When we think of the Toyota Prius the first words that come to mind are... well, let's not kid ourselves. We don't often think of the Toyota Prius.
When we're forced to think of the Prius, we don't really think about modifying it. Hell, we don't really think about modifying most non-Scion Toyotas, yet now four race car drivers are doing just that in some sort of Toyota-sponsored contest.
Toyota's "Racing Dream Build" is giving four Toyota racers, two from NASCAR and two from drag racing, the chance to build modified Toyotas. The cause is great: A fan vote on Facebook elects the winning team. Toyota will then donate $50,000 to the charity of that team's choice. Great stuff.
The problem is the cars. Toyota isn't really known for having the most exciting lineup on the roads today. Four Toyota racers, two from NASCAR and two from drag racing, have been given a Camry, Prius, Sequoia, and Tundra to modify.
Woo hoo?
The Prius has been given to Michael Waltrip Racing NASCAR driver Clint Bowyer.
"When you think of a hot rod, you don't think of a Prius," Bowyer said. "A young, sophisticated global thinker meets a connected, socially conscious traveler – that's the theme of the Tekked-Out Prius."
Bowyer's Prius has two Asus tablets, a Windows 7 computer, and a gigantic 17-inch touch screen on board. Apparently, Apple didn't want to be involved, and we don't blame them.
It's also been lowered and has some custom wheels on it as a nod to Bowyer's racing career.
The car is being built by RKM Motorsports, which is owned by Rob Kauffman, who you may remember from that time he was involved in a gigantic crash at Le Mans that nearly killed Mike Rockenfeller in his Audi R18 TDI.
We'll let you decide which of those facts will be the low point of his career.