Gas Up and Go

I don’t want to be a wet blanket, but NASCAR? How did this happen? All of a sudden, it’s everywhere. On TV. Commercials. Guys in suits with a bunch of tags and patches and bright colors, selling stuff. Walking advertisements. Their cars are the same way: every inch of surface is covered with some brand name. No stickers saying anything about their middle schoolers. No peace signs. No fish symbols. No Jerry bears. It’s all business, all the time.

These guys are roaring around in a circle and thousands of people are following them, watching them go around and around, risking the health and mobility of their necks. The word is that this is the most popular sport in America. What about March Madness?! What about Wrestle Mania?!

Okay. They’re going around in circles. They’re really loud. They’re using gas at an unimaginable rate, at a time when we’ve got kids dying in Iraq and we’re paying $3.20 a gallon. They are putting out a lot of exhaust and pursuing exactly the habits – driving around, wasting gas, and polluting – that we’re trying so hard to change.

There are kids who look up to these guys. There are even racing dynasties. That could be wonderful: sons and daughters following the path blazed by their parents and grandparents, but it seems so Twentieth Century. Kind of primitive and limited.

I know there is considerable skill involved in going that fast and keeping the car on the track, but I worry about these guys. They may become lop-sided or unable to go in a clock-wise direction ever again. What about those people in the stands? How can they hear themselves think? And, I certainly don’t want to be around when they’re driving home after a race.

I’m sorry, but this seems like a dinosaur activity. Are they kidding? Sure, it’s something we all can relate to and even fantasize about from time to time. Speed and waste and danger are in our blood, but that doesn’t mean they're our destiny.

Now, I have to say that Talledega Nights is one of my favorite movies, but that just shows how easy it is to laugh at someone else’s sincerity. But, what about progress? What about Earth Day? What about Exxon’s $40 billion profit?

It’s not that I don’t get it. Every now and then, while I’m racing through the channels on TV, I’ll pause and watch a few laps. It’s similar, in some ways, to hypnosis. But, ultimately, I find I have to slap myself and try to do the right thing: something else.

I mean, NASCAR? America’s Sport? I thought it was fishing.