NASCAR, meet the electric Chevy Volt

NASCAR, meet the electric Chevy Volt

FORT WORTH, Texas (CNN) -- Imagine a sun-swept Texas afternoon in 2015. After the roar of a ceremonial flyover, a Texas Motor Speedway crowd of 200,000 rises to its feet in anticipation of NASCAR's signature moment.

The celeb du jour grabs the microphone and bellows, "Gentlemen, start your engines!"

As the fans join in a full-throated cheer, 43 of the world's best drivers reach down and press a button. What follows is unprecedented: pin-dropping silence, save for 43 small clicks.

This scenario isn't as unfathomable as it may seem. In fact, in a sport whose fans often wear their American pride on their sleeves along with the image of their favorite driver, it may offer a strongly pro-American vision of the future.

NASCAR, meet the Chevrolet Volt, which General Motors believes will become the first mass-produced plug-in electric car on American roads by late 2010. The latest symbol of GM's new mantra, "From gas-friendly to gas-free," the Volt was unveiled to the media last week at Texas Motor Speedway, in the heart of NASCAR country.

Electric cars, with their quiet engines, turning laps in silence every Sunday on the NASCAR circuit? It may be a tough sell.

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