DAYTONA BEACH. This city on Florida's west coast has been the headquarters for NASCAR since the stock car racing giant was first formed in 1948. "Some cities looked at us when we were startin' out as just a bunch moonshine-runnin' hillbillies," says NASCAR spokesman Darnell Peters. "Daytona Beach took the time to get to know us and realize we also do beer runs."
"Do you know where I can get a bus transfer?"
But NASCAR's incredible success is threatened by the same high gas prices that are pinching consumer wallets as the price of the special Sunoco 260 GTX unleaded fuel drivers use has now hit $6.25 a gallon. "I was thinkin' I was gonna have to cut back on the number of races I run this summer," says Martin Truex, Jr. "But I put a 4 x 6" note card up in the pits, and me and Robby Gordon are gonna car pool for a while and see how that works out."
"We're gonna bump draft Tony Stewart all the way down the back stretch."
Other drivers say they will use VOTRAN, Volusia County Public Transit System, to keep costs under control at Daytona Beach until gas prices recede. "We will make scheduled stops every four blocks, the same as with our regular routes," says Anna O'Neill, director of customer service for VOTRAN. "NASCAR drivers will be able to jockey for position within the bus as long as they are seated or standing behind the yellow line when we start up again."
Solar-powered Capri Sun #53 Charger
Ultimately, NASCAR's survival may depend on a shift away from fossil fuels and towards renewable energy, says Elise van der Hoef, an environmental activist who has never attended a stock car race but felt compelled to butt in anyway. "They could switch to solar-powered cars, which have attained top speeds of 40 miles per hour on a straightaway," she notes as she bites into a tofu and alfalfa sprout sandwich. "That should be enough excitement for anybody."
Yep. We definitely have to consider alternate fuel sources or raid the Arab oil producing countries and turn them into a providence of the United States.
Seriously there is alternative sources but the oil companies here seem to be dragging their feet to produce those sources or are buying off the researchers to stop researching..
I certainly am working on a golf cart thats fast enough to drive on the surburban streets for local runs. The catch is getting it licensed to run on the streets. Always something.
Con Chapman is a Boston-area writer. He is the author of "The Year of the Gerbil: How the Yankees Won (and the Red Sox Lost) the Greatest Pennant Race Ever," a history of the 1978 AL East pennant race, and a number of plays, including "Number One Hockey Mom," "Please, Pope," and "What Mickey Belle Isle Told You," a trilogy about hockey (JAC Publishing). His work is available on Amazon Shorts (at 49 cents a dowload), and he writes on sports for Flak Magazine.
