Autosport News Review

Kyle Busch has dominated the regular season with only a couple others showing strength at the end of the regular season. He came into the chase with a 70 point lead only 2 weeks ago and now sits 210 points out of the championship race.

Today at the Monster Mile in Dover, Busch had a usually bullet proof TRD engine expire and last week his Toyota Camry had a front sway bar mount come loose or break resulting in a 43rd place finish. The hot headed JGR driver is not taking it well, he was very short with the ESPN interview crew about 30 minutes after he got out of the car. He seemed frustrated and upset. We now wonder if the 23 year old sensation can pull it together and make a comeback.

Many are saying that this isnt possible. But, this is the chase, and we have already witnessed some unusual events in the first two races. Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards from the Roush camp will undoubtedly have to experience misfortune, but theres 8 races left and anything can happen at Talladega and Martinsville. Other drivers who had a long day at Dover included Kurt Busch, Dale Earnhardt jr and Denny Hamlin. Kurt Busch was taken out by the #10 car of Patrick Carpentier who got lose and pushed up the race track into Busch, sending him into the outside safer barrier. Denny Hamlin retired early as well with a rear end gear problem. Dale Jr blew a right rear tire and was never able to mount a comeback as he went 1 lap down after pitting for the tire, and ended up finishing 3 laps down in 24th position.

Ever wonder what happens to all of the used and worn out tires that a NASCAR race creates? The race itself is very exciting. The race will have thousands of people show up to cheer on their favorite driver and race team. The sponsors all love the events because of all the publicity it creates for their products and for the brand awareness that is built. It is all good for business and I love it. Then the race ends and the people go home.

The cars that have been racing for the last two to three hours have multiple sets of tires that have been used and abused on the track. They are worthless at this end point in their life. Most times the tires get so hot that they pick up debris from the track, making them potentially dangerous and giving them virtually no use at all. The tires are collected and placed at the end of pit row, stacked 4 high. Each race will produce more than 600 used tires.

The tire design makes them unusable on any other type of vehicle. They can only be put on race cars which are very limiting for any additional uses. They cannot get retread for safety fears that they will not be as safe and secure when traveling around a race track at speed exceeding two hundred miles per hour. These tires can sit in a landfill for more than four hundred years prior to completely degrading. This is an issue for all of us to consider but one that should especially be taken under consideration if you are among the many that enjoy the races, like me, and one that we needed to find a solution to in a short term time frame.

The idea was thought through by an inventor and entrepreneur who thought that he would be able to brainstorm a way to have the issues put behind us. He began with the set of ideas that included the fact that people loved all things NASCAR, the tires should not have to be reprocessed and that the landfill should not have the tires for the next 400 years, the people should.

That is when the idea of the Race Cooler was born. He thought that the race tire looked like a cooler that he had used when he was a younger man and that the tire could be adapted to make use of the natural insulation that the rubber provided. A design was constructed, a template built, then a prototype was created. It was beautiful. The race cooler featured a used NASCAR tire complete with the actual race markings, a special plastic insert that served to provide dual insulation to keep beverages cold, a water sprout to allow for easy draining of the cooler and lid that would keep everything cool for days. The end result would allow up to 4 bags of ice and up to 144 beverages to be stored inside of the cooler. The item is the perfect gift for the biggest of NASCAR fans. The other terrific effect the product has is that the used tires now find a second useful life rather than taking up space in our landfills.