GAS MAKES THIS PRICEY SITUATION.

Byline: TIM HADDOCK Motor Sports

A typical NASCAR Nextel Cup Series car gets about five miles to the gallon.

At $3 a gallon for gas, that would cost $30 to go 50 miles around a race track, or 25 times around California Speedway. Most of us can fill our tanks right now for $30, and that lasts at least a few days.

To go 500 miles in a NASCAR stock car would cost about $300.

Talk about the high price of gas.

But NASCAR teams don't use the same gas we can get at Chevron or Arco. They use a high-octane leaded fuel that Sunoco provides to all the race tracks NASCAR visits. It's probably not fair to compare the price of gas we pay to the price NASCAR teams pay.

Still, watching the races this weekend at California Speedway was done under a specter of guilt. With gas prices reaching record highs across the country, and expected to go even higher, seeing more than 100 gas guzzlers race around the track, burning fuel at an alarming rate, was well, gluttonous.

And - being raised Catholic - that falls under the category of sin.

As much enjoyment as NASCAR brings to so many people, it has become a wasteful endeavor to support a sport that thrives on consuming what has become the world's most precious resource.

Regardless, most NASCAR teams are not worried about the high price of gas when it comes to filling up their race cars.

``I don't know that we was ever worried about the price of gas,'' said Richard Petty, who owns the two-car Nextel Cup Series team of Petty Enterprises. ``But in the mid-'70s, there was a gas shortage. It's all a big conspiracy, as far as I'm concerned, the way they do the thing anyway.''

Conspiracy or not, Hurricane Katrina is being blamed for the high price of gas. Oil refineries in the Gulf of Mexico were destroyed by the hurricane, thus leading to the current gas shortage and higher prices.

When asked if gas prices would ever get too high for NASCAR teams to stop racing, Petty didn't have an answer.

``I don't really know,'' Petty said. ``I know if they have a race and we can buy it, we'll get up enough money to pay. We always have.''

What he did know is that everyone uses gas. For fans to get to the race, they need to gas up their cars or their RVs and drive out to the race track. Race teams need to fill up their trailers and their haulers and transport their race cars and teams across the country.

At some point, Petty said, the price of gas is going to affect attendance at races, from fans and from teams.

``Where you worry there is (when) it gets outrageous and the fans can't afford to come,'' Petty said. ``That's what really hurts.''

Where it might have the biggest effect is at the regional and local levels of NASCAR. When the NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series, or Elite Division, Southwest Series, visit big tracks such as California Speedway on a Cup weekend, they use the same gas the Cup and Busch teams use.

But when they visit short tracks scattered throughout small-town America, they are responsible for their own fuel. Some teams have deals with gas companies, but they are the few. Most teams will have another cost to incur, and it looks like this one is increasing at an astronomical rate.

``For the weekly guys and for the short track stuff, costs can be a pretty big deal,'' said Ken Schrader, driver of the No. 49 Dodge Charger for BAM Racing on the Nextel Cup Series. ``A lot of those race teams run financially right on the line anyway, and upping their costs much more could really hurt them.

``Still, you know what? Racers are racers - and they will do whatever they have to do to race. If they took every drop of gasoline out of the United States today, you'd have 40 guys on bicycles somewhere trying to beat each other.''

For NASCAR's sake, hopefully that day is a long time away.

--Wait 'til next year:The NASCAR Nextel Cup Series will again make two visits to California Speedway in 2006.

The Nextel Cup Series schedule for 2006 was released Tuesday with few changes and the 10-race Chase for the Championship intact. The Chase starts with the race at New Hampshire International Raceway on Sept. 17 and ends at Homestead-Miami Speedway in Florida on Nov. 19.

The season opens Feb. 19 with the traditional Daytona 500. The first California Speedway race is Feb. 26, the second race of the season.

The second date at California Speedway is Labor Day weekend, with the Nextel Cup Series race on Sept. 3.

``NASCAR has a huge commitment to the (L.A.) market,'' California Speedway president Gillian Zucker said. ``The proximity to Hollywood with movies, music, television, makes it very important to the sport.''

The Labor Day race will be the 24th of the year and two before the Chase for the Championship starts.

``I love our dates,'' Zucker said. ``I don't think I could ask for more perfect dates for our market. We're very excited about our dates.''

Zucker said the timing of the February race coincides nicely with the Academy Awards, which take place one week later.

The Labor Day race replaced the traditional Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. Zucker said Los Angeles-area NASCAR fans have adopted the weekend as a time to visit California Speedway.

``The summer Labor Day race is becoming part of Southern California tradition,'' Zucker said.

Tim Haddock covers motor sports for the Daily News. He can be reached at [phone] or timothy.haddock(at)dailynews.com

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RACE WEEK

BY TIM HADDOCK