EPA To Prohibit the Conversion of Street Cars into Race Cars

[FireSale]

Originally Posted by Dwight Southerland

The point is that how can this be a society based on the sovereignty of its citizens when its government is in control of what you can and cannot do? Do not believe that these regulations are the result of a representative decision; they are the acts of a select group who want to impose values and world view on everyone else for the purpose of control by punitive action. Our government's role as stated by the constitution is to protect our liberties, not ban things from our lives.

This is all true. The gist of my point is that rules have no teeth without enforcement. This is why gun control has and will continue to fail. They can ban the manufacture of high capacity magazines but they can't stop the flow of the existing ones around the country without a massive expense in enforcement. Politicians are great at talk but not good at digging up the money to fund what they propose.

The Federal Government has, in the past, banned liquor, so people made their own. The Government lacked the resources to enforce the law and this will happen on the emissions thing, too.

I live in Washington State where the State legislature, by a vote of the people, legalized the sale, taxation and recreational use of marijuana. This is still a Federal crime and the FBI and DEA don't need a nod from the Obama Administration to start busting the dozens of State licensed drug dealers because it's already on the books. Since the State taxes the sale of pot and puts the money in the General Fund, I guess the feds could arrest all of the Legislators as drug dealers in an ongoing criminal enterprise. It would be a dirty, expensive, politically (on the grass roots level) unpopular endeavor.

This EPA thing has already been passed by the House and Senate, so we need to find out how our Representatives voted on it and send them home the next chance we get.

Clean air and water are good things. Stopping the conversion of heavy trucks to non emissions engines is a good idea.

Stopping the sale of aftermarket parts not emissions certified won't happen because it would have too much of an economic impact. Jegs, Summit, Holley and the long list that sticker the sides of our cars would be out of business.

Getting non certified limited use classics off the road would kill the auction business. What's Barrett-Jackson worth?

This has passed and will probably be signed by the President but won't be enforced on a level that affects drag racing.

Excuse me for not hitting the panic button.

Dale

[FireSale]

Originally Posted by Mark Yacavone

Don't think it won't happen just because it hasn't happened yet --- Jackson Browne

"I'm just rolling away from yesterday
Behind the wheel of a stolen Chevrolet
I'm going to get a little higher
And see if I can hot-wire reality"

The Road and the Sky
Jackson Browne

Dale

[Bruce Noland]

Originally Posted by FireSale

This is all true. The gist of my point is that rules have no teeth without enforcement. This is why gun control has and will continue to fail. They can ban the manufacture of high capacity magazines but they can't stop the flow of the existing ones around the country without a massive expense in enforcement. Politicians are great at talk but not good at digging up the money to fund what they propose.

The Federal Government has, in the past, banned liquor, so people made their own. The Government lacked the resources to enforce the law and this will happen on the emissions thing, too.

I live in Washington State where the State legislature, by a vote of the people, legalized the sale, taxation and recreational use of marijuana. This is still a Federal crime and the FBI and DEA don't need a nod from the Obama Administration to start busting the dozens of State licensed drug dealers because it's already on the books. Since the State taxes the sale of pot and puts the money in the General Fund, I guess the feds could arrest all of the Legislators as drug dealers in an ongoing criminal enterprise. It would be a dirty, expensive, politically (on the grass roots level) unpopular endeavor.

This EPA thing has already been passed by the House and Senate, so we need to find out how our Representatives voted on it and send them home the next chance we get.

Clean air and water are good things. Stopping the conversion of heavy trucks to non emissions engines is a good idea.

Stopping the sale of aftermarket parts not emissions certified won't happen because it would have too much of an economic impact. Jegs, Summit, Holley and the long list that sticker the sides of our cars would be out of business.

Getting non certified limited use classics off the road would kill the auction business. What's Barrett-Jackson worth?

This has passed and will probably be signed by the President but won't be enforced on a level that affects drag racing.

Excuse me for not hitting the panic button.

Dale

Good posts Dale. The conspiracy theory wing nuts are easily chaffed but not to worry, they usually fall silent when the sky doesn't fall on their heads.

[theman440]

Originally Posted by Michael Beard

Please refer back to the post regarding EPA's definition of "navigable waters". DO NOT TRUST THEM. PERIOD. The idea that the media just rolled over when the EPA said, "Oh, no, trust us! It totally doesn't say exactly what it says!" They are liars. The language of the regulations is publicly available and plainly states:



Source: https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-201...2015-15500.pdf



Even the article you reference quotes the EPA saying:


Give them an inch, and they'll take every mile.

You are 100% right.

[Greg Hill]

The black helicopters are coming!

[FireSale]

Greg: They use drones now...

On the subject of polluting diesel engines, Pacific Raceways -"The Tree Huggers Track"- is adding a diesel truck series to the 2016 schedule. No joke.

Dale

[Dave Noll]

Originally Posted by FireSale

This has passed and will probably be signed by the President but won't be enforced on a level that affects drag racing.
Dale

My understanding of this is that the EPA is trying to enforce part of the Clean Air Act passed, by Congress & Potus a while ago. Congress said more than once, NO not race cars. So EPA is re-writing to INclude rececars. I didnt study law or politics but somebody @ HotRod had a lawyer look @ this & he said, be afraid. Any newer info out there ? But I hear ya Dale, about congress funding things.

[Dwight Southerland]

Unfortunately, the EPA does have the authority to enforce these regulations. In some cases, they also have the agency to carry out the enforcement. I would much rather stay on the side that says that this is an area that we do not want them to have easy legal access to. All that has to happen is that enough movement with enough people in critical positions and they can use any enforcement agency to restrict your rights. Ask the coal industry. Get enough sentiment behind a movement to shut it down and it is happening. It may be years into the future before anything might happen that would affect drag racing, but why give them a red carpet to do what they want without any recourse or representation. If you believe that issues like this are benign because the United States is a "free" country and the government is simply looking out for its citizens, then you need to study history a lot. People in charge are always no smarter, no more ethical and no more altruistic in their decisions and actions than any of us when there is no oversight or accountability. Warren Buffet once said that the ideal company to invest in would be one that was so structured that even if a fool were put in charge that it would still be successful. Giving government agencies carte blanche to confiscate property, fine or imprison citizenry or worse is not a good idea.

[CMcAllister]

Since the comparison has been made, I'm happy that most of us live in states where, for the most part, we can chose to own the firearms and accessories that we chose to. Not everyone is so fortunate and without strong, grassroots organizations, things would be quite different. There are most certainly bans on common items in different locations around the country and people sitting in jail for doing things that you and I do everyday without a second thought. Some of us have learned to not underestimate the resolve of the "government knows best" crowd.

Conspiracy theory?

http://theshopmag.com/news/news-blog...on-racing-mods

Sounds to me like the EPA position is that what we've been doing since 1968 has always been illegal. They're just getting around to doing something about it now. It's gone from factories, cars and trucks to bar-b-ques, lawn mowers and weed whackers. Frankly, I'm wondering what took them so long to get around to race cars, muscle cars, etc.

I would suggest not shrugging this off as "much ado about nothing". We should be calling and emailing our congress people, signing petitions, whatever can be done.

[FireSale]

Well, at least it seems that there are way more folks interested in wrenching than previously thought.

Pacific Raceways TnT and the first Bremerton weekend is "only" 6 weeks away.

Got welding to do. What's that do to the environment?

Dale