daBlog by goddess101

Out of Gas

A historic event is taking place this Memorial Day weekend at the Indianapolis 500. For the first time in the event’s 91 years, the race will feature 3 female drivers, one of whom has a decent chance at actually winning. Now, before I start breaking into the first verse of Helen Reddy’s “I Am Woman”, I do have one question: in a world facing a fuel and energy crisis, as well as rising gas prices, why is this something to celebrate? How can the Indy 500, Formula One, NASCAR and any other form of organized motor racing continue to exist?

NASCAR estimates 6,000 gallons of fuel are consumed during a single NEXTEL Cup (a NASCAR racing series) weekend. With 36 points races, that is approximately 216,000 gallons of gas used for a NEXTEL season. NEXTEL cars are also known as inefficient gas-guzzlers, getting only 2 to 5 miles per gallon. NASCAR vehicles could quite possibly be big-time polluters, because they are not required to have mufflers, catalytic converters or other emissions control devices. In addition, the use of lead additives pose huge health risks to anyone exposed to car fumes.

So, why oh why doesn’t motor racing just screech to a full stop already?

Here’s the answer. Formula One is a massive television event, with millions watching in 200 countries. NASCAR has grown to become the second most popular (read profitable) in terms of television ratings inside the U.S., ranking behind the NFL. The Indy 500 is one richest motorsport events in existence, having the largest attendance and one of the largest radio and television audiences of any single-day sporting event worldwide.

Well, so what, you might be thinking, in the grand scheme of things, is auto racing really that bad? You have a couple of dozen cars driving around a race track for only a few hours at a time. Annual gas consumption is in the 10s of billions in America; NASCAR cars represents a tiny smidgen of that. Well, just as a kid is more likely to pick up a football after watching the Super Bowl, we probably are more likely to shop for a new car, more likely to drive those few miles to the grocery store than take public transportation, more likely to go for a drive than a walk when we’re feeling stressed, and more like to buy accessories for our cars or slap on a new coat of paint or purchase a new pair of driving sunglasses—cuz you know what? Driving is so damn cool! Isn’t it?

I haven’t driven in approximately 3 years. I walk nearly everywhere I go, even if it will extend my trip an hour. I don’t worry about car payments. I don’t worry about insurance rates. I don’t worry about parking tickets. However, I do worry about the price of gas going back down, cuz in the end, is there anything else that will make us lay off the gas pedal?