Dogecoin has come a long way since it launched as an entirely humorous take on cryptocurrency. During a recent meme-filled mania, the dog-themed coin was the 10th largest token by market cap and Elon Musk and Snoop Dogg became big fans. But bigger things were to come.Today, in the latest sign of dogecoin’s ascension, the smiling Shiba Inu appears on the hood of Stefan Parsons’ race car in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.You can watch the dogecoin-adorned car at 4:30 p.m. ET on the Fox Sports channel FS1.How the hell did this all happen?CoinDesk spoke to an early DOGE evangelist, Pinguino, about the project’s origins, from dogecoin parties in Hollywood to Pinguino’s thoughts on the new wave of dogecoiners and DOGE price appreciation, much of which she attributes to Elon Musk’s support of the meme-coin. Pinguino even organized a party to watch the original “Dogecar” race in 2014, a car that racer Stefan Parsons’ father happened to own.Pinguino also discusses the WallStreetBets/SatoshiStreetBets phenomenon, her involvement hosting the Satoshi Square LA networking group in Los Angeles from 2013 to 2017 and beta-testing CryptoKitties NFTs. Tune in for fascinating stories from crypto’s pioneer days and an insider’s view of the dogecoin story. More about our guestArtist Pinguino was the publisher of early-bitcoin era Spelunk.in and host of DogeParty West, advocating cryptocurrency use back when few knew what bitcoin was. Working in various forms of internet finance since 1995, Pinguino has lived through the internet’s Wild West and survived to tell the tale. These days, she’s combining her love of comics with crypto and creating non-fungible tokens, including a new set of NFTs in honor of the return of the Dogecar.Find Pinguino on Twitter: @pinguino Note: Rob Mitchell thinks he can access dogecoin he acquired many years ago, but isn’t sure.Image credit: Springrates and Craig WeltySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.