Jonathan Wong Editorial - The Wong Way

Between Ricky, Nads, and me, writing our editorials is like an interoffice competition. Who will write theirs first so we can copy what the other one wrote? Being that this is the November issue, everyone gravitated toward the Thanksgiving theme, but I felt that would be too obvious of a topic to cover. The biggest hurdle to overcome is figuring out the big rant of the month. Thankfully, I'm not very bitter right now, so I'll save you the agony of having to read through some silly nonsense. It's too bad we couldn't just fill this space with an endless array of movie quotes (Old School is the current favorite.); I'd have a much easier time trying to turn this in on time.

I did find an interesting letter that was sent to our Loud & Clear section. Basically, the person who sent it to us commented that Super Street was starting to become to mainstream, succumbing to the whims of Anytown, U.S.A. I take a two-sided stance on the matter. First, let's look at our magazine from the non-sellout perspective. I think the feature cars we present to you on a monthly basis are in fact some of the most unique vehicles that have ever been built by human hands. So the majority of them are from Japan; does that mean we've gone mainstream? No. I think we push the envelope because you're seeing something that might not otherwise be seen anywhere else in our country. If someone complains that all they're seeing are cars from Japan, I'd take that as an incentive to go out and build something that's better. Until then, take it for what it's worth, which is essentially good old-fashion dopeness. Things could be worse, but we'd never let it get that ugly.

Now let's switch things up a bit. Let's say we're mainstream. The only reason I could think of would be due to the amount of ads we have filling this meaty piece of publication. You may not like what you see for sale, but if it weren't for advertising, we'd be out of a job and unable to produce our fine rag for you. Some argue that even the tech installs we provide aren't savvy enough. We've never really been one to explain the efficiency of a 13mm bolt located on the backside of a Garrett T3/T4 turbo, but I think we do a great job of showing beginning readers how to install their own set of coilovers without having to break down and pay someone else to do it for them. We even get complaints about the music we review! I don't know about the radio stations you guys tune in to, but 90 percent of the stuff we groove to will never be played on most major radio stations. Not unless it's the Saturday night mix-off at two in the morning, but that's still a far cry from what Britney or Justin are selling at Tower Records.

No matter which way you view Super Street, we try to make sure that it's the best possible source for everything compact performance related. If it's really that bad, you could always put us back on the rack where you found us, but chances are that it's too late and you're already reading this in the privacy of your home. Hey, at least we have really good pictures of models. Isn't that what really matters? That's the one thing we never get complaints about. Well, almost never.-Jonathan Wongsstreet@primedia.com