Would NASCAR switch to Ethanol?

UPDATE CEO Rick Wagoner of General Motors has been talking with NASCAR executives about bringing ethanol fuel into stock-car racing, to make the sport “greener."

Brent Dewar, GM vice president in charge of racing, said “We are guests at this party. But we’re also a partner, and we think this would be the right signal to send to America. We have to reduce our (foreign) dependency.

“We know they have a fuel partner (Sunoco), and we’re respectful of that. We’re hoping that when the time comes for a discussion of the fuel we can talk about that. What we have to do now is show them some of the technical learnings we’ve had with ethanol in other series.

“But it’s very do-able." Winston Salem Journal

04/29/05 Several Midwestern Senators want to tap into NASCAR’s marketing power. The four farm-state Senators have sent a request to the sport's top officials, asking them to switch to a corn-based Ethanol fuel and take part in a new kind of promotion.

“What we really want NASCAR to do is to adopt this because it’s the fuel of the Heartland of the country. They could make a statement about how high performance a fuel Ethanol really is," said Missouri’s Jim Talent.

Talent isn't alone in his thinking. The Senator is joined by fellow Republican Norm Coleman, of Minnesota, and Democrats Tom Harkin of Iowa, and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas. The bipartisan group is grandstanding for alternative fuels in an effort to help their farmer-constituents.

“They’d be helping American farmers instead of Saudi oil producers and that’s certainly the right statement to make now, too. This would be an important, and a good step for NASCAR to take," said Talent.