MARCH 18, 2013: ARE YOU FASTER THAN A REDNECK? WE CERTAINLY HOPE NOT AT MSCC

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Many car guy shows come and go that are forgettable at best, but we believe ‘Are You Faster Than a Redneck?’ is a winner.

 

The show is an acquired taste that may not sit well with some viewers, however we really like this show-even the host.

 

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The idea is pretty simple: American muscle takes on the imports from Europe and Japan in a series of road races for a $10,000 prize. The show falls comfortably into a half hour format and that program length also works for us because a full hour of the excessive good old boy banter might be too much for viewers.

 

But a half hour works fairly well and the host remains pretty entertaining to those of us who can handle a generous side of goofy with our TV programs. The real stars of the show are the cars and it builds solidly upon a “what-if” factor when American muscle takes on the world.

 

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We won’t even pretend to be neutral in this showdown. We want the American cars to win big every time they hit that track and we are crushed when we watch any episodes in which the imports ride off with the title and ten large at the end of the program.

 

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It’s not like we hate import cars in any sense of the concept, in fact we have even owned European and Japanese vehicles. But our hearts belong to Detroit all day every day when it comes to any race that pits foreign cars against Detroit’s finest.

 

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The drivers have a mixed bag of vehicles and driver skill sets so the stage is not exactly perfectly balanced between competitors in each race. The American iron ranges from 60s and 70s muscle to late model Challeys, Stangs and Camaros, while the imports so far have ranged from low-end Nissan to high-end Lotus brands and everything in between.

 

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The horsepower edge typically goes to the American cars and the Detroit iron relies upon heavy torque from muscular V-8s to build their leads in the short 3 lap races. The imports are nimble and vary from well-powered to under-powered in the races.

 

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The races are always interesting and worth a half hour of your time. The only curveball occurs when a special guest driver jumps behind the wheel of an American muscle car in the races. The system worked very well when NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace was unveiled as a driver and dominated in the race, but it failed miserably when one of the actors from the ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ attempted to compete as a driver.

 

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We give this show a thumbs-up because it fulfills a dream competition between the cars that captured our hearts, hopes and dreams as kids (American muscle cars) and the rest of the world’s street cars.

 

The fact that the American cars win more than they lose in this TV show is a good reason to add another thumb to that first thumbs-up.

 

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Give ‘Are You Faster Than a Redneck?’ a look when it shows up in the TV schedule.

 

Jim Sutherland

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