Danika Patrick, the woman among men in the Indy 500
The Indy 500 happens at this time ever year regardless of the price or scarcity of gasoline. It's pushing $3 per gallon, and it was near $5 per gallon last year. Still, these folks continue to blow off valuable energy as if there is an endless supply. They no longer use gasoline but have replaced it with ethanol, the plant-based fuel that is now causing us to grow corn and sugar for fuel rather than feeding the 25,000 who will die of starvation today. Experts say that the energy required to fill one SUV tank could feed a single person for an entire year.
And we still haven't even included the waste from the fuel used by people who spend hundreds or thousands of dollars to attend and watch cars drive fast around and around and around. I thought that we were deep into a recession, and that people were having trouble with the basics of life. We've been asked to limit our use of oil and combine out trips to save fuel, but these racers just keep driving nowhere. And people come out to watch and cheer as long as they make lots of noise and crash every so often. How about a real technology race of electric, sustainable energy vehicles?
That does not seem to be the interest of such big sports events. People are still attending and making a big deal about this type of "competition," which is really nothing more than lots of fat cat corporate types getting "we the people" to get excited about overpaid "athletes" creating a spectacle. It's just big money using more big money to attract money from unconscious people (mostly guys).
The majority of people who have the great seats are corporate executives whose tickets are bought by the company, many of which are being supported by U.S. government funds. That big corporation may be receiving bail out money from us ("we the people" American taxpayers), but they still "invest" in taking themselves and their clients to these big sporting events.
And they're mostly men who believe that they're in control and living the good life. I say that it's time to look at what we're really doing from a cosmic, global perspective. When will we stop wasting resources on mindless competition and start to feed the 25,000 who will die of starvation today? When will we realize that there is a very limited amount of fossil fuel remaining and stop racing and other "stupid sports tricks" that take our attention away from what's really important. Nobody lying on their deathbed ever said, "I wish I would have watched more professional sports."
May we all recognize what truly provides us with passion and joy so that we can fully pursue that and not some man-made competitive event.
What do you think about this? Write your comments below. I read them all.
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Comments
They use ethanol, you idiot
uh, what he said. you might try doing 20 seconds research before writing an opinion piece based on a completely incorrect assumption.
as someone who has worked at a newspaper for 19 years i am embarrassed for you, and the examinner.
Electric racecars ? Good idea. Just explain me one thing: how all this electricity will be produced ? And please don't say from renewable resouces - ethanol already is one.
They've used ethonal for decades and helped pioneer bio-fuels (which was supposed to save us from petroleum based fuels). Technological advances made in racing help improve road car performance (yes including fuel mileage) and safety. It's true millions of people enjoy aut racing and attend the races. You could also say the same about hiking. How many people waste fuel and pollute the atmosphere just so they can hike to the top of a hill.
You arguments about "corporations" are just juvenile.
Mr. Sieden, there are not enough good-natured people like you, who are conscious enough about conserving resources that could provide for the needs of many. All four previous comments may be evidence of that. 50-something motorheads will defend to the death their squandering of resources so long as they can afford it. Ever-increasing human numbers, all greedily grabbing what they can, will only be restrained when their personal account runs out. Sadly, that is typical human nature.
It seems like Sieden's beef is not with the 500, but with consumption generally. Okay, so consumption consumes. How Siedman, "witness[er of] cultural reality", gets from his freshman-year 'perils of consumption' theme to equating the Indy 500 with the cause of starvation is kinda wacky...not to mention completing lacking a factual and causal basis. It's like linking the World Series with deforestation, or Santa Claus with global warming (reindeer farts).
Siedman seriously should go to the r
During the mid 1990s electric races were attempted. One resulted in a very public failure of Fords sodium sulphur batteries. By comparison, the Indy 500 is a reliable marketing investment. The actual amount of fuel "wasted" is small in the grand scheme of things. One would do better to encourage bringing Formula One style KERS into the CART series, instead of wailing about what idiots race fans and sponsors are. You don't start change that way, you start culture wars by creating and hardening op
This writer is an idiot. Ethanol is a renewable resource, ethanol is also made with feed corn. Not sweet corn, also INDY CAR has went to a Apex Brazil ethanol which is made from sugar cane, isn't this the same substance that is causing us Americans to be fat, is sugar the one thing that is demonized as food. So come on and leave us alone because we spend the money that WE work for to do what WE enjoy.
You are the perfect example of someone who should keep their mouth shut and their ill-informed opinions to themself. A person who, instead of allowing your readership to wonder if you are a moron, you open your mouth via your columns and confirm it every time. This column is just another brick in the wall of your ever closing mind.
Did you ever stop to consider the technological and safety advances rooted in auto racing and how much in fuel has been saved and people who are still alive d
This is not a small amount of fuel as each car gets less than 2MPG. 3 cars at Indy account for over 1000 gallons of fuel. But don't upset race fans or they'll call you an idiot. Although you will be hard pressed to find a Prius amidst the SUV's & Pickups of a car race parking lot any time soon, keep fighting the fight, Steven!
What tax dollars are being used to support the IndyCar Series?
What bankrupt companies compete in the IndyCar Series?
The 2012 indycar season will have rebuilt machines. New technologies. The EPA supports the American Le Mans Series.
I am never ceased to be amazed by people who claim to be open minded and yet write columns with their heads in a dark place where the sun does not shine. Let me ask the following, How much fuel is used to run his computer, prepare the web page, and maintain the idiotic comments for god knows how long? I can only wonder about the comments made like"When will we realize that there is a very limited amount of fossil fuel remaining." Proof my good man proof, not your baseless drivel which you cannot prove to be true. Just more facts with out proof. Why don't you just admit you are not a racing fan and didn't have a well thought out idea for a column so you just came up with this distortion of truth to steal another paycheck.
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