http://www.speedtv.com/commentary/25586/

I hate politics... such BULLSHIT. Maybe we should talk to Penn and Teller about this...

This is exactly what is wrong with our politicians these days. And NASCAR can suck it.

Funny thing about politicians, most towns have Fire/alert sirens which operate at a minimum of 130Ddb. Yet at the same time, they bust on kids who put "fart mufflers on their Civics and Saturns. Better yet, the same political imbeciles legislate local tracks otu of profitable existence due to "noise" issues when new development encroaches on tracks that were formerly in removed or remote areas. Gotta love the way graft and special interests run government on virtually every level. So much for personal freedoms in the 21st century.

I live 1 block from one of the local fire sirens. Despite the fact that all emergency services use radioed alert signalling, the fire siren sounds 2-5 times daily, day and night. Both of my sons have been stopped by local police for "loud exhaust" even though they have 50 state legal exhaust systems on their cars. I won't even get into NJs draconian DMV system. Rant, rant, rant...

... so how hard would it be to get a gear head on one of those special interest groups? There have to be enough of us around who can play politician most of the time and lobby for sanctioned events to keep people from being a menace on the streets!

Here's the problem. Politicians cater to 2 groups of people. The people who get them elected (donors to their campaigns) and the people who elect them (constituents who vote). So, a special interest group will see that NASCAR is better for their group than some other series (face it, NASCAR probably is better for local businesses in terms of economic impact), so they pressure the politician. Then, some little, old lady calls because she heard about the story and says, "I don't want anyone racing on my street, Sonny!" So, he's had a donor and a voter tell him to vote against it. Because he represents them, he votes for the bill banning racing.

Now, you and I both know that no one will be racing on Granny's street. And, we also know that NASCAR plus some other form of racing will be better for the local businesses. However, the politician hasn't thought about it that much (he's got about 1500 other bills to think about in the next month or so). So, the bill gets passed.

Now, what can you do about it? Write the congressman or senator. I know it sounds hokey, but they actually read them. Use a non-location-specific yahoo or hotmail e-mail account so they can't tell you're not in their district. I'm a lobbyist for a hospital her in Louisiana - I regularly write them letters and send them via e-mail. About ha;f the time, I get a response saying, "Thank you for your note. Sen. X reviewed the bill and decided to vote for/against it."

keep writing those letters

http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar


Here's some more info on the bill

Ammendment

And it looks like they want to "Strike Everything" from the "noise abatement" part:

http://www.azleg.state.az.us How To Contact Member

To be fair, driving daily in annoying car is different from emergency sirens which are there for everyone's safety. I don't think you can really equate an annoying exhaus with emergency sirens in any way.

Larry, I wrote Sen. Tibshraeny a letter (e-mail) for my district (21). I hope the bill doesn't pass.