Flagship Mercedes-Benz NY dealership in hot water over racism lawsuit originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 21 Aug 2012 14:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Top Gear crew discusses Mexico's Mastretta MXT - Click above to watch video after the jump

Another month, another nationality insulted by the Top Gear presenters. James May, Richard Hammond and Jeremy Clarkson have hopped into hot water with the Mexican government over comments that the trio made on a recent show. While discussing Mexico's Mastretta MXT sports car, Hammond said:

"Mexican cars are just going to be lazy, feckless, flatulent, overweight, leaning against a fence asleep looking at a cactus with a blanket with a hole in the middle on as a coat."

To make matters worse, Clarkson joked that the BBC wouldn't receive any complaints from the Mexican ambassador because he would likely be asleep. He was not.

The ambassador reportedly sent a letter to the BBC saying that the presenters had used vulgar and bigoted language to describe the people of his country and that the remarks were both xenophobic and humiliating. So far, the BBC hasn't commented on the situation. Thanks for the tips, everyone!

[Sources: BBC, YouTube]

Video: Top Gear riles Mexico with comments, elicits response originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 02 Feb 2011 08:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Jon Denning, right. Photo courtesy of jondenning.com

The other day I came across "Before the Thunder Rolls: Devotions for NASCAR Fans", a Christian prayer book written by a former NASCAR chaplain. It brought to light for me the degree to which stock car racing and Southern Baptist Christianity intersect. Drivers of Catholic background like Juan Pablo Montoya, Jacques Villeneuve and Dario Franchitti may be making inroads into the sport, but that's of little consolation to Jon Denning.

The budding Jewish racing driver from New Jersey says he's encountered a surprising degree of antisemitism during his climb up the NASCAR ladder. The 20-year-old driver, currently on a visit to Israel, races in the lower-level Whelen All-American Series. He has won seven races in his career and was ranked among the top 500 aspiring stock car drivers before his sponsorship ran dry. Over the course of his experience so far, Denning has described an alarming degree of racism and bigotry in NASCAR, and was even told by colleagues that if he accepted Jesus he'd have better luck on the racetrack. Ouch. Although NASCAR has a diversity program in place, Denning has been refused three times, having been told the program is only for women, Hispanics and African-Americans.

[Source: Jewish Telegraphic Agency via Winding Road]

Jewish racer describes antisemitism in NASCAR originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 23 Jan 2008 10:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

GM suspends advertising on Imus show originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

NBC's Dateline has been looking to compile an episode on anti-Muslim attitudes here in the United States, and to kick things off, the news program decided to take "Muslim-looking men" and a camera crew into the Martinsville NASCAR event. We're not quite sure what the goal of this was, but you'll have to excuse us if we don't believe that they were simply expecting a friendly and accommodating environment. Fortunately for NASCAR, motorsports, and tolerant people everwhere, no incidents were reported.

NASCAR has since fired back at the network, stating that the actions of the Dateline crew were "outrageous" and that the network should be "ashamed." NBC is in the final year of an agreement to air a portion of NASCAR's events, and presumably this incident could be brought up during contract negotiations.

While Dateline has done many fine reports in the past, the program is arguably best known to auto enthusiasts as the organization that used pyrotechnics in 1993 to stage fires in an effort to demonstrate safety problems with side-saddle fuel tanks used on GM full-size trucks.

[Source: The Associated Press via AOL News]

NBC's Dateline trolling for racism and religious intolerance in NASCAR? originally appeared on Autoblog on Tue, 11 Apr 2006 11:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Continue reading Land Rover criticized by British tv viewers for 'racist' advertisement

Land Rover criticized by British tv viewers for 'racist' advertisement originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 09 Mar 2006 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.