It was one of the leading stories on CNN (and every other news organization) this past week, the United State Senate had passed its version of the “Cash for Clunkers” bill. The House of Representatives version of the bill is working through committee and is headed to the floor soon.
This is suppose to be a good idea; get a bunch of old cars off the road, get a bunch of new cars on the road, it would be good for the economy, good for the manufacturers, good for the environment.
Its a sham.
Buried in the language of the bill, in the places that some legislators won’t talk about are things which racers should take heed.
1.) The bill would prohibit recyclers from harvesting and selling engines from vehicles receiving an 18 mile per gallon or less rating.
2.) The bill will prohibit automotive recyclers and dismantlers from harvesting and reselling engines from vehicles turned in under the program.
3.) The bill forces the destruction of transmissions and drive train components from these vehicles.
Thinking about getting a used Turbo 350 for your Monte Carlo race car ??? Not anymore.
Wanting to build yourself a new 350 small block for that bomber or street stock.. Nope.
How about heading off to the salvage yard to find a PowerGlide out of an old 60’s or 70’s GM. Forget about it.
It would be law that salvage yards and recyclers destroy these parts and it would make it illegal for them to sell them.
And that’s just the parts side of things.
Consider this.. how many race cars are sponsored by 1.) Salvage Yards 2.) Auto Repair Businesses 3.) New Parts Suppliers 4.) Rebuild Shops ??
What happens to the Salvage Yards when they lose the primary source of revenue from scrapped cars ? 50% to 60% percent of the value of a scrapped car to a salvage yard comes from the Powertrain.
What happens to the local car repair facility ? When all these “old” cars are taken off the road and all the current cars are under warranty, what happens to the local garage ?
And for the cars that don’t get taken off the road, maybe your hot rod or classic cruiser, suddenly needs a new clutch assembly or torque converter ... where are you going to go to get one ?
“Cash for Clunkers” is bad. Its bad for local businesses, its bad for the people who support local short track racing and its bad for racers.
I strongly recommend that you contact your local representative and tell them “Junk the Cash for Clunkers”
EDITORS NOTE:
After this column was written, the House quickly approved its version of the bill and President Obama signed it into law the same day.
Of course, in order to get this done, they attached the legislation as an amendment to a military spending bill, so if you dared vote against it, they could say you were voting against US Troops in Iraq.
Fortunately, some of the most egergious lanuage which would have prevented any of these parts from being re-used was toned down and the language in the bill which would have prevented existing parts in the yard from being sold was removed completely.
Our congress also didn’t fully fund the bill, only allotting $1B dollars to the project, which while it sounds like a lot, is only $1000 per car for the 1M cars they wanted to pull off the highways.
Long Story Short, I don’t know if this bill is really going to have any impact now, as it doesn’t seem like it will actually take many cars off the road and it doesn’t seem like it will actually effect operations.
