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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARCH 17, 2010
DICK JORDAN

USAC ENDORSES GOVERNMENT’S “GREEN INITIATIVE”

The United States Auto Club, recognizing the importance of alternative sources for fuel, is endorsing the United States Government’s “Green Initiative” and encouraging its racing teams to think “green.”

Mario Clouser Motorsports of Auburn, Ill. has been a leading proponent of the usage of Ethanol in USAC competition as well as extolling its benefits to the farm economy and the environment.

MCM spent two days at the chassis dyno in Mt. Carmel, IL. and while achieving slightly less performance results than methanol, the characteristics of methanol and ethanol, especially in the arena of safety, proved very similar. With a Go-Green attitude, MCM is hopeful of running ethanol in the 2010 season during its probationary usage period at USAC National Midget events.

"We are very excited about our opportunity to show the racing community how the car can perform on Ethanol, said Mario" "I'm looking forward to racing with the fuel, the dyno tests have shown positive results and I am very excited to see how it translates on track"

Ethanol, a clean burning fuel which is environmentally friendly, was phased into the Indy Racing League in 2006 and the series adopted 100% Ethanol in 2007. Other racing series have since also adopted this “green initiative” as a response to the U.S. Government’s plea to sanctioning bodies and motorsports in general.

--USAC--

you gotta be joking !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ROB

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. So the "green" fad is getting a foothold in sprint car racing now, eh? How long until the government spreads it's nasty tentacles into our sport? Not long, I'd wager.

I guess teams are just going to have to start buying carbon credits from Al Gore!

Mike Brown

E85 being 'clean' is a bunch of bunk. Its just a trend. Ethanol, as well as Methanol, when combusted produces a lot of aldehydes, a precursor to ozone. Methanol is better. Problem is, because of mechanical fuel injection and the high compression ratios fuel systems tend to be run very rich. With EFI, we could still run Methanol and run much leaner and make more horsepower.

Here's an interesting link: http://green.autoblog.com/2009/12/16/burning-ethanol-creates-more-ozone-than-gasoline-worse-in-winte/

Ted Williams

TPW Technologies
www.tpwtech.com

I thought that "GREEN" was unlucky for race cars.

Let the games begin, it will only get worse

Grady

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I don't feel it will, Grady.

If administered properly EFI and spark control will 1. reduce emissions, 2. rid car owners of having to tinker with mechanical injection problems and most mag issues, 3. vastly improve the lower end of the torque curve (drivability), and, at the end of the day, 4. match or increase current horsepower 'standards' and durability (oh, and will reduce car owner investment). No matter what fuel is used.

Think about it, there's production cars now with V6s that make over 300 hp and can get over 30MPG on the highway and meet very strict EPA emissions (new Mustang, for example) - oh, and run on pump gas. The ZR1 makes 638HP and 604 lb-ft torque and is 378 c.i. I bet most 360s running Ventura don't make that, and to boot the ZR1 engine meets current emissions standards and it gets 20mpg highway on premium fuel. Punch it out a bit, say to 410, alter the spark and fuel map (while changing some valve train components and other items, i.e. headers) and you have a fuel efficient, low emissions (compared to current race engines) engine that will compete with most 410s out there and provide the fans with better entertainment, I feel, because the drivability will be SOOO much better.

I feel it is time to move this sport into the modern world while reducing engine cost (especially for midgets) and improve durability as well as reduce emissions and fuel consumption.

I'm not necessarily talking about a 'spec' engine here, I'm promoting affordability. There's plenty of 10 year old short blocks out there that are still racing. If Kinsler et.al. worked on an EFI induction system and the likes of MSD worked on a computer controlled ignition system with individual coils/cylinder (I know, they already have this) for race engines, sanctioning bodies could phase in 'clean' engine technology with existing platforms and have them all race competively together for several seasons.

In most cases this is a hand-me-down sport. The rich guys buy the latest stuff and after a season sell off their last season stuff to less rich guys, and so on. After several seasons, the guys that can least afford the latest stuff have, say, 3 or 5 year old stuff on their cars, and this new technology stuff should be much more reliable than the old stuff they were running. It's an interesting problem to equalize old with new... weight? Who knows. All I know, we have to move ahead and E85 ain't the solution, it's just a politically correct mask.

Some food for thought.

Ted Williams

TPW Technologies
www.tpwtech.com

Ted, I like what you are saying. However, much of this new technology is hard to regulate. Especially in the tight timeline of what is happening on a Saturday night. In some cases you might have to do an impound just to make sure nothing is altered to gain an advantage. Even then the inspectors would be hard pressed to check all of the race cars in a timely manner.

Ted

What I'm referencing is the elitist that go to the opera, theatre, drink $150 bottles of wine are the people that now run this country and they would like nothing more than to see all types of auto racing banned. The dirt track racing would be the most hated in these circles.

Grady

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Everything you know is wrong.

Hey Grady, I wonder what kind of wine your buddy Mel Martin is drinking?... See ya Saturday, even though they don't have a VIP section at Canyon?..BIG GRIN!

Hey wallbanger, do I qualify?

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true.