Running on Empty?

The Los Angeles Times (17 July 2005) - How far can we stretch a gallon of gasoline? OK maybe it isn't a question for the ages. But with oil setting new records at more than $60 per barrel it seems like a good time to ask.

And considering that the U.S. economy is hooked on oil imported from political nightmares such as Nigeria and Saudi Arabia and that our petrodollars support regimes that indulge Islamic radicalism and that global warming threatens to turn Orlando into beachfront property . . .

Well maybe it is a question for the ages. The answer: It depends. Last month at the Society of Automotive Engineers' Supermileage competition in Marshall Mich. a team from Mater Dei High School in Evansville Ind. got 1836 miles per gallon. However the winning vehicle carried only one passenger--a skinny kid--at just over 15 mph and it looked like a body bag on wheels.