[frankthetank]

Wow...I know i'll be riding my bike down there to see it when gas prices top $5/ gallon.

not

Looks like a corporate welfare case $this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')tlanta's NASCAR shrine will cost about $92 million, money the city's bid team would raise from Georgia's major corporate NASCAR sponsors, bank loans and as much as $30 million in support from the state and city governments. Atlanta's hall would open by 2008.

[DomusAlbion]

We'll go back to chariot races, ala Ben-Hur.

[Ebyss]

Burn baby, burn

[Rhinestones]

I've never been able to watch more than a few minutes of a Nascar event but I was thinking about them the other day. Maybe Nascar is so popular because it reinforces peoples hope that someone, like them, can actually WIN the Rat Race that is daily life. Even the hope of just reaching the finish line of such a futile 'race' is attractive.

[Jack]

The Easter Islanders were busy creating statues until the very end.

But we have nothing in common with them. Not a thing. Nope, nope, nope. We're different. Sure we are.

[MicroHydro]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Jack', 'T')he Easter Islanders were busy creating statues until the very end.

[Ty1843]

Nascar was in our area last year trying to schmooze a new asphalt oval for themselves. They said it would be about $50 million to build, and they would pay for it.
After some "improvements" the cost to build ballooned to $350 million, of which the local county was to pay $300 million. Didn't hear a word about it after that.

And this was in the pacific northwest, where there is a %50 chance it will rain on any given day during the racing season.


Nascar - bringing you bread and circuses for the masses.

[fossil_fuel]

jack, do you have a source for that? i just read an article yesterday that said they started topping them over towards the end.

[Jack]

From Jared Diamond's book, "Collapse", as I recall. As you point out, the Easter Islanders did start toppling statues - however, on page 80, paragraph 3, we see:

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he statues remaining at the quarry are in all stages of completion. Some are still attached to the bedrock out of which they were being carved, roughed out but with details of the ears or hands missing. Others are finished, detached, and lying on the crater slopes below the niche where they had been carved, and still others had been erected in the crater. The ghostly impression that the quarry made on me came from my sense of being in a factory, all of whose workers had suddenly quit for mysterious reasons, thrown down their tools, and stomped out, leaving each statue in whatever stage it happened to be at the moment. Littering the ground at the quarry are the stone picks, drills, and hammers with which the statues were being carved. Around each statue still attached to rock is the trench in which the carvers stood. Chipped in the rock wall are stone notches on which the carvers may have hung the gourds that served as their water bottles. Some statues in the crater show signs of having been deliberately broken or de-faced, as if by rival groups of carvers vandalizing one another's products. Under one statue was found a human finger bone, possibly the result of carelessness by a member of that statue's transport crew. Who carved the statues, why did they carve them at such effort, how did the carvers transport and raise such huge stone masses, and why did they eventually throw them all down?

[oilfreeandhappy]

Does Peak Oil mean that there will be an end to Tractor Pulls? Darn. How about the Monster Trucks? Will Nascar go electric?

I'm not a fan of Nascar, but I'll bet that there are quite a few out there. I still find it hard to believe, but Nascar is the most popular sport in America.
Jim Gagnepain
http://home.comcast.net/~oil_free_and_happy/

[aflatoxin]

Don't despair.

We will have plenty of methanol to power our racecars in the near future.

[smallpoxgirl]

I would actually predict the opposite. The actual amount of fuel used in a Nascar race is miniscule compared to the thousands of people watching the race. I would be willing to bet that as more and more people are forced into riding the bus or car pooling to get to work, the idea of watching auto racing on TV will be more and more appealing. Actually we're probably already witnessing this phenomenon. The last of the real muscle cars was made in the early 70's. Racing has already become a spectator sport, and it will be all the more important as driving becomes a spectator sport.

[seldom_seen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfreeandhappy', 'D')oes Peak Oil mean that there will be an end to Tractor Pulls? Darn. How about the Monster Trucks? Will Nascar go electric?

[oilfreeandhappy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfreeandhappy', 'D')oes Peak Oil mean that there will be an end to Tractor Pulls? Darn. How about the Monster Trucks? Will Nascar go electric?

[seldom_seen]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfreeandhappy', 'I') wouldn't be offended if you moved it to Open Discussion. But you must admit, it is America's Discussion.

[TheTurtle]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', '
')This is one of the unspoken fears of those who are aware of peakoil. Even the most doomerish doomer will rarely if ever broach the topic of Nascar and monster trucks. Search the archives and see how many threads you can find on it? It's taboo.

[drew]

Somehow I doubt we'll see the end of these anytime soon. They are spectator sports that the average joe schmoe can't possibly afford to do. Peak oil has nothing to do with desire for this type of entertainment. After all, do most airshow goers own planes, or own horses if they prefer the track? Your average Roman certainly couldn't afford to run a team in the circus maximus, yet this was a hugely popular form of entertainment for centuries. Just like Nascar, or the NFL, the fans had their favourite teams and individual drivers who were the heroes of their time. The drivers were insanely paid too, just like now.

As for affordability, the rich will have no problem buying the fuel, or equipment. I raced motorcyles in 1990, as an amateur, and knew lots of people who were spending 10's of thousands in a season. And the Canadian roadracing scene is pathetically small compared to the US or Europe. On of my freinds went pro in 92 and was spending 50k on top of the 50k and bike that Yamaha gave him. The big teams in Europe are well funded by comparison; Valentio Rossi, the world Motogp champ, makes in excess of 10 million a season, in wages alone.

'give them bread and circuses'

Drew

[oilfreeandhappy]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oilfreeandhappy', 'I') wouldn't be offended if you moved it to Open Discussion. But you must admit, it is America's Discussion.

[ubercynicmeister]

And good riddance to bad rubbish, I say. At the very least it'll stop the half-wits from trying to imitate them outside my bedroom window at 3 am.