As a form of entertainment, auto and truck and other motorized vehicles are an environmental disaster area. They burn resources at an obscene rate. The metal, rubber, chemicals, and fuel are of little use when racers are finished with them. Are they recycled or do they find their way to the landfill? Just consider the waste of fuel, the noise, the air pollution from the race vehicles, and the pollution of the slow long lines of traffic wending their way to the track (we see warnings on our local freeways for days in advance of races: "expect slow traffic" at this and that freeway exchanges).

I don't think it's just my head cold medicine that has me saying "thanks, but no thanks" to the suggestions that I might enjoy sitting and watching any kind of vehicle drive around in circles or throw mud on some cross country track. I am so careful with my own consumption, I telecommute so I don't have to drive to work every day, I plan my errands so that I can do several things in one trip. I don't just run to the store for one or two little things. We live in an urban area where we have ozone action days, and the weather reports all summer and into the fall are color coded. My children both have slight symptoms of asthma. Many urban children do. I'm sorry, but I can't just look the other way at a sport that contributes nothing good to the environment and encourages wasteful behavior. Airports and other industrial things are also contributors to the problem. They need a lot of work also. But this auto racing--there isn't a single thing about it that is necessary to anyone's life. I see a huge waste of resources and lives. All for a Good Ol' Boy faux-sporting event. (Sorry, Bobert, I know we agree on a lot of things, but this is one where we have to part company!)

If greens raced cars, they'd be turned off, they'd be in neutral, and they'd be pulled by horses. And more power to them!

SRS