Twice a year, Dover Downs is the home of NASCAR races. As a guy that owns two hybrids and tries to be a good environmental citizen, I am appalled by the senseless waste of tires, oil, gas that goes on through the various qualifiers and races that go on throughout the weekend. But I get it. People like the personalities, drama, noise, smell and hoopla that surrounds the weekend. Fine, I have made my peace with it.
But I would love to see Delaware further the environmentalism that we already have embraced with our recent Fisker, Bloom and the unfortunate Bluewater Wind deals. I would like to see Delaware sponsor a NASCAR-style race for electric and high-efficiency cars. Not unlike the para-Olympics which happen at the Olympic host city in the weeks following the more familiar Olympics, we could sponsor the fuel-efficient race on the weekend following a NASCAR weekend. The beer-soaked campers of NASCAR fans in the parking lot could be replaced by the beer-soaked campers of graduate engineering students. The roar of oversized engines would be replaced by the sound of low-drag tires on the rough macadam of the banked turns.
Maybe it’s just me, but the drama of a race between a dozen cars with 3 gallons of gas to complete their 200 mile race seems much more interesting.