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Rockets To Race Over Wisconsin Skies

Posted by timothy on from the nitro-burnin'-funny-ships dept.

Iron Condor writes with a reminder that that the first race of the Rocket Racing League (last mentioned here in April, after its 2005 founding) is set to take place later this month at Oshkosh AirVenture 08. This race, says Iron Condor, "is exactly what it sounds like: NASCAR 1000m above ground in rocket-propelled airplanes. Created by X-prize founder/CEO Peter Diamandis, this is 'the next evolution of racing' (at least according to the promo video, which is definitely worth watching)..."

24 of 210 comments (clear)

  1. Doh! by genner · · Score: 5, Funny

    I just moved from Wisconsin. Who knew there was a reason to stay,

    1. Re:Doh! by everphilski · · Score: 2, Funny

      The cheese man. It is all the reason you need.

    2. Re:Doh! by XiX36 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Amen to that, fresh cheese kicks ass! Now if only we can figure out a way to strap a rocket to a giant wheel of cheese. . .

      --
      Insert witty sig here.
    3. Re:Doh! by nharmon · · Score: 2, Funny

      Vermont cheddar has everything from Wisconsin beat.

      (I'm from Michigan)

    4. Re:Doh! by HTH+NE1 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Cheese and racing? All you need to attract Space Rats:

      Avon: Bring that thing into close-up.
      [Shots of the space chopper, getting larger and larger.]
      Avon: Closer. Concentrate on the pilot. I want a close-up of his helmet.
      [Shot of helmet revealing red silhouette of a rat.]
      Vila: It's a Space Rat!
      Soolin: Friends of yours?
      Vila: Friends? Space Rats? There's no such thing as a friend of a Space Rat -- they even hate each other.
      Tarrant: What else do you know about them?
      Vila: They're maniacs, psychopaths! All they live for is sex and violence, booze and speed. And the fellows are just as bad. We had a couple in the penal colony once. They were always trying to frighten me.
      Dayna: [Laughing] And they never succeeded, of course. What were they imprisoned for?
      Vila: Breaking into transport museums. When the Federation banned all leisure transport, they went in for stealing anything on wheels or could fly. They were speed crazy, and I do mean crazy.

      --
      Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
    5. Re:Doh! by codepunk · · Score: 2, Funny

      Whimp, how the hell can a guy get any ice fishing done when it is above freezing.

      --


      Got Code?
    6. Re:Doh! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      your cheese is the foulest thing that anyone has ever had the gaul to pass off as food.

      You obviously haven't tried our beer.

    7. Re:Doh! by shawb · · Score: 2, Funny

      What kind of Wisconsinite are you? We all know the cold winter is when you have to turn to the hard stuff... beer and sausage. And nothing in the world beats Wisconsin summer... both weeks of it.

      --
      I'll never make that mistake again, reading the experts' opinions. - Feynman
  2. Oh yeah!!! by GameboyRMH · · Score: 5, Funny

    Rednecks racing rocket's 'round a ringed raceway! Radically refreshing!

    --
    "When information is power, privacy is freedom" - Jah-Wren Ryel
    1. Re:Oh yeah!!! by andrewd18 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Hey now, we're not rednecks. We're Cheeseheads. Get it right.

    2. Re:Oh yeah!!! by SBacks · · Score: 2, Funny

      Wisconsin is not full of rednecks, its way to far north. Its full of cheeseheads, a subgroup of hicks.

      (Just for the record, I grew up 20 miles south of the WI border)

    3. Re:Oh yeah!!! by RabidMoose · · Score: 2, Funny

      Cheeky cheesheads captaining charring chariots competing for CEO's contentment. There you go.

    4. Re:Oh yeah!!! by maxume · · Score: 2, Funny

      My preferred provocation is to scream "TURN RIGHT, TURN RIGHT" at the TV.

      I would agree that the previous poster is certainly trying to stir the pot. I mean, I'm pretty sure that most of the drivers who aren't dumb Americans are just dumb Europeans.

      --
      Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
    5. Re:Oh yeah!!! by dotancohen · · Score: 3, Funny

      Brave man? That comment was posted by "snowgirl".

      On teh intertubes the women are men, and the girls are FBI agents.

      --
      It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.
  3. this reminds me of something... by Tumbleweed · · Score: 4, Funny

    "Now *that's* what I call *pod-racing*!"

    Now all we need is some Sand People to shoot at the racers, and we're all set!

    1. Re:this reminds me of something... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      "Now *that's* what I call *pod-racing*!"

      Now all we need is some Sand People to shoot at the racers, and we're all set!

      Fine, we'll hold it in Iraq next year.

    2. Re:this reminds me of something... by spun · · Score: 1, Funny

      "Now *that's* what I call *pod-racing*!"

      Now all we need is some Sand People to shoot at the racers, and we're all set!

      Well, they got startled, but I'm sure they'll return in greater numbers.

      --
      - None can love freedom heartily, but good men; the rest love not freedom, but license. -- John Milton
    3. Re:this reminds me of something... by Darth_brooks · · Score: 5, Funny

      Now all we need is some Sand People to shoot at the racers, and we're all set!

      So you're saying they need a tribe of people with language of unintelligible guttural noises that are both heavily armed and perpetually dressed in baggy, concealing clothing? Sounds like Wisconsin to me.

      --
      There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell 'em.
  4. It was only a matter of time by EdIII · · Score: 4, Funny

    .... before Wile E Coyote (Super Genius) merged with NASCAR.

    I predict similar spectacular failures to occur, and I think I will enjoy it just as much as I used to do when I was five years old :)

  5. If it's NASCAR but 1000m off the ground... by SeekerDarksteel · · Score: 3, Funny

    ...does that include NASCAR's amazing ability to make something that should be fantastically awesome in theory and make it something incredibly boring in practice?

    --
    The laws of probability forbid it!
  6. Re:Finally. . . by Chris+Burke · · Score: 2, Funny

    That said, these don't look like rockets but are simply jets. Still interesting but not true rocket racing.

    Jet racing, rocket racing... Why would I care about the difference? "Oh this is lame, these things aren't even carrying their own oxidizer!"

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  7. Sounds from rocket racing. by sidragon.net · · Score: 2, Funny

    Whooosh!

  8. Re:Fuel? by rkanodia · · Score: 4, Funny

    I look forward to the day when the US starts importing yogis from India in order to compete in Olympic Energy Conservation.

    "Radhakrishnan's got his heart down to 4 beats per minute... 3... but OH! Gupta has tapped the core of his seventh chakra, and he's coming in with 2.. 1... ZERO BEATS PER MINUTE! This is unbelivable - this is the first time ANYONE has achieved complete body stasis in a competition setting! Now, remember folks, according to IOC rules, he has two minutes to re-awaken and establish the validity of the record, or else paramedics will be deployed to the field with a defibrillator..."

  9. Re:Finally. . . by ceoyoyo · · Score: 2, Funny

    Because when they crash the ones carrying oxidizer are going to blow up MUCH more impressively.