Newswatch

History of Autoduelling in Australia

• Ca. 2000: With oil and natural gas supplies dwindling worldwide, Australian motorists increasingly turn towards ethanol fuels derived from Queensland sugar cane. Liquid cane and shale oil projects are abandoned, as they prove too costly to be practical.

• 2006: Australian cars are now designed and built to use cane alcohol as fuel. Cane alcohol is exported overseas in large quantities, particularly to Japan and the United States.

• 2012: The grain blight that wipes out agriculture in the Northern Hemisphere does not affect the Australian wheat crop due to stringent quarantine restrictions. The sugar cane crop only suffers a 20 percent loss. Then-Prime Minister "Greedy" Vince Stanley demands - and gets - exorbitant prices for Australian grain and cane alcohol sold overseas.

• 2016: The Food Riots. Australia is spared the rioting due to an adequate supply of un-blighted grain. Large numbers of refugees from the Northern Hemisphere start pouring in the "Lucky Country".

• 2017: Australian coastal waters are constantly patrolled by the Royal Australian Navy to turn back refugees and prevent the growing sport of "Boat Hunting". The "Sport" involves the hunting, tracking and sinking of boats filled with refugees fleeing blighted countries. Many Australian coastal towns are converted into fortress resorts which Boat Hunters use as bases.

• 2025: The number of refugees coming to Australia slows to a trickle. Bored Australian citizens take to Autoduelling.

• 2028: Autoduelling on country roads becomes legal in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia. The sport is tolerated in the other four states.

• 2029: American-style high-performance power plants first introduced in Australia.

• 2030: Media recognition of autoduelling is boosted by Terry Backer's World Series Cup presentation of Test Autoduelling.

• 2031: Car Wars released to the general public.

• 2033: The Royal Autoduelling Association of Australia (RADAA) is formed along similar lines to the AADA. Full reciprocal benefits are available to visiting autoduellists in either country. The first Australian Test Tour is held in America.

• 2034: The AADA announces that the Australian National Champion, as recognised by the RADAA, will be eligible to compete in the AADA World Championships for the first Time.

50 Years Ago Today

Killer Truck Turned Back by .357

After Rasmussen swerved to avoid the truck as it backed out onto an East Texas highway, the truck driver sped up and caught up with Rasmussen's Pinto. "He pulled alongside us and then rammed the side of our car, trying to force us off the road. I was amazed , " Rasmussen said. Eventually, the Pinto was forced into a ditch and the truck disappeared.

Rasmussen limped the Pinto 10 miles into Frankston, where the truck reappeared, driving head-on toward the Pinto. "He kept coming after us, so I got out of the car with the gun and told my wife to keep going," Rasmussen said. He fired the .357 pistol four times at the late-model GMC pickup, hitting a tire and the driver once in the right wrist.

"I had to jump out of the way; he missed me by inches," he said.

Rasmussen then drove the damaged car to a service station, where another driver was already calling the police. The pickup's driver was arrested after a gun battle with police outside of town. Several tablets and pills "of controlled substance" were found inside the pickup truck, Frankston Police Chief Jay Parker said.

-Austin American-Statesman, 12/30/83