Indy 500 Goes From Gas to Green

Race Car Drivers Switch To Ethanol, Full Speed Ahead

(CBS)  The Indianapolis 500 is hardly the place you'd expect to find anything "green," outside of the starting flag. The cars in the annual race average 220 mph and get 2 to 3 miles per gallon. But this year, they'll be burning rubber on ethanol, reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers.

The Indy Racing League's Terry Angstadt calls the fuel switch a "huge commitment." He explains, "Not only is it a commitment to put it into the cars, but it's to carry the marketing message."

This is a big change for the Indy 500 — the last time the race switched fuels was back in 1965. Paul Dana, an Indy driver who died in a crash last April, championed the change to ethanol.

Tonya Bergeron-Dana says her husband got the idea after September 11. "He had this idea that we should reduce our dependence on foreign oil and that ethanol would be a really great way to do that. He went out there and got the sponsors together."

Indy driver Jeff Simmons says the fuel switch is anything but a gimmick, citing the environmental and economic benefits of ethanol. "If our engineers had said, 'hey, this isn't a high performance fuel,' we wouldn't be running it."

But the ethanol industry is looking at another kind of "green." It's sinking big money into trying to convince race fans to buy into ethanol just like the racers did. At a time when NASCAR, the most popular form of racing, just recently switched to unleaded gas, racing team owner Bobby Rahal says going green first makes Indy racing more relevant.

"We are creating some value other than purely entertainment," says Rahal.

The high-performance race cars will not be running on 100 percent pure ethanol. The reason? Two percent gas had to be added to the mix, otherwise it would have been considered pure grain alcohol and subject to liquor tax.

[space_poet]

Many racce series do this. Alcohol, methenal, ethenol, 108 octane gas, and combinations of these makes for cleaner air for the fans to breathe and high horsepower in engines that have been developed in no time to accomidate. Racing shows that there are many alternatives to fuel use. Every fuel is more efficent in mutitudes of ways, and the emmisions are less harmful. Sure they do 500 miles in some races, but compared to everyday USA that is like 2 seconds of any day on our highways. We can change, it really isn't that hard. Whether we take this an example or try something else, it CAN be done, easily, and change is good.

[tetsu69-2009]

How is this a big switch? The Indy cars have been using alcohol (methanol) for decades (since 1965 according to the story) and there is very little difference between ethanol and methanol when used as vehicle fuel. This isn't like it is a switch from gasoline to alcohol. I'm for using more ethanol in this country but lets get the facts straight before we start trumpeting something else as being "green" when it was very "green" before.

[techklec]

It seems to me that switching from methanol (wood alcohol) to ethanol (grain alcohol) wiyh 2% gasoline is a step away from "going green"...especially consiering that it puts more demand on existing ethanol supplies.

[mikealford3]

If they really want to go "Green" switch to Hybrids, that way when they pull into the pits they will burn no fuel. Or better yet, go electric. Can't you just see the winner of the Indy 500 on top of his EZ-GO or Club Car with a bottle of milk.

[toolmangler-2009]

This is just like the 'transfat' thing. Thousands of products that have never had transfat are now widely proclaiming "Transfat 0g".
gimme a break!! Come to think of it, I never heard of 'transfat' til a couple of years ago. What was it called to start with?

[kaiyo4u]

By switching to ethanol from methanol they're saving trees! sarcasm... It's an industry propaganda campaign to get the American public to accept ethanol. One of the reasons gas prices are going sky high is to make ethanol production feasible. Before gas prices went through the roof, ethanol wasn't a very good prospect because of the high manufacturing cost...

[micma-2009]

kaiyo4u

So the oil industry is raising the price of reqular gas so that it's competition, ethanol, would be a more workable alternative? That makes perfect sense. What are you smoking and where can I get some?

[micma-2009]

It's time that we stop feeding the monster that wants to kill us.

Foreign oil is a huge threat to our security, our economic strength and our environment.

We need more alternative, sustainable energy now.

[kaiyo4u]

kaiyo4u

So the oil industry is raising the price of reqular gas so that it's competition, ethanol, would be a more workable alternative? That makes perfect sense. What are you smoking and where can I get some?


Posted by micma at 06:12 PM : May 27, 2007


Where are the oil money profits being invested? They know the supplies of oil are finite. So where do you think they're going to put their money next?
Ethanol is not an equal to gasoline. It does burn as hot and does not get the mileage that gasoline does.
Why all the hype about ethanol? Who is promoting ethanol?
The farmers are, to a certain extent because it means more money for them.
If you know any farmers they aren't going to be spending any money because they are always broke... (something I learned growing up in farm country)
But it means less food production also as more fields are dedicated for ethanol.
But who is really behind this promotion.
The big 3 are poised to put ethanol burning cars on the road and they have some dual fuel cars now on the roads now.
So please tell me who is behind the promotion of ethanol besides those that get an immediate gain in profits from it?

[kaiyo4u]

What if they were to use hemp seeds for oil? They have been proven by research to fuel diesels.
There are other things that hemp can be used for... paper, rope, and clothing to name three besides the fuel alternative. It grows quicker than corn and the yield is greater too.