D.I.Y. Populism, Left and Right

Generally speaking, Tea Party enthusiasts don’t think much of East Coast media types, and it was hard not to consider this fact as David Kirkham slammed his roadster into fifth gear, topping out at more than 100 miles per hour as we hurtled toward another curve. Chunks of rubber — “marbles,” the drivers call them — flew off the tires as the car violently slowed and banked, the acrid smell of burning brake pads rising from the cement.

Mr. Kirkham and Chris Herrod, a Republican representative, canvassing together during the evening in Orem, Utah.
As Mr. Kirkham expertly maneuvered this car he had designed and built in his factory, I began to understand that there was a point to his having invited me along for the ride, and it wasn’t to give me a heart attack. The message he seemed to be sending was, We are not who you think we are. We are serious people with serious abilities.

As recently as a year ago, these cars were Mr. Kirkham’s sole passion. For about $100,000, Kirkham Motorsports, the company Mr. Kirkham started with his brother, Thomas, in 1995, will build you an exact replica of the 1960s-era Shelby Cobra, sculpted from 1,500 pounds of aluminum. A custom-made version like the one Mr. Kirkham designed and built for Larry Ellison, the chief executive of Oracle, will run you something closer to $1 million. Let’s just say Mr. Kirkham does all right.

But now, at 43, Mr. Kirkham has another obsession: He is the founder, more or less, of the now 10,000-strong Utah Tea Party, the chapter that helped get this national movement rolling by leading a stunning revolt against a sitting senator, Robert Bennett, at the state’s Republican caucuses in March and the subsequent party convention in May.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/31/weekinreview/31bai.html