The View From New England

Dr. Joseph Nye, former dean of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, wrote a book not so long ago entitled Soft Power: The Means To Success in World Power.

Among other things, Dr. Nye argued that one of the United States' most powerful diplomatic tools was the global pervasiveness of American popular culture. Relating that to the Henry Ford Musuem’s new exhibit, Racing In America, we can see how this country has left the world with an indelible image of American car culture, complete with all the touchstones of the post-war boom years—absurdly tall tailfins, absurdly large V8s, absurdly fast quad-Hemi-powered dragsters, absurdly colorful metal flake paintjobs, etc.
   
All things being equal, that’s hardly a bad thing. Indeed, this popular conception of the United States as a land of colorful non-conformists is one of our great cultural assets. Nevertheless, it gives the impression of a monolithic American car culture, as though low-riders, rat rods, and muscle cars simultaneously populate the streets of every American city.

  
A gear head all my life, I labored under that impression until about ten years ago when the Institute of Contemporary Arts in Boston held a show called "Customized: Art Inspired by Low Riders, Hot Rods and American Car Culture". The show was fantastic, but the accompanying book really opened my eyes to the regional peculiarities of American car culture. As a native Bostonian, of course, I was most struck by Royal Ford’s written piece, "Varoom, Varoom", in which he gave a brief overview of early hot rodding here in the Northeast.

You see, New England never had the Midwest’s heavy industrial base or the Southwest’s smooth, straight roads and year-round temperate weather. Neither does it contain any of the country’s legendary old racetracks. Moreover, New Englanders remain puritanical in outlook, attitude, and behavior, regardless of whether or not one can actually trace their family lineage back to the Mayflower. Nevertheless, in spite of the preceding recipe for an automotive cultural void, New England is home to cutting edge manufacturers, houses one of the world’s best restoration experts, and is responsible for producing some of the leaders of the next great class of American drivers.
   
What I aim to do is discover how racing in America (not just the exhibit, but the idea) is viewed through the prism of the New England ethos. My hope is not only to shed some light on the question, but also to keep you entertained in the process. Good luck to both of us.

Photo Credit: Mitulmdesai