Well here I go like a fish out of water on most subjects except NASCAR, Nature, and Environmental issues.
It is my firm conviction that if NASCAR is sincere in contributing to the reduction of fossil fuel polution, they would consider alternative fuels to be used in races. There are other alternatives such as methane gas ( a derivative from waste dumps which are readily over flowing the countryside in America as well as sewer plants). Bio fuels derived from corn is a good and cheap form plus burns cleaner. Don't know how this will fit in with the NASCAR image of Sunoco performance gas.
I did a slight disertation on hot air on the Fox Blogs at another post but it has potential. Just have to figure out the engineering to get it to work. As I sit in my home where it is -5 degrees outside now, the natural gas is priced higher than gold and the old gas meter is spinning faster than the sound barrier speed, I am going to the poor house to stay warm.Don't take offense bloggers but this is a great idea to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels so take that part seriously. Consider the amount of people that blogg on the internet every night. Must be millions and millions. Could concievably heat half of the homes in the USA easily. Turn on more lights in the house. These bulbs produce heat and we need heat. To hell with the electric bills except if you heat with electricity. Got a bunch of cathode ray TVs. Turn them all on. They produce heat.
Now that we got a start on energy conservation, lets switch to sports. Ok?? Well racing, I have been told is not a sport. SAY WHAT??? All these years I have been watching racing and thought it was a sport. Hell, there goes my favorite past time.
I had noticed some one stated football is not a sport. Cripes ther goes another past time for many fans. I would expect to hear that baseball is not a sport too. Is it??? Hard to tell. Never could hit that tiny ball with that skinny bat but people are just as fanatical about the game as NASCAR fans are about racing and football.
Hey!! Is the Olympics a sport or a political agenda? I simply do not know any more. Must be a problem with it. They never play in the same city twice and have to go to different countries every 4 years or so.
OK. Maybe there is no such thing as sports. It is only a figment of our imagination. Sports really do not exist.What if it is really an obsession about a gathering of sorts where a bunch of people get high salaries to beat the hell out of each other for a determined amount of time and the one with the highest score wins the pot or prize.
If you can't go to these spectacles, you can watch it on TV in between the commercials. SO what are we watching?? A spectacle or commercials??? Now if you go to a live performance, do they stop the shindig when they have the commercial and resume it when the commercials are over??? I wonder how NASCAR does it. Stop the cars on the track??
Well the events that fans watch with a passion has to be classified as something to have order in our society or we will fall into utter chaos. Why not call these event sports? Certainly beats calling them something wierd like human participation, human bonding event, or a gathering of the fittest.
OK now. We have determined that these events need a name and all agree it should be catchy. SO lets say sport covers all games of competition and sorts.The fans that follow these sports will be called sports fans. That includes racing of all sorts, ball games, boxing ( not my favorite), fishing, hunting with regulations, and shuffleboards ( for the old guys like the man with more names than Carter's got liver pills).
Do you see where I am going with this Yakety Yak????
I am helping reduce the dependency on fossil fuels. Now some body needs to figure out the way to harness this hot air to heat our homes.
First off I thought it was a filiament of our imagnination? heh. But what do I know. You lost me in the second paragraph. Let me mark my forehead "hello I'm a Stupid"....anyhow I do think it would be interesting to see if they can make those cars run like they do for that far on anything except gasoline. If they can I wonder why some ethanol company isn't sponsoring a car? Think that might be in the near future?
Think that would be be great is when they do go to hydrogen cars and long endurance fuel cells. Can you imagine, 500 laps with out a pit stop. would change a lot about the sport. also, can go with indestrutible tires. Watching Science channel, imagine maglev cars (no tires) at all. 500 miles per hour speeds, it would be great.
when cars first started out, there were electric cars and steam cars, watching ancient marvels, there were sail cars 1000 years ago, might take for ever for the daytona 500 going 11 mph
If we don't, our grand children's children will certainly be reverting back to the old horse and buggy for transportation.
Here is my take.
There has been the technology for years to use alternative fuel sources but I think the big gas companies have suppressed the advancement of these technologies to further enhance their wealth and our dependence for gas..Granted some of the alternatives fuels are not as efficient as gas for power, research properly applied should generate better results in efficiency in a very short time.
No Dusty, you are not lacking in brain power, just missed the jest.
I don't think with alternative fuel sources that we will ever see a 500 mile race with out a pit stop. The sponsors would not allow that and NASCAR will do what the sponsors want.
On the Maglev cars, that would be great but they would have to be remote controled as I don't think the human body could withstand the G- forces at those speeds.
There are three abundant energy sources on this rock ( earth) that are every where you look. Salt water, wind, and magnetic pull ( gravity/ anti gravity). There is some research going on now in those sources but it is a long way off creating the sources to access those energy areas except wind.
Eric: That is correct but wished NASCAR would allow the truck to use the flex fuels during competition as a resaerch platform.
I am all for alternative fuels, as long as they can be produced cheaper than gasoline. Anything to help us get off the dependency of foreign oil is okay with me. I would be in favor of more offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska if it would get American off of foreign oil.
Avid auto racing fan and former racing participant for over 40 years. Enjoy all forms of auto racing but found NASCAR sanction to be my favorite followed by GTP and INDY cars. Have raced in SCCA, NHRA, Stock Car, and Modified sanctions in the past.
Getting up in years has regulated me to being a spectator but still find it exciting to go to the races and enjoy the hoopala surrounding the pre and post race festivities. Also find Nature Photography to be a relaxing form of enjoyment and get quite a few opportunities traveling around the country to the races to use my cameras at the tracks and nature preserves.
