NASCAR

Over the weekend there were many intriguing football games to watch from high school, to college, to professional. There was even couple of baseball games that decided who would advance to the world series. What caught my eye, however, was what is often overlooked on Sunday mornings. Nascar aired for two and a half hours ( I didn't watch all of it, of course). While I was becoming dizzy because of the cars looping around in circles, I began to realize the physics that allowed the cars to move at such high velocities. Even if the cancellation of NASCAR would solve the problems with gas prices, I began to understand the thrill of the sport. All was going well until I saw in bright colors what friction looked like. Even though I know the fire wasn't fully caused because of only friction (like how cavemen started fires), friction against the wall as well as the force that it pushed back on the car with equal and opposite force made Terry Cook run from his burning truck. His high horsepowered engine allowed him to do maximum work in a little time. His truck could accelerate up to the highest velocities, which was good and bad in this case.