Or maybe the inspiration was this authentic surf ride:
I think Surfer Magazine even mentioned the nose forward configuration as the more aerodynamic choice a few years ago.
I would guess that they didn't do any modeling or wind tunnel testing to support their claim, which I don't necessarily believe. But even if it were the case, it isn't much of an excuse for driving around like a dork with your surfboard strapped on backwards.
Every real surfer knows that the fin-forward configuration has been used since time immemorial and is the true and proper way to strap a board to a car.
Whereever you stand on this issue, however, you would be hard pressed to find much support for this:
I was in Hawaii last week with a 7'6" Becker, six bungie cords, a roll of duct tape, a rented Jeep Laredo, my wife, and her two aunts.
I thought that between the bungie cords and the tape, I'd have no trouble finding a way to attach the board to the roof so that we could cruise the Big Island with four people in the car. To my horror, I discovered that the Jeep's roof rack doesn't include crossbars, and they were totally unavailable.
I rolled two hotel hand towels around the roof racks and duct taped them in place. I placed the board on the towels athwartships, rather than in the usual fore-and-aft alignment. Note that I angled the leading edge of the board downward so that the airflow would tend to pressure the board onto the roof, rather than into the air. Also, I removed the fins to keep the board from blowing sideways.
I had to tweak the bungie cord hooks a little to get them to fit around the racks. I was able to find a setup in which all three bungie cord sizes fit snugly. It is hard to tell, but the white bungies are longer and the cross over the width of the car.
After careful testing at lower speeds, I felt totally confident driving all over the island at speeds of up to 70 MPH and never had any safety-related issues.
One fringe benefit of the athwartships configuration is that it turned my car in to a travelling humor-mobile, spreading mirth throughout the Big Island. Several times a day I would notice someone literally fall to the ground in laughter as I drove past.
But it worked!
***********************
Legal Disclaimer - The author confesses to being border-line retarded. If you follow this example with drastic consequences, you have only yourself to blame for accepting such bad advice.