Magazines' websites have become a convenient venue for hoaxes in recent years, not always with the happiest of results. For example, in what must have seemed like an inspired idea at first, Car and Driver posted a prank item on April 1, 2009 claiming that the Obama administration had insisted Chevrolet and Dodge end their participation in NASCAR. At the time, you may recall, the government was spending billions of taxpayer dollars to bail out the U.S. auto industry, so the story had at least a thin veneer of plausibility.
While some people seem to have enjoyed the joke, it appears to have caused considerable upset in NASCAR circles. Car and Driver pulled the piece and reportedly apologized for “going too far.”
Driver Tony Stewart got the last word in many reports on the hoax, saying, "When you’re dealing with a nation that is going through tough economic times and you have major manufacturers and millions of people [who] are relying on them and you see that happen…. I'm even smart enough not to do that, and I do a lot of stupid stuff."
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