Aside of drag racing star Shirley Muldowney, women have no place behind the wheel of a racing vehicle.

Pedal to the metal, trade a little paint and run 200 mph!!

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If all goes according to their (admittedly ambitious) plan, the aerospace titans of Lockheed Martin and Boeing will be teaming up to send as many as 1,000 astronauts to a space station hovering between the Earth and the Moon by the year 2045. But they're not doing it alone. Turns out one of NASCAR luminary Jack Roush’s companies is building the engine that will be a key part of blasting those massive rockets towards our biggest satellite.

Other sources have reported the Roush Fenway Racing NASCAR team is building the small engine, which will serve as a key component for one of United Launch Alliance rockets, but it’s actually Roush Industries, a commercial kissing cousin of the race outfit with engineering interests ranging from aerospace to theme parks. The company also builds Google’s autonomous car.

Still, the NASCAR connection makes sense, considering the so-called Integrated Vehicle Fluids engine is a 600cc flathead straight-six making 26-horsepower. And by “flathead,” yes, we mean the same engine architecture Henry Ford introduced in the 1932 Model 18. The 27.5-inch-long, 100-pound IVF engine has been designed to use many off-the-shelf components, like its piston rods and spark plugs, and the coil pack is lifted straight from a General Motors 5.3-liter V-8.

The unit will slot into the upper rocket stage of the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage (ACES) rocket currently in development. The six-pot piston motor will pressurize the fuel tanks in the ACES, recharge the batteries, and provide attitude control, allowing the ACES to operate in space for weeks at a time.

ULA bosses chose the design for a number of reasons, with simplicity and proven reliability prime among them. The IVF engine provides a single power unit that obviates the need for the helium, hydrazine, solar panels, and complex systems layout normally needed in a rocket’s upper stage. Another reason engineers chose the flathead is because of the heat it throws off; that warmth can be used to pressurize the propellant tanks. The engineers tried an air-cooled Wankel engine, but in addition to more complex lubrication issues, the Wankel didn’t get hot enough.

The ACES unit, acting as both courier and fuel tanker, will deliver cargo from low-Earth orbit to the ULA space station, and will ferry rocket fuel refined on the moon and on asteroids to any satellites that need it. The IVF engine runs on the same liquid hydrogen and oxygen that fuels the ACES, at zero net loss to the ship; the propellants normally lost to boil-off are instead piped to the motor.

The new Vulcan rocket that launches the ACES upper stage is expected to be ready in the mid 2020s. Reportedly, as soon as it launches, the IVF inline-six will be the first internal-combustion engine to leave Earth’s atmosphere. Yet, with that Ford Flathead onboard and the connection to a Ford-sponsored NASCAR team, we think “Vulcan” might not be the best name for the ULA rocket. We vote for “Thunderbird.

Congrats to Kyle, and thanks for not letting Harvick win it two years in a row. Go Rowdy!!

As far as our Nascary Fantasy League, a rookie walked away with the Championship Kudos to JAB of San Antonio. Impressive dude. Final results are as follows...

1 JAB's Go Daddy 9,858

2 jrs junk 9,806

3 Bill's Team 9,555

4 Billy's Intimidators 9,507

5 HittheWal 9,445

6 Dashing Dogs 9,432

7 ham grenade 8,925

8 Kenseth Rules 4,305

Thanks to all the participated, and hope to see all of you back in Feburary for our eighth consecutive season.

Get rid of restrictor plates and this s**t won't happen.

1 Denny Hamlin 2012

2 Jimmie Johnson 2009

3 Tony Stewart 2009

4 Brad Keselowski 2009

5 Greg Biffle 2006

6 Clint Bowyer 2006

7 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 2003

8 Matt Kenseth 2003

9 Kevin Harvick 2000

10 Martin Truex Jr. 2000

11 Kasey Kahne 2000

12 Jeff Gordon 2000

As far as our Bengalszone Nascar Fantasy League goes, I moved back into contention on a strong 1-2-3-11 finish at Richmond. I'm trailing jrs junk by 11 points. Normally that wouldn't merit mention except that person is a woman! Best female player I've run into. Here's our current standings:

1 JAB's Go Daddy Race Team 6,986

2 Bill's Team 6,841

3 jrs junk 6,840

4 Billy's Intimidators 6,829

5 ham grenade 6,609

6 HittheWal 6,606

7 Dashing Dogs 6,549

8 Kenseth Rules 4,302

1 JAB's Go Daddy Race Team 4,182

2 Billy's Intimidators 4,143

3 Bill's Team 4,141

4 Dashing Dogs 4,008

5 jrs junk 3,965

6 HittheWal 3,947

7 ham grenade 3,874

8 Kenseth Rules 3,677

I just wish he had done it last week when I had him on my fantasy team! Speaking of which all the success I had last season is no where to be found in this one. Guess I used it all up. Here's where we stand after Michigan...

1 Bill's Team 3,889

2 JAB's Go Daddy Race Team 3,819

3 Billy's Intimidators 3,808

4 Dashing Dogs 3,758

5 HittheWal 3,745

6 jrs junk 3,736

7 ham grenade 3,639

8 Kenseth Rules 3,434

I'm not out of it, but it's going to be a tough row to hoe to win the championship here again.

1 Billy's Intimidators 2,383

2 jrs junk 2,281

3 HittheWal 2,260

4 Dashing Dogs 2,256

5 Kenseth Rules 2,252

6 Bill's Team 2,239

7 ham grenade 2,198

8 JAB's Go Daddy Race Team 2,159

1: Billy's Intimidators 1,865

2: Kenseth Rules 1,839

3: Dashing Dogs 1,755

4: HittheWal 1,723

5: jrs junk 1,715

6: JAB's Go Daddy Race Team 1,707

7: ham grenade 1,704

8: Bill's Team 1,686

Kansas is coming up next week and I expect Greg Biffle to continue his winning streak!

1 Kenseth Rules 1,266

2 Billy's Intimidators 1,251

3 Dashing Dogs 1,244

4 JAB's Go Daddy Race Team 1,212

5 jrs junk 1,161

6 Bill's Team 1,116

7 HittheWal 1,108

All in all a pretty close league!

Go HERE and enter the following info: League ID# 1574, password is "whodey".

Time to put the pedal to the metal boys!

Billy's Intimidators 8,691

AmPiBuTe 8,519

Ragin Cajuns 8,502

ham slices 8,422

Bill's Team 8,269

hitthewall 8,226

URIAH PEEP RACING 8,161

BrownsFan4Life 8,138

Probably Last 5,472

Kensethrules 5,039

Force8Dominate 3,984

...until Charlotte jumped up and bit him in the a$$! JJ has no one to blame but himself for that crash yesterday running against Ryan Newman. OTOH it appears Nascar will have a different champion in 2011, and it's about time. 5 years in a row is just too many for one driver to win the Cup IMO. I'd really like to see a new face like Carl Edwards win it all.

Speaking of winning it all, I'm closing in on doing that very thing in our Bengalszone Fantasy Nascar League. Catch me if you can, and league standings as follows!

Billy's Intimidators 8,455

Ragin Cajuns 8,269

AmPiBuTe 8,220

ham slices 8,158

Bill's Team 8,104

BrownsFan4Life 7,919

URIAH PEEP RACING 7,907

hitthewall 7,898

Probably Last 5,469

Kensethrules 5,029

Force8Dominate 3,971

1 Billy's Intimidators 7,986

2 Ragin Cajuns 7,746

3 AmPiBuTe 7,702

4 ham slices 7,606

5 Bill's Team 7,525

6 BrownsFan4Life 7,390

7 hitthewall 7,344

8 URIAH PEEP RACING 7,310

9 Probably Last 5,466

10 Kensethrules 5,026

11 Force8Dominate 3,963

I have a shot a breaking 10,000 this year. That would be a first!

League standings after New Hampshire as follows...

1 Billy's Intimidators 7,684

2 Ragin Cajuns 7,457

3 AmPiBuTe 7,436

4 ham slices 7,306

5 Bill's Team 7,220

6 hitthewall 7,138

7 BrownsFan4Life 7,137

8 URIAH PEEP RACING 7,029

9 Probably Last 5,463

10 Kensethrules 5,023

11 Force8Dominate 3,962