PR for environmentaly friendly NASCAR

After watching portions of NASCAR’s Daytona 500 with the biggest race fan I know, my grandfather, something came into my mind. I wonder how many miles to the gallon these high power race cars get? Being very concerned with environmentalism naturally I was curious as to how this sport affects the environment and how people were trying to make these cars more friendly to the environment.
Although the Indy Racing Leaguehas switched to ethanol, NASCAR only recently switched from leaded to unleaded fuel and its cars still use carburetors instead of fuel injection. Carburetors do not burn gasoline a completely as cars with fuel injection systems. According to Google Answers, the typical racecar only gets 4 to 6 miles per gallon of gas. With some races that are over 200 miles long and about 40 cars running in the race, that is a lot of gasoline being used (approximately 1600 gallons)! Not exactly environmentally friendly or shying away from our dependence on oil.
NASCAR recently hired a director of “green innovation,” and NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France has spoken to former vice president Al Gore about making the sport more environmentally friendly. Jack Roush, co-owner of Roush-Fenway NASCAR team, has set out to use propane as a possible alternative fuel for race cars of the future.
Propane is a waste product from the production of gasoline and other petroleum products so it does not eliminate our need for oil. The main upside of using propane is that it burns much cleaner than gasoline, making it better for the environment. Propane get about 13% less miles per gallon compared to gasoline, but the loss in efficiency can be offset when large business fleets take advantage of wholesale propane prices that have been below $1 per gallon this year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s web site.
The Roush propane conversion isn’t cheap, it costs just shy of $9,000 for parts and installation on a Ford pickup, but it is step closer to giving users more options in alternative fuels. Our energy problem will not be solved by one miracle fuel, but by multiple fuels to fulfill each particular need. This seems to be a perfect setting for a public relations situation to keep extreme environmentalists at bay.

Have you ever watched the news and saw a story that just made you think, "wow what was that person thinking?!" Well I saw Dateline Tuesday night and they had a story about a lady named Nadya Suleman that had octuplets through Invitro fertilization. This may have not been such a big deal to anyone because this kind of thing happens all of the time these days. What has so many people in an uproar is the fact that this lady has six other children, is single, and does not have a job. Her only source of income is her excess financial aid from her student loans from going to college. She does not want to take charity from other people, and thinks that she can make it with her financial aid. She is living with her parents in not that big of house and feeding her children with food stamps. Much of the debate is weather the mother will be able to support her now 14 children.
It is not my place to judge this women. It is her right as an American to have as many children as she wants. We have Social Services that will take these children if they feel the mother is unfit to provide for them. I am sure that very few of the people condemning her for having the children do not have a degree in Social Services and do not fully understand all of the options a mother has for taking care of her children. If she does make it through college she will need to find really good job that will pay a lot because finding daycare will be very expensive with that many kids. Through my experience you always need to have a back up plan, and from hearing Nadya’s story it does not seem like she has “plan B” and that is not a very responsible way to be raising 14 children. I hope in my heart that the next headline is not about the death of a women and her 14 children.