about pollution?

Question

okay i realize driving big gas burning trucks and hummers and stuf are a big source of pollution. but, what about NASCAR? no one has though that maybe all the gas they burn driving in circles for 300 to 500 miles might just be a HUGE SOURCE OF AIR POLLUTON.

a stock car in the NEXTEL cup runs at about 4mpg. i dont know the length of the NEXTEL cup but it is most likely 500 laps. so assuming it is

500 miles divided by 4mpg with 22 cars on the track that is
500/4*22=2750 gallons of gasoline. NASCAR estimates that in the NEXTEL cup weekend they use about 6000 gallons. including the fact that NASCAR still uses lead additives in their gasoline.

NASCAR also estimates in one season they use almost 2million gallons of gasoline.

NASCARS have no mufflers and very loose emissions controll regulations.

do you think that if they stopped NASCAR all together that would benifit the enviornment significantly?

in responce to Randy's answer
im aware that NASCAR is not the only comtributer. motorscycle boat and other types of car racing are also large contributers. i just used NASCAR because the populous knows NASCAR better than they would a motorcycle race series (me included i personaly am against motor sports in general) but yes all the big cars and suvs and all the street racing is no help whatsoever. and i realize they are tuned for peak proformance and the untuned automobiles are really awaful as far as emissions go.
i just used NASCAR as one example among many issues concerning the air pollution problem.
other examples would be
large gas guzzeling cars and un-nessecary driving (such as street racing or leisure drives)
Coal burning plant emissions
diesal naval vessels (although not in use as much now, but are still in use)
and many others
thank you for your concern i realize i did sound like i was singaling NASCAR out but i did it for the sake of length and infromation avalilble

Answer 1

Realistically, if you stopped NASCAR for one year, or forever, you'd barely notice any cleaner air. Maybe your numbers are correct, but if you think stopping those "super-tuned" automobiles going around in circles for 150, 200, 300, 500 or even 600 miles in the Coca-Cola 600 is going to have one iota of an effect on air pollution, you'd better think again. How about banning all the peoples' cars who don't keep them tuned up, and do only what they HAVE TO DO to pass annual inspection. And all the people who run around with underinflated tires and make no attempt to check on them or inflate them properly so they would burn less fuel. And what about all the other automobile races and motorcycle races and boat races all around the world? You may not like NASCAR, and I've got to admit they're wearing on my nerves with all the media hype they've put in their program, but to single them out and say that those "super-tuned" cars are a significant contributor to air pollution? Well, that's getting a little over-board on the issue. When you look at all the giant SUV's and pickup trucks and sports cars that people race all around town and from town to town, and when you pay attention to how many severely untuned automobiles, etc. that run around town and between towns, well, THEN you have something to work with. But as long as you ignore them, and keep the highway speeds at 70mph instead of the more intelligent 55mph, well then, you're "barking up the wrong tree". God Bless you.

Answer 2

Well Nascar is just one of the problems. Please note though that other motor sports use a lot cleaner burning fuels such as methane. It's the whole world that needs to address the problem as a whole or we will get nowhere. Just imagine if all of our diesel vehicles ran on biodiesel and all of our cars got at least 40 mpg and/or ran on propane or ethonal untill we could figure out hydrogen. This would be a major stride forward but we will never get anywhere untill the whole world realizes this is a major problem that will bite us in the butt in the next 50 years if we do not address it.

Answer 3

Well it depends on your definition of the word "significantly".

It would definitely help, because you are right, those cars running around in meaningless laps do pollute a lot. Its a complete waste of fuel, money, resources, well I guess it does give some people their jollies.

But "significantly" in a broader sense might mean shutting down all the coal burning plants in the world, or increasing restrictions on gas efficiency in autos, so say no one could drive a car that gets less than 20 mpg... that might be more significant.

wow, that would be awesome!

Answer 4

In the U.S. in 2002 passenger cars traveled an estimated total of 1.66 trillion miles at an average fuel economy of 22.1 miles per gallon consuming a total of 74.95 billion gallons of gas; NASCAR accounts for .00027%. I'm not defending NASCAR, but if they packed up and went home, we have essentially the same problem. Aim higher grasshopper.

Answer 5

I must say, this is a brilliant question, beautifully thought out and backed up. Of course it will help, everything helps, and will help. The first step in bettering the enviroment will be to slowly remove pleasure activities which use fuel. good question.

Answer 6

I think the ceasing of NASCAR would be good for the environment among other things.

Answer 7

I think so