Posted on 08/28/2022 9:53:13 AM PDT by sodpoodle
Could NASCAR soon be hitting empty? A recent gas shortage may have long-reaching effects and could potentially affect the sport.
NASCAR has plenty of races left on its schedule for the season. The next races in the Xfinity and Cup series will be on May 15 and 16th at the Dover International Speedway in Delaware. It remains to be seen whether a gas shortage could affect those races or future events.
Currently, a pipeline shutdown has caused gas shortages across the Southeast and East Coast. On May 7, hackers hit Colonial Pipeline with a ransomware attack. This effectively caused a digital freeze on the pipeline. Hackers encrypted the pipeline’s data and networks. They demanded a large sum to unfreeze the data.
The Colonial Pipeline is an important infrastructure in the gas and oil industry on the East Coast. It runs almost 5,500 miles from Texas to New Jersey. The pipeline is responsible for carrying more than 100 million gallons of fuel a day. Currently, states are already feeling the effects on a local level. According to New York Post, an estimated 7.6 percent of gas stations in Virginia are without gas. Likewise, North Carolina has declared a state of emergency. Colonial transports around 45% of all fuel for the East Coast.
How Will NASCAR Be Affected? So the big question is how will NASCAR be affected by the gas shortage? In 2015, the Daytona 500 used an estimated 5,375 gallons during the race. That’s a lot of fuel for an event when some everyday drivers are trying to find even a gallon of gas right now.
Since 2004, NASCAR has officially partnered with Sunoco for all its gas needs. The sport uses a special Sunoco Green E15 in all of its vehicles. That fuel is a 98 octane, unleaded fuel blend. It was specifically engineered for high-performance engines and race cars.
It is unknown if the pipeline shutdown will affect the production of this special fuel. But some Sunoco gas stations have reportedly run out of fuel or are experiencing increased demand. This isn’t the first time a fuel shortage could affect NASCAR.
Back in the 1970s, a national fuel shortage almost shut down the sport. The government mandated NASCAR’s cancellation. But organizers and teams pushed back and finally reached a compromise, agreeing to reduce fuel consumption by 30 percent. During that season, races were shortened by 10 percent and teams had fewer practice days as well.
Finally, the fuel shortage ended and NASCAR returned to normal. But the sport did make new regulations to engine size as a result. Reportedly, Colonial Pipeline is working to get back up and running. They estimate production might resume by the end of this week. So it remains to be seen if NASCAR will have to do anything as drastic in the near future.
There is no way the Gobmint can force our current cars off the road - so I expect it will only apply to new car manufacturing.
I stopped caring about NASCAR when they went woke.
Rain delay at Daytona
With everyone rushing to switch to electric cars there should be plenty of “fossil fuels” to keep NooseCar running AND send Elon Musk to Mars on his kerosene powered space ship.
No way the gobmint can force ICE vehicles off the road? What you been smokin’? I read the highlights of the powers delegated to our UPOS gov during a declaration of emergency. He had the power to restrict ALL travel within the state if he wanted to. He didnt but he could have with the stroke of a pen. NEVER underestimate evil demokkkommies.
No, but Policy stupidity might......
Maybe each car will be limited to 12 AAA batteries per race.
I stopped caring about NASCAR when they went woke.
/\
The “ road courses” are about to push me out...
..i have zero interest
in watching 700 hp race cars
turn right
at 35mph.
Left turns only
at 150mph plus
or I am gone.
.
they went woke.
/\
I still enjoy telling
( well, screaming at my tv)
Bubba why I no longer like him since I found out he was a commie black supremists racist fbi calling whiney a hole who wrecks the field every time he’s given his reparations laps in the top 10.
Payback for the entire Brandon incident. Effing deplorable hillbillies.
..i have zero interest
in watching 700 hp race cars
turn right
at 35mph
./\
If I wanted that if just drive down to the 7/11.
The “Daytona 500K Killowatt” just ain’t quite cricket if ya know.......
The six hour Pit stops for fuel charging will make for a lot of commercials I suppose?
Me too.
Attending a Martinsville race was on my bucket list. It got erased when they went woke.
I was scheduled to attend a corporate event at Martinsville this fall. I just didn’t care.
The event was cancelled and I still didn’t care.
Me too. Bigtime! I suggest that when they run out of fuel, they use the drivers who didn’t make the so called “playoffs” to push the 16 drivers who did make the playoffs, cars around the track. NASCAR went full suck when it became another Disneyland for the little kids, rainbows and unicorns. Little things tend to piss me off. I’m still trying to figure out why the car numbers were moved from the doors to the front fenders. What’s the reason? Does it make the cars go faster? Does it prevent the decals from coming off when the car goes too fast or was the change made for change’s sake?
Still rain delayed? Guess that’s good for alcohol sales.
I am interested only in road courses.
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