Oh, puh-leeze: Lighten up, people

Rarely do I come to the defense of a competitive member of the fourth estate, but the people at Car and Driver are getting the hooey knocked out of them by everyone from "professional media representatives" to the NASCAR faithful.

What was CD's egregious sin? Its editors concocted an April Fool's joke with them good ol' boys Chrysler and General Motors as its punchline.

C'mon, fellers, they wuz jes' funnin' wit'choose.

CD posted on its Web site that as part of its billion-dollar loan guarantee, the Obama administration was insisting that both Chrysler and GM cease participation in NASCAR. You know, that sport we know as America in an 18-wheeler.

As you can imagine, far too many people failed to look at the dateline. Far too many people failed to put two and two together and get that they were being had. Far too many people (and I'd wager that this is more than likely) pushed the story forward as legit and found themselves with some humble moon pie over their collective faces.

It has been a long-standing tradition that Car and Driver pulls April Fool's jokes. And more often than not, those attempts are not even remotely humorous. This one, considering the economic times we are in, was not just funny, but it was also absurd . . . and it had the ring of newsworthiness.

Hence the indignation and the outrage.

People, in this day and age--particularly in these times--we can use a laugh. If you can't figure out that something as absurd as what the guys in Ann Arbor did was a joke, then I have two words for you: high colonic.

By Dutch Mandel