On November 12, 2008 the Associated Press filed this wirestory:

“DETROIT (AP) — Advocates for the nation's automakers are warning that the collapse of the Big Three — or even just General Motors —could set off a catastrophic chain reaction in the economy.”

Following this news ESPN presented its readers with this:

“The cost of investing in NASCAR continues to escalate. Explode, really. Team sponsorships have tripled in the past decade. In 1998, a $10 million sponsorship was huge. Now, owners are seeking $26 million and up. Per car.

GM recently reduced the number of track relationships from 12 to seven, though Dolan, citing confidentiality agreements with the tracks, would not disclose which five tracks they cut. (Among the venues believed to be included are Martinsville and Daytona on the International Speedway Corp. side, and Bristol for Speedway Motorsports.)

Questions abound, and GM will spend less money on NASCAR in 2009.”

 This Development May Yield Two Potential Side Effects:

1)Unable to attract major sponsorship, like those formerly provided by leading automakers, fewer teams can participate in NASCAR. Left with a sport in which only a handful of drivers participate, viewership of NASCAR tanks.

2)Foreign automakers will step in to fill the void left by failed American automakers. These companies, who are also leading the charge on alternative energy vehicles, will become NASCAR’s leading sponsors.

 Possible PositiveSide Effect #1 Discussed:

 According to NASCAR.com, the official site of the sport:

NASCAR's fan base, first and foremost, is massive. With more than 70 million fans, it is second in U.S. popularity only to the NFL, and therefore hard to sum up in political, demographic, or any other kind of terms, really.

Its fans vote 35 percent Republican and 28 percent Democratic -- a separation of only 7 percentage points, hardly a convincing argument for NASCAR's political leanings.

That being said, 24.5 million NASCAR fans vote Republican.

 According to the Gallup Polling:

60% of Republicans saying humans were created in their present form by God 10,000 years ago, a belief shared by only 40% of independents and 38% of Democrats.”

 The Church of the Living God International, a Christian organization which believes, “that the Bible is the verbally inspired Word of God, infallible and inerrant in the original writings,” has argued that: “Much television and movie watching is mindless watching, requiring little or no thinking,” and that, “Television deprives the child of his most important learning tool: Questions.”

 It may be fair to argue that creationism is one of the many movements further undermining an already struggling education system in the United States. With failed NASCAR ratings there is the potential that those viewers will begin to limit their TV intake and encourage, as the Church of the Living God International has advocated, the development of our ‘most important learning tool: Questions.’ Questions that can be answered with the help of carbon dating and an entire field known as geology.

 Possible Positive Side Effect #2 Discussed:

The Atlantic Monthly reports:

“Researchers say that NASCAR fans are three times as likely as non-fans to buy products from companies that sponsor the sport. Buying the sponsors' products is the fans' way of showing loyalty to a car or driver.”

Now in the event that foreign car makers become the leading sponsors of NASCAR, we may one day see 70 million more hybrid cars (with Confederate Flag decals) out on the road helping to limit our dependency oil.