FROM THE “YES, IT REALLY IS THE 21ST CENTURY” DEPARTMENT:

The man behind the $10 million X Prize for private spaceflight is joining forces with a venture capitalist who’s also an Indy car backer to establish a NASCAR-like racing league for rocket-powered aircraft.

Is that cool, or what? More here. I was on the National Space Society board with Peter Diamandis back in the 1990s, and we’re both on the Foresight Institute board today, and, well, he’s just the kind of guy to pull this off.