100% ethanol makes its Indy racing debut

It was a historic day today for motorsports and for alternative energy. The Indy Racing League launched its new season driving on 100% ethanol for the first time in motor racing history.

Our congratulations to fellow Brit Dan Wheldon who won the season opener at the  Miami-Homestead Speedway in grand style.

Commiserations to Jeff Simmons of Team Ethanol who crashed out of the race. And a special word for Tonya, the widow of Paul Dana (see photo left), the Indy driver who pioneered ethanol as a race fuel but tragically lost his life last year during a race practice. (click here to read my earlier posts on Paul Dana's contribution to renewable fuels.)

I was down at the track part of the day and was able to chat with Jeff Simmons (see photo below), as well as IRL chief Technical Director (and also a fellow Brit) Les Mactaggart. He told me the switch from methanol to ethanol has been a "seamless transition."

"First and foremost, this is about performance," Simmons writes in an op-ed article published today in the Miami Herald. "Our engineers and technicians had to be convinced that it made sense to use a new fuel grade after 40 years with methanol, which is made from natural gas, a nonrenewable fossil fuel. Pure ethanol is a renewable resource, made from crops grown in the U.S., that provides the high performance that our vehicles demand, and has clear environmental advantages over other available fuel sources."

My thanks to the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) especially Joanna Schroeder and Steve Rust who showed me around and brought me up to speed on their effort to educate Americans about the merits of "America's high performance renewable fuel." In a sponsorship deal with the Indy Racing League, EPIC's members in the ethanol industry are providing all the fuel for this years' races, valued at about $400,000.

I also got to ride in the Honda Accord Hybrid Safety Car that the Indy folks are using at races this year. Not only that, but I did two laps touching 120mph with Al Unser (four-time Indianapolis 500 winner) no less at the wheel!!

Click here for race track coverage by my fellow bloggers at Domestic Fuel.com

Click here to learn more about EPIC's effort to promote ethanol in Florida. See photo left of its 'Florida Needs Ethanol' banner being flown over the state this month.

- David Adams