I remember the “Oil Shortage” of the early 70’s. I was 13 at the time and wondered why we still had “Car Races” (Demolition Derby, Dragstrips, Indy 500, etc.) if there was a shortage of oil.
Now, 32 years later, again, it seems we are globaly aware of the limits of this resource and yet, we have resources to waste on watching cars go round in circles really fast, Boat Races… etc. I understand it is an “industry”… is it really such a crucial “Entertainment industry” that we can’t live without it? Or are we just wasting resources? And if it’s a waste… why does it continue? ( to satisfy our inner red-neck? )
Yes, you may deduce I am not a NASCAR fan. To me, it seems like a waste of time as well. (perhaps my inner red-neck died when my brain started developing)
Sure, NASCAR is wasteful. But it’s a tiny waste compared to how much fuel is used by the spectators just to get there. So it’s pretty much equivalent to major sporting events. And what about people flying/driving all over the country just to visit their relatives, or go to Disneyworld? It’s all wasteful.
Welcome to the SDMB, richird.
A link to the online column you’re commenting on is appreciated. Providing one can be as simple as pasting the URL into your post, making sure to leave a blank space on either side of it. Like so: http://www.straightdope.com/columns/060224.html
Thanks bibliophage. And CurtC.
After I wrote my post, I went to a meeting and this same topic came up (not by me). And as CurtC had mentioned, the point of all the spectators vehicles and recreational travel came up.
I was also informed that I am too harsh regarding red-necks (inner or otherwise). And so, unable to edit my initial post, I offer to the following to those possibly offended by my flippant remarks.
“Just because I am not sophisticated enough to understand the need for NASCAR and all the fuels, lubricants and such required to sustain it, does not mean it is not valid. I am, however, entitled to regard it in my opinion, as a waste of precious resources. And I am entitled to regard time, as a precious resource, as well as the others implied.”
And now, I am considering adding all commercial sporting events and superfluous travel to my list of suspected unnecessary usage of the fossil fuels we take for granted.
I wish I had a suggestion or an idea to offer as a solution to our dwindling resources issue… I think that the person (or people) who can and/or do come up with the best solutions… will make a lot of money. And, after all, isn’t that what it’s all about?
And computer message boards. A complete waste of resources. Are you willing to turn of your home PC?
Racing has provided us with better aerodynamics, efficient and powerful engines, better lubrication, cooling, and safety systems. Perhaps they are an overall “win” when you look at the big picture?
I remember some analysis of this when the original oil crunch occurred in the seventies. There was some talk of banning motorsports, but when all the numbers were crunched auto racing used less fuel than football or horse racing. Of course this was thirty years ago, so I have no idea if that’s still the case.
How much natural gas is your computer burning right now? The great thing about a market is that we don’t have to decide what is wasteful and what isn’t. It’s already taken care of. If oil were so scarce, fuel would be costly enough to make the race teams think twice about doing 500 miles per Sunday. But, it isn’t. Fuel is cheap, gasoline is plentiful, and it is still economically feasible to spend an afternoon driving around in a circle to the delight of millions.
-T_SQUARE (Economist and Redneck)
nitpikc: it’s an oval.
Not to mention safety. We don’t all have the HANS device in our passenger vehicles, but we do have roll cages, crumple zones, and safety glass. We also have softer barriers along our roadways that were developed and installed on race tracks for the safety of the drivers and spectators. And whether you like it or not, NASCAR is hugely popular and getting more popular by the year. And the new fans aren’t Southern Rednecks, they are engineers and business men and soccer moms. Every T-shirt with a number they buy pays for oil and fuel.
If you want to get rid of truely superfluous oil and gas consumption, you should get rid of ATV’s, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, and recreational watercraft. Not only would you limit oil consumption, but you would save alot of lives, too. The number of snowmobiliers killed in Wisconsin so far this year is in the 20’s and we still have at least a month of snowmobiling weather left.
So, now that I quoted you, I see you did mention safety… :o
Don’t a lot of the racecars actually burn alcohol, rather than gasoline? I’m pretty sure dragsters do, but not sure about NASCAR.
After the first oil shock in the 70s, many car races instituted limits on the total amount of fuel each car could burn during a race. This didn’t really save any fuel but it did add another factor that the teams had to take into account during the race.
nitpick: sometimes.
Indy cars burn alcohol, but NASCAR uses gasoline (Sunoco Gasoline). The gas actually seems to be safer, it seems. Have you ever seen the footage of that Indy car burning during refuling where nobody can tell that the car, the driver, and the crew are all inveloped in invisable flames? That is some scary shit.
But alcohol takes energy to make, so burning alcohol doesn’t necessarily mean that they are using less fossil fuels. It takes more energy to make and refine a gallon of ethanol than a gallon of ethanol produces in current internal combustion engines.
Top Fuel dragsters use NitroMethane, made from Nitric Acid and Propane. Just below them are the alchohol fueled class, which use Methanol.
It’s been hinted at, but I’m surprised no one has put into real perspective how miniscule the fuel usage at a NASCAR event is. If put into a percentage of total U.S. gasoline consumption, it might start to show up if you went several decimal places down.
From this Google Answers page, the entire fleet of Nextel Cup racers uses about 200,000 gallons of fuel in a year. I performed some simple order-of-magnitude checks, and that value bears out as reasonable. Now let’s assume that the 200K gallons they use in races is outweighed by what they use in practices, testing, and qualifying. We’ll go ahead an more than double it to 500,000 gallons per year. I doubt that racing only accounts for 40% of their fuel usage, because they aren’t practicing 700 miles every week above and beyond the race. But it’s good as a conservative estimate.
So, Nextel Cup “wastes” 500,000 gallons of fuel every year. In contrast, the US as a whole used 374 million gallons of gasoline a day in 2003. (Cite). Yearly, this works out to 136.4 billion gallons a year.
So, percentage-wise: 500K/136.4B = 0.00037%
So for all of NASCAR’s wastefulness, the rest of us outpace their consumption by about 270,000 times. Something tells me getting rid of stock car racing isn’t going to put a dent in our consumption.
Are you referring to the road tracks? If so, they’re a very minor part of the sport (and IMHO shouldn’t even be that). All other tracks are ovals/tri-ovals.
Indy’s a rectangle.
(And what’s with the lack of love for road courses? Sears Point and Watkins Glen are fun!)
You sound kind of like a NIMBY (Not-In-My-BackYard). You don’t like NASCAR so no one else should enjoy it. What do you like? Golf? A waste of good agricultural land, not to mention scarce water resources. Football? A waste of concrete and astroturf with overpaid millionaire players. Baseball? Ditto. Libraries? A waste of paper and scarce resources and a contributor to global warming.
See, no matter what YOU like, someone else doesn’t.
Of course, from the the tone of your post, you probably are also one of those people who have a right not to be offended.
So… No offense!
Frank
aerodave, you are Ryan Newman, aren’t you?!
But that is some interesting math. Now I can dismiss any guilt I had over NASCAR fueling (hee hee) the terrorist underworld. Not that I had any, but now I won’t have to.
Okay okay. My point being they are definitely not driving around in a circle.