If you're affected by one of the 23 or so apocalyptic events taking place around the world, why not take some time this weekend to savor a cupcake, one of the few areas where Americans have maintained their craftsmanship and innovation? Take the news from Orange County, Calif., where there's the PushCake — a moist cupcake and butter frosting combo, packaged in a plastic tube with a plunger on the bottom. It's like a cake piston of flavor combustion, and your tongue is the spark plug! And after you've devoured it, likely alone, maybe over the sink with the lights off, and before the thought of another week's work floods your brain, maybe you find time to ask "What the hell is this 'because racecar' business all about?" Swine provides a suitable answer to our question about the auto industry's survivors:
What car is the ultimate survivor?
The racecar.
We all know cars are meant for transportation, to get from point A to point B, rinse and repeat. What with the myriad of options available, 2 door, 4 door, 5 door, wagon, SUV, Minivan, Aztek, Juke, Sprinter Van, etc. they all serve their utilitarian purpose. The majority of people on this planet that ever drive, or ride in a car use it for this reason and this reason alone. It's an appliance, it's a modern convenience, it's a tool. If cars become computer controlled and automatically driven - most people won't care. But yet - there is, and hopefully always will be the racecar.
The real survivor is the racecar. The racecar exists for one purpose and one purpose only: to go fast. It has no other logical reason for existing. Sure, for petrol-heads we can't imagine a world without them. Yet, for as long as cars have been around people have raced them. They've been hot-rodded, souped up, modified, lightened, turbo'd etc. All in the name of going fast. With the ever increasing push to "go green" racecars are still thriving. There have been ups and downs, but they are still there - Formula 1, WRC, NASCAR, Indy Car, the list goes on. Sure, the manufacturers and race teams talk a good game about how they attempt to save the planet this way or that way but at the end of the day they are driving around in circuits for the sake of being the fastest.
This all happens while the majority of people go about their day to day lives without pondering the thought of racing a car. Yet, the racecar lives on. It's survived war, depressions, oil shortages, rising gas prices, and political upheaval. I hope it will always survive, and I pray that it will always be the ultimate survivor, because without racecars - cars will forever lose their soul.