[Sirrotica]

As all things in history repeat themselves, Indy Champ cars have been to a similar threshold years ago when Andy Granitelli perfected the turbine powered car and came within a few laps of winning the storied Indy 500 race. If a transmission bearing had not failed the car more than likely would have won. Turbine cars of course have just a whoosh from the exhaust and not the 12,000 RPM song that a piston engine has. The cars were run in 1967 and 1968 before USAC outlawed 4 wheel drive and turbine engines. The fans were not intrigued with the lack of noise and made USAC aware of their displeasure.

Soon thereafter USAC rules were changed to downsize the air intake size so that the turbine powered cars would be handicapped out of competition. I see the same possibilities that could happen with electric powered drag cars, it's pretty much in the hands of the sanctioning body whether the electric cars will be embraced or made obsolete with rules against it.

There are some electric car race teams around that have a competition for electric land speed records around the country. I knew a sprint car driver that was asked to pilot one of these cars and the interest wasn't even lukewarm as far as spectators attending the events. I guess we shall see if this type of racing can generate any spectator/fan revenue. Without the noise the spectacle seems somewhat handicapped, but thousands of people watch horse racing which has very little sound either. I don't think the average motorsports fan would find electric car racing to be their cup of tea.