Why do people drive half-ton pickups so fast?

I typically drive around 75mph on the interstate, which means that I'm mostly in the left lane, but I have to move over pretty frequently for faster drivers. I'm not an "enforcer" type. If you want to go faster, I do my best to get out of your way.

It's an annoyance, though. Having to hurry up and get over requires me to check my surroundings and decelerate pretty quickly. Might even need to downshift. Then, I'm trapped in the right lane while Richard Petty and all the various vehicles drafting behind him make their way past me. All in all, it's wasteful, dangerous, and annoying. I nevertheless do change lanes out of courtesy.

On one drive, I made the comment to my wife that "it's always some damned F-150 zooming up behind me and disrupting everything." I started noticing it more and more.

So, yesterday, on a drive from Atlanta to New Orleans, I decided to test my theory. Each time I detected a vehicle rushing up behind me, forcing me into the right lane, I took note of whether it was a half-ton pickup or some other vehicle.

The results? Of the fourteen times I had to get over, seven times it was a half-ton pickup. At least one other time, the vehicle was a little crossover that was clearly trying to get out of the way of the F-150 riding his tail, but I scored strictly and didn't count that.

Not once was the speeding vehicle an ordinary coupe or sedan. The seven times it wasn't a half-ton pickup, it was either a larger pickup, or a smaller pickup, or an SUV.

I am a lifelong resident on the Deep South and a political conservative. I don't give a flip about fuel economy, cyclists, or pedestrian safety. If you're on a road built for cars and trucks, and you get flattened, that's on you IMO.

Nevertheless, this pattern I have observed really seems to line up with the stereotypes that exist for other men who fall into those categories- that they've got some weird hang-up about proving their own masculinity, and that the ubiquitous half-ton pickups are a really destructive and annoying outgrowth of that.

I am curious to know if others have observed this pattern. Also, if you are one of these people who zoom around in a Silverado or whatever, what is the motivation? You couldn't be all that much of a go-getter, or you'd have a 3/4 ton, right, or maybe a sports car?

Also, just to give a related observation, I have never known anyone who owned a Ford Raptor, Dodge TRX, or the like who I wanted to be around for any length of time. I think those vehicles must represent the apotheosis of what I'll call the "Small Dick Trickle" truck owner demographic.