Dogecoin community sponsors a racecar at the Talladega Superspeedway

Kick the tires and light the fires, big doggy—Doge is headed for the races. On Sunday, Internet culture will bleed into the lives of unsuspecting Americans as NASCAR driver Josh Wise gets behind the wheel of the Dogecar at the Talladega Superspeedway for the Aaron’s 499 race. The Dogecar, for the uninitiated, is a souped-up Ford Fusion sponsored entirely by users of the Dogecoin cryptocurrency—electronic money branded by the Doge meme that was originally meant as a joke. 

Wow. Such Reddit. So crypto. Much Nascar. Wow. It’s really happening. Cryptocurrency-flush Reddit users banded together to raise big real-world bucks to sponsor up-and-coming driver Josh Wise in the Nascar Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway this coming weekend. That sponsorship money not only ensured that Wise will be able to qualify for the big race, but also that Dogecoin, the particular brand of Bitcoin cryptocurrency raised, would get to deck out the race car with Shiba Inu dogs. Graphic designers pitched in to come up with ideas for what the car would look like. The Phil Parsons Racing team finally let the world in on the official paint scheme with some tweeted photos. The car looks pretty standard on the side, with a white, gold, and black color combination and a big “98.” “Dogecoin digital currency” is prominent. Look closer and you’ll see, just behind the back wheels, a rocket ship with the words “to the moon.”