Thought I would forward you guys this exciting news from my good friend Peter (another great Greek!) regarding the XPRIZE getting a HUGE number of folks signed up their automotive X-Prize. Over 100 teams signed up to compete for the “$10 million prize to build a practical vehicle capable of getting the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon of gas.”

Oh yeah, GM passed on getting involved but fear not: Neil Young’s 59 Lincoln convertible is in! What does it say about GM when salty-dog rock icons are more active in alternative fuel than they are (please don’t answer–too painful)?

Got me thinking: Wouldn’t it be better to give $20M in venture capital/loans/gifts to each of the top 50 candidates in this contest than another billion to failed US automakers like GM? Since half of you seem to be good friends with Obama & Co. can someone forward this to him?

Your thoughts can be shared directly to me and Peter (he is cced above) or in public here (you can login with Facebook ID–no need to register): http://tinyurl.com/xprizeloans

Peter: Jason’s List is my private email list of about 14k really smart, considered and rather dapper, I might add, insiders from over 50 count[r]ies. Sometimes I email them really important/interesting stuff. You might get a couple of emails back.