Instead, he got to where he is mainly through nepotism, and right now he is focusing his attention on always being in the company of two-meter-tall human gorillas, driving Hummer cars, devoting himself to a life in luxury.
"Dub has enabled us to do a show like 'Pimp My Ride,' " said Xzibit, the rapper and host of the show, who recently showed off his Mercedes-Benz S500 with the interior done up in Louis Vuitton leather at the International Auto Salon, a Los Angeles car show devoted to the youthful tuner market.
Though the art in the exhibition is varied -- one car is devoted entirely to abstract work -- paintings like Attilla Hejja's "Light Ship," which depicts the launching of the Space Shuttle Challenger, recall the kind of detailed, theatrical landscapes captured by 19th-century American artists like Frederick Church.
This can be attributed in part to Brawn's decision, early after his arrival at Honda in 2008, to stop developing the Honda car and devote the team's efforts to developing the new car for 2009.
Why didn't we drive straight back to LA after skiing, rather than spending the night in the car and devoting the next day to an eastward loop into Death Valley?
He did not appear to be shy about showing off his new possessions, frequently posting pictures of his cars on Web sites devoted to car enthusiasts — including unitedbimmer.com, a BMW fan forum where Mr. Pena displayed his 2004 M3.
Madison Avenue loves to extol the perfection of products, from a whipped icing that is "the perfect blend of fudge and vanilla" to a luxury car that is devoted to "the relentless pursuit of perfection".
It also assumes someone's health insurance payments will be $20 a month, car and home insurance together $100 and $150 devoted to your car for a car payment, gas, etc.
As Doug Newcomb, a longtime auto journalist and now the president of C3, a Web site devoted to car technology, told me, "Auto companies are conservative; they weren't ready for this onslaught of outsiders at first.
"Destroy All Cars" could have featured a car-loving protagonist, deeply devoted to global warming, without fundamentally changing the story.
