In April of this year, ESPN reported that the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) planned to use a hybrid-gasoline electric vehicle as its pace car. “A hybrid will be the official pace car for the first time in NASCAR when Toyota lends a Camry for use in next month’s Coca-Cola 600.” While this news was significant for an organization known for consuming excessive amounts of fuel, one major change on the horizon could originate from the race tracks themselves. According to The New York Times, Pocono Raceway in Pennsylvania has plans to install nearly 40,000 photovoltaic panels “on 25 acres across the street from the racetrack on property that had been used as a parking lot for races. The solar farm is expected to generate three megawatts once it is completed, in early 2010, making it Pennsylvania’s largest such facility. . . . The project is expected to cost $15 million to $17 million but more than pay for itself over time.” The article stated that electricity deregulation threatened to increase the annual energy costs by 40% to approximately $500,000.
The move by Pocono Raceway and some steps by NASCAR indicate that changes to the current pattern of consumption are possible. However, as the St. Petersburg Times piece points out, the vast resources required to move race cars from track to track represent a “hidden cost” that is not accounted for in everyday discussion of NASCAR’s environmental impact. Perhaps other models will arise as the cost of fuel remains high and resources dwindle. NASCAR may find that it has to reinvent itself in order to achieve environmental and economic sustainability.
[image source: NASCAR.com]
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