Sunday, February 19, 2006

Off To The Races...

How can you tell the year is marching right along and that we’re headed into spring? When you look outside at snow and then turn on the TV and watch the Daytona 500 and hear reports on baseball Spring Training. Is it that time of year already? Where did January and February go?

I’m not a devoted fan, but I do enjoy watching NASCAR races. It’s got it’s entertainment value. (Not to mention they called me the "Jeff Gordon of the Forklift" at a job I used to work at years ago - so I gotta cheer for him :) Still, I can’t help thinking while watching these cars go in circles the amount of fuel and money being wasted. The weather of late would certainly indicate problems with global warming and other earth related issues. They’re trying to push fuel efficient vehicles and cut down on emissions. Then you see these car races and think: “That can’t be helping any.”

Now, I understand that no one would pay to watch SMART cars running around Daytona (well, maybe the first time, just for the laughs.) But why do I have to pay for meaningless Drive Clean programs and emission testing and high fuel prices when these guys blow away more ozone in an afternoon than I probably do in a year? And I’m not even getting into how the money that is spent on one of these events could probably feed a lot of hungry people or sponsor important medical research to save lives…

Maybe it's just me, but the world's priorities do seem to have order management issues...

...Hey, Jeff Gordon is running 19th?! I was a better forklift driver than that...come on Jeff, I've got a reputation to consider...put your foot to the firewall and get going ;-)

Comments on "Off To The Races..."

 

Blogger Eaglewing said ... (February 19, 2006 9:55 PM) : 

Yeah, they do look like fun - in a go kart kind of way...

The only problem I have with them is safety. If you were in an accident in a Smart Car, you'd be dead. There is no crumple zone - you're basically sitting on the pavement.

It'd be one thing if everyone was driving those, but putting that on the road with 18 wheelers and SUV's is kind of risky.

They should start doing something to popularize the hybrids and fuel efficient cars. Maybe racing them on really small tracks would be a start :) Think you can draft in a Smart car?

 

post a comment