xcel
06-07-2008, 09:43 AM
Ten gallons of 110-octane race fuel cost $82.50. Add in tolls, food, tires, parts and labor … (http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/sports/othersports/03fuel.html?_r=1&ref=automobiles&oref=slogin)
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Modified_Dirt_Track_Race_Car.jpgJohn Branch - NY Times - June 3, 2008
Modifieds on the dirt at a track near you.
Local Saturday night racing may become a thing of the past as Fuel costs rise. -- Ed.
NEW EGYPT, N.J. -- The cost of high-octane fuel for the racecars is up to $8.25 a gallon. And that is not the worst of it.
The truck-and-trailer rigs that log long miles to haul the cars to tracks generally have miles-to-the-gallon averages in the single digits. And with diesel costing roughly $5 a gallon, about double what it was a year ago, the escalating price of fuel is altering the already skimpy economics of lower-tier racing, the type that takes place on the half-mile dirt oval at New Egypt Speedway and at most tracks across the country.
On Saturday night, 134 racecars in five classifications — from relatively glamorous modifieds to the scratch-and-dent cars of outlaw stocks — arrived to test their mettle, and metal, against the others.
But they also compete against their own budgets, testing their appetite and ability to pour more money into their tanks, fueling a sport that relies, like few others, on gas-powered propulsion… http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/sports/othersports/03fuel.html?_r=1&ref=automobiles&oref=slogin
http://www.cleanmpg.com/photos/data/501/Modified_Dirt_Track_Race_Car.jpgJohn Branch - NY Times - June 3, 2008
Modifieds on the dirt at a track near you.
Local Saturday night racing may become a thing of the past as Fuel costs rise. -- Ed.
NEW EGYPT, N.J. -- The cost of high-octane fuel for the racecars is up to $8.25 a gallon. And that is not the worst of it.
The truck-and-trailer rigs that log long miles to haul the cars to tracks generally have miles-to-the-gallon averages in the single digits. And with diesel costing roughly $5 a gallon, about double what it was a year ago, the escalating price of fuel is altering the already skimpy economics of lower-tier racing, the type that takes place on the half-mile dirt oval at New Egypt Speedway and at most tracks across the country.
On Saturday night, 134 racecars in five classifications — from relatively glamorous modifieds to the scratch-and-dent cars of outlaw stocks — arrived to test their mettle, and metal, against the others.
But they also compete against their own budgets, testing their appetite and ability to pour more money into their tanks, fueling a sport that relies, like few others, on gas-powered propulsion… http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/03/sports/othersports/03fuel.html?_r=1&ref=automobiles&oref=slogin