Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Save Oil, Ban Motorsports

In the past week or so, the price of gas has gone up 10 to 15 cents per gallon. The people on TV tell us that the price increases are due to extremely tight supply and, of course, the volatility in the Middle East. If the supplies are really that tight, then I say that it is time to get rid of motorsports. Nascar, Indy cars, monster trucks, etc, right on down to the local dirt or asphalt tracks that run races on Friday and Saturday nights during the warmer months. All of these racing vehicles must use up huge quantities of fuel. Yes, it is a big industry and it makes someone a lot of money, but at the same time, there are a lot of people who can barely afford to drive to work and must cut other things out of teir budgets (maybe even food) to be able to pay the skyrocketing price of gas. While the deeper issue is our dependency on foreign oil, there are things that can be done now to cut down on how much of it we use. One of those things, I believe, is the complete elimination of motor sports.

So Sayeth The Shack

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I agree that these NASCAR cars guzzle gas like crazy, just like SUV's and trucks. (IMO, they should be banned too). But, the fact of the matter is that oil is a non-renewable resource and will run out someday. Banning motorsports, while thoughtful, is probably trivial. In the long run, we'll run out of oil anyway, which ultimately would mean an end to driving and flying altogether. Seeking alternative fuel sources seems to me like the way to go. But, the big car makers like Ford and GM don't want it and heaven forbid we upset them. So, here we are, fighting a war, losing thousands of American lives to "protect our freedom". When really it is only a smokescreen to fool stupid Americans into believing it's something other than oil. And, now on top of that, we want to start drilling in places (arctic) that were meant to remain pristine. We don't mind spending billions of dollars on foreign wars...why not spend some cash to seek out alternative fuel methods, so we don't have to rely on these 3rd world countries for the supply. BTW, we should probably stop flying all those sorties over Iraq too, they are bound to guzzling gas, big time. Oh, I forgot, we're "protecting our freedom".

The Shack said...

You are pretty much right, Mr or Ms Anonymous. The whole supply will run out one of these days, so this is just postponing the inevitable. But it is still sort of like tossing tap water out the window in the middle of a drought. You want to conserve every drop and push the inevitable as far into the future as possible. Eventually, when the oil does run out, or maybe before, the economy of this country and most of the world will be turned upside down. Maybe it will be another big depression like back in the 1920s; maybe world-wide war and anarchy. There are tough times ahead and tough decisions to be made for our generation and the next.