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Analysis: Indy 500 provides a bully pulpit for ethanol to preach its gospel

Tim Wohlford
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  5/29/2008 1:03 pm

INDIANAPOLIS -- Ethanol, once the darling of environmentalists, now finds itself under fire as food prices start to rise.

Auto racing, never the darling of that crowd, could suddenly find itself as the newest R&D lab for alternative fuels. Combine ethanol and auto racing, and you've got the Indy 500, quite possibly the ultimate proving ground, and the bully pulpit to preach the ethanol gospel.

Auto racing has always been a proving ground for new technology that is then transferred to passenger cars. The first Indy 500 is credited for bringing the world the rear-view mirror, for instance. However, in the late 1970s, auto racing became more about "the show" and much less about technology. The modern Indy 500 is run with identical leased motors that cannot be modified, as well as identical chassis and tires where precious few modifications are allowed.

One of the few places where R&D for passenger cars is actively taking place is the choice of ethanol to power Indy cars. Ethanol replaced its much harsher sibling methanol as the specified fuel for Indy cars in 2006. In the process, ethanol turned its image from a niche fuel additive to a viable solution for everyday driving.

Ethanol (and Rahal Letterman Racing) spokesman Eric Mauk said that the transition to ethanol is a resounding success as far as the competitors are concerned: "We haven't had an engine failure (due to ethanol), we are getting better gas mileage so the fuel tanks are smaller, lightening up the cars. At 113 octane -- it was only 107 with the methanol -- that extra octane gives you better response on the road courses. You're quicker off and on the throttle, meaning better lap times on the road courses."

Indeed, there hasn't been an engine failure in the IRL for over a year and a half, and the motors that run the entire month of May at Indy will run the next weekend at The Milwaukee Mile as well, without any major work needed.

However, Mauk knows very well that ethanol has suddenly come under intense scrutiny. "The same people that put so much time and effort into promoting Ryan (driver Ryan Hunter-Reay) and our race team last year are finding themselves fighting on so many different fronts," he said.

Ethanol is still in its infancy when it comes to replacing petroleum-based fuels, perhaps 100 years behind the efficiency of corresponding refining and delivery systems of gasoline. And, the industry is very much aware that it is under the gun to do better. First-generation ethanol production only used part of the corn grain, and didn't have processes in place to use the rest.

However, Lifeline Foods -- the ethanol supplier for the Indy Racing League -- now claims that half of the corn kernel is returned to food supply, either as distiller's grain for animal feed or as raw material for corn meal. In addition, the company is working to reverse the energy ratio that currently has ethanol production costing more BTUs of energy than it produces.

Even further on the horizon, the IRL and its partners are looking beyond corn for ethanol production. Corn got the early nod, Mauk explained, "... because it's plentiful, the process is more advanced."

Some in the industry are investigating cellulosic ethanol which uses lignocellulose, found in virtually every plant. That would open up other plant materials -- such as switchgrass or waste paper -- to ethanol production. In addition, such cellulosic technology would greatly reduce the greenhouse gas emissions produced by gasoline and current ethanol products.

And where does all of this fit in at Indy? Not only is Indy the proving ground, it's also the PR machine that shows the world that ethanol is a viable energy source as the industry works to improve its product.

"That was the whole hook for the ethanol industry (to come to Indy)," Mauk said. "That was their prime impetus for being here -- to show the performance benefits of ethanol. And it's been amazing."

Tim Wohlford
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  5/29/2008 1:03 pm