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When the race car engines roar, the air whispers ... Jiffy Pop

By DAVID ADAMS
Published March 28, 2007

Drivers could make shorter pit stops at Homestead Miami Speedway on Saturday, thanks to ethanol's better gas mileage.
	[Getty Images]

ADVERTISEMENT [Getty Images] "It's very organic," says Jeff Simmons, a driver with the Rahal Letterman team, a.k.a. Team Ethanol. Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Try your luck: Play our racing game The Fueling Station: Read more about ethanol and alternative energy solutions Meet Sarah Fisher Getting in gear: Tips for enjoying the weekend Follow the action around the track: Lug Nuts Keep up with the weekend's action in our Racing section

When the flag drops at the start of Saturday's IndyCar race through the streets of St. Petersburg, it will be colored the traditional green.

But this year it will be emblazoned with the letter E, marking a new era in motor racing. The air may even smell sweeter.

That's because this year those growling engines will be running on nearly 100 percent corn-based ethanol, grown and produced in the United States.

"It's really a historic moment in motor racing history," said Reece Nanfito, director of marketing with the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council. "It's good for your car, it's good for your country and it's better for the environment."

The IndyCar series switch to ethanol could also herald a major shift in Florida, which lags behind the rest of the country in ethanol-blended fuel for "street legal" consumer cars. While the race car drivers this week will get their fuel trucked in from Wyoming, ethanol is currently available at only four pumps in Florida, the nearest about 175 miles away in Lake City.

But gasoline retailers, led by Marathon, say they are preparing to launch ethanol statewide this spring.

The changeover from methanol, which is made from nonrenewable natural gas, to ethanol was the brainchild of IndyCar driver Paul Dana.

Dana died in a crash at the Homestead track a year ago, but not before using his contacts in the Midwest's ethanol industry to put together a sponsorship deal to supply the Indy Racing League with free fuel. Over the 16-race season, the deal is worth about $400,000, EPIC says.

The ethanol industry believes motor racing is the ideal platform to market its product to the driving public. "Motor racing is where people look for innovation and what's coming in the future," Nanfito said.

"What we hope is that when people see the performance of ethanol on the track and they see the availability of ethanol-enriched fuel at the pump, they realize it can work for them, too," he said.

In a sport historically saturated with advertisements for cigarettes and alcohol, and featuring buxom models, ethanol is becoming something of a feel-good story.

Ethanol plays especially well in the Midwest corn belt, which also happens to be the home of IndyCar racing country. But the ethanol industry is trying to bust out of the farm belt and win national acceptance as an alternative to gasoline.

The all-ethanol season opened Saturday at Homestead Miami Speedway. Drivers said the air smelled better thanks to the popcorn-scented fuel.

"It's kind of sweet. It's very organic and it's not really a harsh smell at all," said Jeff Simmons, a driver with the Rahal Letterman team, also known as Team Ethanol.

Advocates say ethanol reduces by about 30 percent the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global warming. But it also makes good engineering sense, the IRL says.

In fact, ethanol gives drivers excellent acceleration and overall handling at more than 200 mph. That helps on the hard-braking, hard-accelerating street course in St. Petersburg, which is more challenging than IndyCar's traditional oval tracks.

"It astounded us, frankly, because we have had absolutely no issues whatsoever with performance reliability," said Les Mactaggart, technical director for the IRL. "These things just run."

A veteran British racing car designer, Mactaggart, 58, has built five Indianapolis 500 winners.

After the idea was first raised, the IRL took it to Honda, its exclusive engine maker.

Some minor adjustments were necessary to cope with ethanol, which burns hotter than methanol. "All we did was change the cooling characteristics of the engine to get sufficient airflow to the radiators," Mactaggart said.

The fuel is mixed with 2 percent gasoline to avoid an alcohol sales tax. "They don't want us drinking it," Mactaggart joked.

Ethanol gets 30 percent better gas mileage than methanol, which translates into a smaller gas tank and shorter pit stops. The smaller tank - 22 gallons instead of 30 - makes cars about 100 pounds lighter. That reduces the load on the tires, increasing the performance of the car.

Critics argue that using corn for fuel is an inefficient process that consumes almost as much energy as it produces.

EPIC says it is by no means wedded to corn and is prepared to switch to other plant sources as soon as the technology becomes available. Officials say they are looking at Florida citrus as one possible future feedstock.

"Obviously we can't plant the entire country with corn to burn alcohol for our cars," said Stephen Reich, director of the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida. "But cheaper and cheaper feedstocks are already evolving."

Ethanol advocates hope success with IndyCars will lead to the "greening" of motorsports, including NASCAR.

"It's a wave that's spreading across the country and that wave is about ready to break in Florida," Nanfito said.

Times staff writer Aaron Sharockman contributed to this report. David Adams can be reached at dadams@sptimes.com.

[Last modified March 28, 2007, 01:19:06]