How Gas Prices Affect Drag Racing and the Economy

When a drag race team figures out its expenses, the biggest cost - believe it or not - is travel. As stated in a recent news article, the looming world gas crisis is on everyone's mind, let alone racers. Gas prices are key to the economy of drag racing.

Maybe because drag racing is the largest motorsports organization in the world, unlike other sports, a race teams expenses and how they handle them is critical and has an affect all across the nation ... and world. With tens of thousands of teams looking to navigate through a Recession that never really left, now the cost of travel is an ominous threat to livelihoods both in and out of racing.

Things still look good right now, but ...

Let's take for instance, the upcoming March Meet in Famoso Ca. Upwards of 100,000 people will be spending the weekend in Bakersfield with hotels and restaurants brimming to capacity. Racers and fans will be coming from every corner of the U.S. and the globe. As the tracks owner, Blake Bowser recently stated in an interview, "The influx of millions of dollars generated by the race definitely helps the community. We see it in the hotels, stores, markets, gas stations and restaurants. It's unreal." BUT, what happens when the rising cost of gasoline, which raises the cost of trucking is coupled with the rises in cost of foods, making prices higher for eating? Everyone has to eat, so does this change how many will come to the race?

We are lucky in Nostalgia drag racing because our sport is growing, unlike almost any other sport. Could gas prices end this growth? It's been said the oil prices might go over $200 a barrel! It doesn't take a rocket scientist to equate that to $6, $8 or even $10 gasoline. Cough, cough! Do you think a racer is going to continue to race with an expense like that? Not to think about how fans will stop traveling to the race events. More than likely this would lead us into a worsening Recession as Bank of America recently stated in Fortune Magazine. So do we actually know we're headed into a Recession/Depression? As Will Rogers was quoted as saying: "An economist's guess is liable to be as good as anybody else's."

We don't know exactly what will happen but remember the last time we looked into the chasm of a Recession, sports and even motorsports took a nosedive as did Nostalgia drag racing, albeit, a small dive. Since there's no time to do anything about it in the short run, we all are at the mercy of world events.

The domino affect?

Something to consider. A racer buys food, lodging and fuel for his racing adventure. Before that, he buys parts from the automotive shop, which has employees to take care of these needs. These employees eat and need to travel to work. The cycle could be endless. But to continue, the racers bring along several people to help with the endeavor. All these people are transported and need to eat. Like domino's, the reach of this economic condition can rapidly affect millions of people.

I don't know if you remember but the last time oil sky-rocketed, it helped push us into a Recession. The crippling affects of very expensive fuel will involve all aspects of the global economy. We can only hope for better and prepare for the worse. Maybe the late comedian George Carlin had the answer: "Kilometers are shorter than miles. Save gas - take your next trip in kilometers."