Someone finally is seeing the light. For many years, producers of ethanol have tried to achieve widespread acceptance of the chemical as a fuel additive with gasoline. You may remember the “gasohol” offerings of a decade or so ago. It was supposed to be the answer to air pollution, the greenhouse effect, low corn prices … and nearly everything else but waxy yellow buildup.
I guess you still can find it, but I wouldn’t know where.
Now, finally, a group of ethanol producers has noticed the value of auto racing endorsements.
According to the Associated Press, a group called the Senate Biofuels Caucus has approached the Indy Racing League about making ethanol the exclusive fuel of the series.
Senator Jim Talent, a Republican from Missouri and a member of the caucus, says that the key would be the advertising value of a racing endorsement, especially an endorsement from the Indianapolis 500.
Methanol, which is made from natural gas, has been the fuel used in Indy Cars since the 1970’s. It replaced gasoline, one of the most explosive and hazardous fuels in existence.
Remember the fire that engulfed the fourth turn of the 1964 race and took the lives of veteran Eddie Sacks and rookie Roger Mcdonald? That was gasoline. Remember it the next time you fill your minivan.
Methanol was a little less efficient but much safer, since it doesn’t explode as easily and its fire can be put out with water.
Its biggest drawback, as you probably have heard, is that the flame of methanol is not easily seen. In daylight you can only detect it by seeing or feeling the heat that comes from it.
Members of the Ethanol Caucus wrote to Tony George, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, to urge him to consider switching IRL cars to ethanol. The AP story says that IRL officials are open to the idea, if ethanol makers are willing to ante up and buy exclusivity.
It seems like a marriage made in heaven. The IRL’s base is in the heart of corn country. Top ethanol producing states are Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas, Wisconsin and Tennessee.
It’s not like racing itself would be a big market for ethanol. All IRL races including the 500 use less than 60 thousand gallons of methanol each year. Monte Shaw, of the Renewable Fuels Association, says that there should be some common ground between The Great American Race and what he calls The Great American Fuel.
The value to ethanol producers would be the advertising tie in. If it works for racing, it should work well in our minivans and sedans too. Right?
The logic, however, begs the question that, if use as a racing fuel helps marketing, why aren’t we all using methanol in our cars? The most likely answer is that methanol producers are not trying to create a major market, so are not exploiting the tie in.
Methanol producers have, however, picked up the gauntlet. Gregory Dolan, vice president of communications and policy for the Methanol Institute, says that his group’s product has already proven itself as an effective and safe racing fuel. He says it also is very cost effective.
The other “major” open-wheeled racing series in the U.S., Championship Auto Racing Teams, is more concerned about surviving than about what fuel to use. (They do currently use methanol)
CART, currently a publicly traded company on the New York Stock Exchange, last week reported third-quarter losses of 34.4 million dollars. The company said that if a proposed sale to a small group of team owners doesn’t happen, there will not be a 2004 season.
Open Wheel Racing, a group of three CART team owners, has offered just under 7.5 million dollars for all the outstanding CART stock. The offer amounts to about 56 cent per share.
CART says the offer from OWR is the only one on the table. The third-quarter report, quoted by AP, says that if the propose merger with OWR doesn’t happen and there are no alternatives available, the company will probably cease operations, and liquidate its assets.
In the 3Q report, CART said its revenues for July, August and September totaled just over 18 million dollars, just a little less than the same period last year. However, expenses rose from just over 32 million dollars last year to more than 53 million this year.
For the first three quarters of the year, the company’s net loss was nearly 78 million dollars, nearly six times greater than the same period a year earlier.
It would be a sad thing to see this great series go belly up, but
it surely cannot survive bleeding so much red ink.