Dain-bramaged NASCAR Dads

The Palm Beach Post has a funny editorial on the fact that NASCAR cars still use leaded gas and the potential effects those emissions may have on racing fans.

My question is, why are folks opposed to using unleaded gas? The editorial hints that the primary reason is that it will make cars slower. Here's a hint: switch to unleaded and re-calibrate the speedometers to make up the difference. The fans won't have a clue (except perhaps that total race time will be longer) and, as long as the racers all comply, the slowing down will be uniform. Moreover, if competition is that strong and speed that important, car companies will merely devise new technologies to speed up their unleaded cars.