine and oppositional car subcultural practice. For many Asian American males, the import scene appears to be an alternative space that allows for the reworking of Asian American masculinity. Historically, Asian American men have been represented as the model minority-hard-working, nerdy, and often desexualized or feminized-in which the demasculinization of Asian males becomes a part of one's ethnic identity.12 Robert Lee notes that changing racial representations of Asian Americans throughout history are tied intricately to sexuality and gender. In the early part of this century, Asian men (mainly Chinese) posed a threat to white men and their white female counterparts, leading to their emasculation.43 Ethnic minorities in general were given "marginalized" masculinity status that is defined constantly in relationship to hegemonic (white male) masculinities.44 Such representation of Asian American males as non-sexual and unattractive new immigrants still holds today.45

The presence of Asian American male youth in a masculine car culture can be interpreted as a contestation of mainstream subordinate images of Asian American males and an assertion of their masculinity. The connection between men and cars as an expression of their virility can be traced to the formations of a working-class masculinity through manual labor.46 Earlier generations of hot rodders consisted mainly of white working-class males whose class position was compensated by their mastery in and display of technical skills. They presented their masculinity through their ability to take old run-down domestic cars and modify their engines for faster performance, which they then used to race against each other on the streets. Often these races were performed in front of women, who were to be impressed by the manliness of the drivers. A classic example of this strategy is seen in the movie, Rebel Without A Cause. The same romanticized notion of racing and "getting the girl" are present as well in contemporary films like The Fast and the Furious.

Many Asian American youth attendees at import events are seen as the antithesis to the model minority-tough urban youth who terrorize the streets-rather than as studious school nerds.47 Asian American male youth also borrow from African American male youth's image of hip-hop and "gangsta" hyper-masculinity and hyper-heterosexuality that is exploitative of females. Sunaina Maira notes how Indian American male youth identify with African American hip-hop culture because of its link to hyper-masculinity: "According to what these Indian American youth have to say, it would appear that it is the powerful appeal of hip-hop music and style and the coding of blackness as hypersexual, rather than the negative perceptions of Indian masculinity, that draws them to hip-hop, as is the case perhaps for many other Asian American youth."48 For many Asian American male youth, participation and affiliation with the import scene allows for a different representation of Asian American male masculinity that is "cool" and "tough."

Ironically, in the process of asserting Asian American masculine identities, youth revert to traditional male gender roles and the subordination of women. It is impossible to ignore gender inequalities present in any car culture, including the import scene. Robert Connell describes the historical and social construction of masculinity, which is defined in opposition to femininity and often is asserted by men through the exploitation and sexualization of females.49

Women always have been a vital component of the import scene, and they are most visible in subordinate positions. At any given import car show or drag race, roughly thirty-five percent of the spectators are female.50 The majority of these women are girlfriends of male import enthusiasts, while others are models or aspiring models. Corporate sponsored import models, or "import honeys," often host car shows and present prizes at the end of the show. Mike Munar, producer of "Hot Import Nights," describes the import models as part of the event production: "We have corporate companies that get involved in it, and the corporate companies are the ones bringing out the girls that you know are fully decked out. I think it's just as part of the scene."51 Such practices reveal an assertion of masculinity and display of manhood that is found similarly in other car cultures among the hot rodders and low riders. The difference in the import scene, however, is that the women are mainly Asian Americans.

At car shows, women pose, wearing little clothing, on top of cars. They are displayed prominently on car magazine covers as sexualized objects. I encountered many high school female students who came to car shows dressed in revealing clothing to pose in front of cars with the hopes that they might be discovered and featured in a calendar, an upcoming import event flyer, or better yet an import magazine cover. Many of the guys who attend import car events will admit without hesitation, that they are there for "girls, girls, and girls!" Without fail at every import car show, I have witnessed guys armed with still and video cameras taking pictures of scantily clad women. Often these pictures and video clips are displayed on numerous online import magazines and the personal web pages of male import enthusiasts.

Yet, it is too simple to reduce the participation of the younger generation of Asian American males in the import scene to the status of a compensation for their de-masculinization. Rather, it appears to be a complex set of social relations in which many of the Asian American youth, both male and female, are drawn to the subculture to contest dominant racial identification of Asian Americans as the "model minority." The import scene creates a space that is uniquely "Asian American," where actors confront and accept the contradictions of what it means to be part of an Asian American youth subculture. Despite my observation of males gawking at female models at car shows, many of the members of Team Kaya reveal that guys who are "down with the scene" do not pay attention to the models. One particular male with whom I spoke at an import car show confided that he hated coming to the shows now because "there are so many girls posing in front of cars, you can't even see the car anymore."52 Another expressed his disgust with guys attending car shows just "to videotape girls' butts."53 According to Sam, "They are not car enthusiasts; they are girl enthusiasts."54

GIRL RACERS

A visible act of defiance against the subordination of women in the import scene is the emergence of a different type of female participant, generally referred to as a "girl racer." It is becoming more common to see women driving souped up imports on the street, and many of them enter their cars at import shows and compete at drag races. A Los Angeles Times article states that, "Whether it's furtive street races, legal races on area tracks or car shows, women have moved from the modeling role to the driver's seat in Southern California's network of import-car-racing crews."55 Miyoshi notes that the actual number of women who own and enter their cars at "Import Showoff" has increased from approximately one female to every forty males in the mid-1990s to one to ten today.56 Female drag racers are now common in the scene, and several women are top competitors. These girl racers defy the objectification of women as decorative hood ornaments and do not assuage the male ego by cheering them on at the sidelines of the race, but take the wheel themselves. By the mere presence of girl racers as owners, drivers, and racers of imports, they challenge not only the import scene but also the very structure of a traditionally male-dominated car subculture.

Although girl racers slowly are gaining acceptance and respect in the import scene, especially in drag racing, they still hold marginal positions in the subculture and are discussed within a male-dominant discourse. Many woman view their presence in the import scene as a disruption of traditional gender roles, yet the ways in which their male counterparts in the scene react to them is in the manner of fetishization. Girl racers thus are signified as cool, exotic, and sexual. An article in an import magazine featuring a race between Lisa Kubo, a famous girl racer, and another female racer in the semi-finals of the Battle of the Imports was referred to as a "good catfight."57 Girl racers are fetishized as a form of male entertainment. The automobile aftermarket industry has latched onto the potential profitability of marketing attractive girl racers to draw the attention of males in the scene, as they still remain their biggest consumers. "The key is that girls bring more attention than any guy off the street," said Jerry Tsai, owner of Pacific Rim, an import racing products company.58

Girl racers are marked as participants in a man's sport, and presented in a manner that does not pose a threat to male masculinity. They are represented as an image of heterosexual male desirability. An example of this exploitation is found monthly in the pages of import Tuner, a popular import magazine.59 In feature articles where the owner of the car is male, only photographs of the car are included, whereas for female owners both the car and the owner's photographs are shown. One particular spread shows two glossy pages of Gemma Red, an attractive owner of a Honda CRX. There are two pictures of Gemma posing in front of her car, dressed in a low-cut tank top and short-shorts. She is skinny and has noticeably large breasts. The feature emphasizes her physical attributes:

Every month the pages of Import Tuner are packed full of clean rides, gorgeous girls and a grip of technical information. This month, we'd like to introduce you to the beautiful Gemma Red. Now we know she's pretty fine, but we also know that if we told you she actually owns and drives this crazy-clean turbocharged CRX that she's posing with, you're going to flip. Well, she does! And the way we see it, she's either every guy's dream 'cause she's into imports and drives a CRX that just collected the top honors at a recent Import Showoff, or every guy's nightmare 'cause she cruises a phatter ride than them that'll straight spank'em stop light to stop light.60

She is presented as the ultimate import "playmate" and fantasy; she is both beautiful and owns a fast import. And she poses little threat to the male reader's masculinity. Her image reinforces the simplification of women, by men, to their sex appeal, rather than allowing for an oppositional representation of girl racers.

Yet there is enormous potential in the practices of girl racers to destabilize dominant patriarchal norms. Such potential often is realized in illegal and legal street races, where more girl racers challenge men on the asphalt and often cross the finish line first. Mainstream media outlets such as trendy women's magazines are catching onto the presence of girl racers, as evidenced in an underground exposé of street racing where a girl racer dusts a male competitor.61 Girl racers such as Lisa Kubo carry celebrity status in the import scene. Increasingly, women are becoming a force in the import scene and are changing its practices. As car shows accommodated the influx of female participation by creating separate award categories for girl racers, many women took offense at being judged separately. Rather, they wanted to compete equally with male participants on the merit of their cars.62

FROM IMPORT SCENE TO A SPORT COMPACT MOVEMENT

What started as a hobby among a small group of Asian American males in Southern California in the late 1980s and early 1990s-to fix up, show, and race their parents' cheap Japanese import cars-now has exploded into a national and international phenomenon of corporate-sponsored import car shows and races, thrusting the oppositional subculture into the mainstream. This shift in the import scene is marked by the release of two major motion pictures, The Fast and the Furious in June 2001 and its sequel, 2 Fast 2 Furious, released the following year. These movies drew widespread attention to the import scene and raised the number of participants in the scene, especially among non-Asian American participants. The original movie is based loosely on an article about import car racers, written by Kenneth Li in 1998 for Vibe magazine. Although his story is about import drag racers in New York City, he acknowledges young Asian American males in Southern California as originators of the import scene.63 Despite complaints about the lack of Asian American actors-the central actors in the first movie were not Asian American (and less so in its sequel), except for actor Rick Yune, who played a supporting role as the leader of an Asian car gang, and RJ Devera (a well-known figure in the import scene and a member of Team Kosoku, one of the original import car crews in Los Angeles)-many import enthusiasts identified with the film as an import scene movie and they flocked to the opening night of both movies. Several members of Team Kaya, as well as many other import fanatics in Northern California, drove to Los Angeles to become extras and were featured in the background scenes of the first movie. Both movies were enormously successful, the first grossing $41.6 million on its opening weekend and $143 million in total at the box offices. The movies' rise in popularity parallels the change in character of the import scene.

Today, the import scene's most significant difference is visible in the ethnic makeup of its participants. From the later half of the 1990s to 2002, Asian American participation dwindled from ninety percent to approximately thirteen percent nation-wide and Caucasian participation rose to forty percent.64 Miyoshi also notes a change at "Import Showoff" in Los Angeles where Asian American spectators have dwindled to thirty-five percent from eighty percent participation among Latinos and young white males has increased. Yet he notes that competitors who enter their cars still remain predominantly Asian American.65 Miyoshi feels that many of the younger Asian American youth "who just got their licenses" do not recognize the origins of the import scene as an Asian American subculture: "From the 1990s, it [the import scene] being an Asian thing, originating from a subculture, like hip-hop, it has changed to no longer an Asian thing. . . . [There are] lots of Hispanics now from drag racing to shows."66 The change is also visible among women. Today, you find non-Asian women on the cover of import Tuner or other similar import magazines, which exclusively used to feature Asian import models. Asian import models brought in by sponsors such as Asian Avenue and Asian Scene are no longer a major force at shows. Import chat rooms that were once filled with user names such as "Asian Barbie" and "rice rocket" are no longer dominant. As a result of these changes, many new participants in the scene do not recognize the origins of the import scene as an Asian American phenomenon.

Increased presence of corporate players also has altered the import scene. From 1997 to 2002, SEMA market research reveals a jump in import performance market sales from $295 million to $1.2 billion, an increase of over 300 percent.67 The domestic automobile industry also has tapped into the profitability of the import scene. Carmakers such as Chevrolet and Dodge have introduced sport compact models to appeal to import enthusiasts. Domestic corporations are now major sponsors of car shows and drag races, positioning themselves as prominent figures in the import scene. For example, Lisa Kubo gave up her Honda Civic and is now sponsored by Saturn to race an Ion Quad Coupe.68

The impact of the domestic market on the import scene is most noticeable in the name change, from "import scene" to "sport compact scene," by marketers. The erasure of "import" is symbolic of the change from a small Asian American subculture to a mainstream corporate market. Such changes are reflected in the events of the scene as well. "Import Showoff" has dropped "import" from its name and is now called, simply, "Showoff." The IDRA, Choi's company, refers to itself as the "pioneer of import and sport compact drag racing."69

Increased corporate sponsorship also has tainted the nature of participation in the scene as car shows have become more competitive. At "Import Motion," an import car show, in early 2004 in San Mateo, California, I spoke with many Asian American and non-Asian American import participants who had seen the changes in the import scene. Some lamented that in the past, participation in the scene was a social event or a hobby. It was a place where friends with similar interests in import cars gathered and/or entered their cars at shows. Today however, competition is fierce and team membership is about maintaining a top performance car that will help the team win prizes. A Filipino male who recently joined a Bay Area import car team said, "It's a lot of work to be on the team, and to maintain one. There's monthly meetings, always things to do. I always need to make new changes to my car; it's very competitive and if I don't, I'll get kicked out."70 A Latino male echoed similar sentiments and noted the increasing expenses of maintaining a competitive import car today.71

Miyoshi welcomes the changes in the import scene and views in particular the participation of people from various ethnic backgrounds as a reflection of the United States becoming more tolerant of racial diversity. Conversely, some members of Team Kaya have retired from the scene as a result of these transformations, and their reasons are reflected in Sam's comments:

These days the "scene" just saddens me, from the commercialization and raping of "our scene" to a market saturated with cheap gimmicks and quick bucks. But we have seen this downward trend in hip-hop, movies, and pretty much any other industry that starts from the underground and inevitably heads into the mainstream.72

In spite of these changes, Asian American youth continue to maintain a large presence, along with a strong assertion of Asianness, at the import car show. Although the crowd was ethnically mixed with Latinos, whites, and African Americans, at least half the spectators in San Mateo were Asian Americans. All the models whom I saw were Asian American women. There was a smattering of domestic cars, but JDM-style Japanese imports still remained the popular choice. Corporate sponsors were there in full force, and competitors waited anxiously as their cars were judged. At the show, I approached a car crew made up of an ethnically mixed group of young Asian American males who all owned Japanese imports. When I asked them if they would consider changing to a domestic car, they all replied, "No." One person added, "I've always liked imports."73 Perhaps they did not realize the full history of the import scene or that they were part of an Asian American subculture, but in their participation at an import show, owning a Japanese import, and being part of an Asian car crew, they still exhibited a unique Asian American practice and carried with them the legacy of an oppositional Asian American youth identity.

In February 2004, the Discovery Channel aired a special show called "Street Racing: Pedal to the Metal." The narrator claimed, "The culture of street racing is an urban phenomena that's spreading across the globe."74 It followed two young street racers in Southern California-an African American male driving a Chrysler-Mitsubishi Eagle Talon and a white female driving a Honda Civic, along with their professional car-handling team-as they prepared their cars for a drag race. This show is a reflection of what the import scene has become today. It is now a multi-racial, multi-billion-dollar youth car culture enjoyed by both male and female participants. Yet the origins of the import scene remains uniquely that of an Asian American youth subcultural phenomenon. By locating this specific practice to a particular import car team, this study has sought to understand the ways in which contemporary Asian American youth identities are lived in the everyday life practices of Asian American youth in the import scene. Members of Team Kaya actively participate in an oppositional subculture that has contested dominant representations of them as the model minority. Like other Asian American males in the import scene, their involvement in a male-dominated car culture is an assertion of their masculinity, one that directly challenges the genderizing of their ethnicity as effeminate. In their quest to produce an oppositional space for themselves, however, many Asian American males mirror the dominant male patriarchal structure by reenacting traditional gender roles of male authority in their representations of girl racers and in their lived relationships with other female youth in the import scene.

The emergence of an Asian American youth car culture suggests a higher level of racial consciousness among second-generation Asian American youth. As the product of an Asian American youth subculture and through the process of autoexoticization, the import scene serves as a vehicle to provide a sense of pan-Asian ethnic identity. Its Asian American participants seem to view themselves as contesting their racialization as nerdy and presenting an image that they feel is a more realistic reflection of who they are and what it means to be an Asian American youth today. For some, it is an exploration of their own ethnic identity as Chinese American or Japanese American, and for others it is an expression of what it means to be "Asian American." This study raises questions regarding what is considered "American" youth culture. Considering that most academic studies of youth culture focus exclusively on "whites," or more recently on African Americans in relation to hip-hop, this particular body of work on an Asian American youth culture is a critical intervention of youth cultural studies in general.75 By showing the active participation of Asian American youth in their subcultural phenomenon, the import scene, this study destabilizes a homogeneous notion of an American youth culture and addresses the complexities of youth subcultures as racialized terrain.

Footnote

Notes

1. I acknowledge that the term, "Asian American" encompasses a large and diverse set of ethnic groups of Asian origin. My use of the term to describe the various youth of the subculture is taken from the 1960s, where the term was created to imply a sense of pan-Asian American identity. My use of the term includes the different ethnic groups that collectively make up the Asian/Asian American diasporic community, many of the same youth who were reflected in the import scene, which includes Northeast Asians, Southeast Asians, and Filipinos, but it does not refer to those of South Asian descent. See Yen Le Espiritu, "Pan-Asian American Ethnicity: Retrospect and Prospect," Asian American Pan Ethnicity: Bridging Institutions and Identities, (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992).

2. I was a participant observer at formal import car shows, races, and gatherings as well as informal social functions with Team Kaya and other import car fans. I attended numerous import car shows that Team Kaya entered for competition during the three-year period. Attending car shows with members of Team Kaya gave me the unique opportunity to view the import scene as an insider, from the heart-stopping moment of receiving the trophy for "Best of Show" or "Best Team" to uneventful periods of sitting around on lawn chairs near the cars, waiting for the judges to arrive. I was a familiar face at Team Kaya bi-monthly or monthly meetings and events. I conducted lengthy formal interviews of Team Kaya members and several key import scene members as well as numerous informal interviews with import enthusiasts. Team Kaya is an import car show team, meaning that they enter their cars at import car shows to compete against other import car teams and individuals for a prize. There are numerous types of import car teams, including racing teams and show teams that are differentiated by ethnicity, gender, and geographical location. Organization of such teams ranges from formal club structures to informal gatherings. Team Kaya is a formal import car show team, holding monthly business and social meetings with elected team officers. Team members range in ages from 18 to 24 years old and view their participation as a hobby outside of attending college and/or working. In addition to field research, my work also draws upon newspapers, magazines, and Internet web sites on the import scene.

3. Min Zhou, "Coming of Age at the Turn of the Twenty-First Century: A Demographic Profile of Asian American Youth," Asian American Youth, Jennifer Lee and Min Zhou, eds. (New York: Routledge, 2004).

4. Pyoung Gap Min and Kyeyoung Park, "Second Generation Asian Americans' Ethnic Identity," Amerasia Journal, 25:1 (1999): ix-xiii. Also, see other essays in the same edited volume and essays in Asian American Youth.

5. I place youth in quotes here to recognize youth as a social and historical construction and to challenge "youth" as a fixed biological category, rooted in a psychological developmental model, which often characterizes dominant representations of youth. See Christine Griffin, Representations of Youth, (Cambridge: Polity Press, 1993); Nancy Lesko "Naturalizing Adolescence, The politics of contemporary representations" Youth & Society, 28: 2 (1996):139-161; and James Cote and Anton Allahar, The Discovery of Youth (New York: New York University Press, 1996).

6. Marta Savigliano, Tango and the Political Economy of Passion (Boulder: Westview Press, 1995), 3.

7. Ibid., 9.

8. Brenda Bright, "Remappings: Los Angeles Low Riders," Looking High and Low, Brenda Bright and Liza Bakewell, eds. (Tuscon: University of Arizona Press, 1991): 89-124.

9. Will Hodgkin, "Speed Addicts," Guardian Unlimited, September 8, 2001.

10. Brenda Bright, " "heart like a car:" Hispano/Chicano culture in northern New Mexico," American Ethnologist 25:4 (1998): 583-609.

11. Dorrine Kondo, About Face (New York: Routledge, 1997): 116.

12. James Romero, "A Turbocharged Obsession," Los Angeles Times, January 22, 1997; Victoria Namkung, Reinventing the Wheel: Import Car Racing and a New Identity for Asian American Youth in Southern California. (Master's Thesis, UCLA, 2000); "Reinventing the Wheel: Import Car Racing in Southern California, " Asian American Youth; and Kenneth Li, "Racer X," Vibe Magazine 6:4 (1998): 84-86.

13. Andy Williamson, "Don't call it a come-back. We've been here for years," C16 Magazine 99 (November/December 2003): 16-34.

14. Personal interview by author, Los Angeles, Calif., May 21, 1999.

15. See Mark Vaughn, "Passing the Flames: Southern California's Youth Recreates the Hot Rod In Its Own Image," Autoweek, February 26, 1996.

16. Williamson, "Don't call it a come-back. We've been here for years," 24.

17. See www.sema.org

18. Namkung, Reinventing the Wheel.

19. Personal Interview by author, Los Angeles, Calif., May 21, 1999.

20. Ibid.

21. Taken from personal interview of Frank Choi by Victoria Namkung, Santa Fe Springs, Calif., November 19, 1999. Full permission granted by interviewer.

22. Ibid.

23. Illegal races continue on the streets and have caught the attention of news media and police, many of whom focus on and target Asian American youth driving import cars. Fox television network featured a segment called "Speed Demons" on Fox Files on April 8, 1999. Also, see Rory Laverty, "On the prowl, police get creative to slow down racers, " The Argus, August 29, 1999, and Romero, "A Turbocharged Obsession."

24. See www.asianscene.com, www.asianavenue.com, and www.kineda.com.

25. See www.sema.org. Import magazines such as Auto Week estimate that about sixty percent of the car show attendees are Asian Americans, yet Namkung's research observations as well as my own indicate that such numbers are conservative. See Namkung, Reinventing the Wheel, 160.

26. Although Team Kaya boasts a membership of more than thirty members, approximately fifteen were active at the time of my research.

27. Personal interview by author, Lafayette, Calif., April 29, 1999.

28. Although the majority of the members are Asian Americans-Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino-they consider themselves a "multicultural" team and include several white members.

29. "Import Saga" car show, Vallejo, Calif., March 10, 2001.

30. Personal interview by author, San Mateo, Calif., January 17, 2004.

31. Personal interview by author, Oakland, Calif., May 13, 1999.

32. Jeff Yang, Dina Gan, Terry Hong & the staff of A.Magazine, Eastern Standard Time: a guide to asian influence on American culture (New York: Mariner Books, 1997), 313. Also, see Michael Omi and Howard Winant, Racial Formations. (New York: Routledge,1994), 116.

33. The use of other subcompact Asian cars such as Korean manufactured Hyundais was rejected by original import scene members because the car subculture being copied was Japanese subcompact imports.

34. Personal interview by author, March 15, 1999.

35. See Espiritu, "Pan-Asian American Ethnicity: Retrospect and Prospect."

36. Personal interview by author, April 29, 1999.

37. Personal interview by author, May 3, 1999.

38. I refer here to the Center for Contemporary Cultural Studies and the scholars of the Birmingham school, which formally arose in 1964 under the direction of Stuart Hall and Richard Hoggart. See Andrew Edgar and Peter Sedgwick, Key Concepts and Cultural Theory, (London and New York: Routledge Press 1999); Clarke, John, Stuart Hall, Tony Jefferson, and Brian Roberts, "Subcultures, Cultures, and Class, The Subcultures Reader, Ken Gelder and Sarah Thornton, eds. (London: Routledge, 1975); Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson, Resistance Through Rituals (Cambridge: University Press, 1976).

39. Dick Hebdige, Subculture: The Meaning of Style (London: Routledge, 1979), 116.

40. Stacey Lee, Unraveling the "Model Minority Stereotype (New York: Teachers College, 1996).

41. Personal interview by author, Oakland, Calif., May 13, 1999.

42. Suechang Chan, Asian Americans: An Interpretive History (Boston: Twayne Publishers, 1991).

43. Robert Lee, Orientals: Asian Americans and Popular Culture (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1999).

44. Robert Connell, Masculinities (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1995), 81.

45. However, this image of Asian/Asian American males is changing slowly in mainstream society toward becoming more desirable, especially by white females, because of their rising socioeconomic status as evidenced in an article in Newsweek. It states that the Asian male image has moved from the "son of a laborer or laundryman" to "future Internet millionaire." See Esther Pan, "Why Asian Guys Are on a Roll," Newsweek, February 21, 2000.

46. Connell, Masculinities. Also see David Collinson and Jeff Hearn," 'Men' at 'work': multiple masculinities/multiple workplaces" in Understanding Masculinities, Martin Mac an Ghaill, ed. (Buckingham: Open Press University, 1996).

47. Namkung, Reinventing the Wheel.

48. Sunaina Maira, "Identity Dub:' The Paradoxes if an Indian American Youth Subculture (New York Mix)" Cultural Anthropology: Journal of the Society for Cultural Anthropology, 14:1 (1999): 29-60, 46-7.

49. Connell, Masculinities, 189.

50. Personal correspondence with Miyoshi. Also, see Namkung.

51. Taken from personal interview of Mike Munar by Victoria Namkung, Laguna Beach, Calif, December 7, 1999. Full permission granted.

52. Personal correspondence, at "Import Autorama," Pomona, Calif., March 27, 1999.

53. Ibid.

54. Personal interview, May 13, 1999.

55. Marriane Liu, " The New Go-Go Girls; Young women are winning acceptance as they break into formally all-male sport of Import-car racing," Los Angeles Times, August 2, 2000.

56. Personal interview, January 9, 2004.

57. Robert Choo, "Battling it out in Fontana," turbo & High-Tech Performance, December 2000, 98.

58. Liu, "The New Go-Go Girls," E3.

59. It is important to note that although women consume materials related to the Import scene, readership of car magazines is still largely male.

60. Jason Mulroney, "Pint-Sized Perfection," import Tuner, December 2000, 36.

61. Claudine Ko, "Fly on the Wall," Jane, March 2003, 108-110.

62. Miyoshi noted that "Import Showoff" stopped the practice of having separate awards for girl racers after women expressed their desire to compete equally with men in the same categories.

63. Li, "Racer X."

64. See www.sema.org.

65. Personal phone interview, January 9, 2004.

66. Ibid.

67. See www.sema.org.

68. See www.nhrasportcompact.com/2003/news/september/091701.html (2003).

69. See www.battleoftheimports.com/intro/index/shtml.

70. Personal correspondence at "Import Motion," San Mateo, Calif., January 17, 2004.

71. Ibid.

72. Personal email correspondence by author, December 17, 2003.

73. Chinese American male at "Import Motion," San Mateo, Calif., January 17, 2004.

74. Discovery Channel. "Street Racing: Pedal to the Metal." February 9, 2004.

75. See Tricia Rose, "A Style Nobody Can Deal With," Microphone Fiends: Youth Music and Youth Culture, Andrew Ross and Tricia Rose, eds. (New York and London: Routledge, 1994), and Tricia Rose and Andrew Ross, Microphone Fiends: Youth Music And Youth Culture, (New York: Routledge, 1994). An intervention is Maira's ethnography of second-generation Indian American youth in the bhangra music scene. See Maria, "Identity Dub."