Fill 'er up - to save the planet?

So Earth to Philly got a pitch to write up a new Earth Day event - The Amazing Rock the Earth Race, which will take place over 7 hours on April 21st "in Denver, Boulder and other spots along the Front Range." Specific race details are somewhat sketchy, though there will be "mental and physical challenges."

I'm guessing the main physical challenge won't be getting oneself to Boulder from Denver or vice versa, given that one round trip would equal two marathons - something people rarely pull off within a 7-hour time window. Oh, also, all participants need to be able to drive.

This suggests that whatever else it involves in terms of feel-good earth-friendly consciousness raising, this event exhorts up to 75 2-person teams, i.e. 75 vehicles, to drive all over the "Front Range" for a day.

So, um, what kind of vehicles are they driving? I thought maybe Rock the Earth was supplying electric cars, and I guess that's still a remote possibility, but it's not mentioned, and on this page one can't help but note a pic with two people in what looks like their own car, and a lack of sponsorship opportunities on an official race vehicle.

So are we really talking about 75 vehicles "racing" to checkpoints around a large two-city area burning fossil fuels all the while - for Earth Day?

Makes as much sense as serving meat and dairy, top greenhouse-gas factors, at an Earth Day party.

Aw geez, Rock the Earth is having a race-end party too? I hesitate to ask what's on the menu.

Why not a hypermiling competition for Earth Day? Or failing that, all human-powered vehicles? Adding higher gas consumption to the load on the planet would seem to rock the earth in a different way.