No

by Matthew Fulton

Created on: December 28, 2010

What would a Sunday afternoon at Daytona, Talladega, or Martinsville be without the roar of over 40 engines springing to life at the command of "Gentlemen, start your engines"? Frankly, it would be something that no one would want to watch. NASCAR could never "go green" with electric or hybrid cars and still maintain the popularity that it has managed to garner over the years. This is because an electric car simply would not have the power to run at top speeds hovering around 200 mph for 500 miles, a hybrid car's electric engine would only be useful during pit stops, and NASCAR fans are pretty resistant to anything politically correct to begin with.

At present, even the most expensive electric cars like the Chevrolet Volt can only hit top speeds of about 70 mph and run for just over an hour at full speed at full charge. NASCAR's failure to become as popular as the NFL or NBA stems from the sizable portion of society believing that "watching left turns" is boring. If it bores these people at 200 mph, it will bore everyone at 70. "Races" would involve 40 cars packed in tight groups that never really spread out, which is a problem for many fans already when it comes to restrictor plate racing at Daytona and Talladega. A weekend race would no longer be a race, but rather an emulation of rush hour. Die-hard fans would switch the television off or watch a more exciting sport than this , like golf or rhythmic gymnastics.

So now that purely electric cars are ruled out, what about hybrids? They do extend gas mileage, so looking at it at nothing more than statistics would lead to the belief that Jimmy Johnson and Matt Kenseth could go head to head for much longer without having to make pit stops. Well, not really. The electric motor on hybrid vehicles is either meant to take over for the gasoline engine during stops in the case of city driving or can power the vehicle independently with the same levels of power as a pure electric car. The only gains you would get would be saving a tiny amount of racing fuel during a pit stop (yet having tougher times getting the car out of the pits) or to give the car a way to get back to pit lane should it run out of fuel. The latter option is nothing worth investing the incredible cost of the batteries and transmission systems that this novelty feature would require, and the former is a complete waste.

NASCAR fans are typically the most conservative members of American society. Their largely Southern and rural roots lead to a strong resistance to change, and we can see this already. Fans have bemoaned the inclusion of drivers from the North, West, and even foreign countries, missing the days when it was purely a "good ol' boys" sport. Who doesn't love watching an excited redneck attempt to thank all of his sponsors, fans, crew, and God in a think accent that only those from the South can understand after a big win? I myself have complained about tobacco companies not being able to advertise in NASCAR (I remember Winston Cup racing), and even the "Car of the Future" looks a little funny to me. Electric cars are something for "hippie liberals" in the minds of NASCAR fans, not their favorite drivers.

In short, not only would NASCAR racing with "green" cars be incredibly slow and boring, but fans would simply stop watching the sport due to this boredom combined with a feeling of betrayal of NASCAR's traditional roots. Now let's all hope for the sake of the excitement of the last lap that the EPA can keep their noses out of the sport that excited so many every spring and summer weekend.

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