While working for General Motors in Brazil in the 1990s, Brent Dewar got a firsthand look at the country's successful switch from an oil-based economy to ethanol.
Dewar wants to see the same thing happen in the US, and he thinks NASCAR can help. He's lobbying officials to consider a switch from gasoline to ethanol.
"We would embrace it," said Dewar, GM's vice president of field sales, service and parts. "We think it would be great on a lot of fronts, because obviously it would send a signal to the public. A lot of people don't understand the benefits of ethanol."
Other racing series already are embracing renewable fuels. Beginning this season, the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series will race on 100 percent ethanol. And the US LeMans Series will race on a 10 percent ethanol blend.
Driver Kyle Petty says that NASCAR's marketing power might drive alternative fuels into the mainstream, helping consumers get over the image of hippies tinkering with their 1980s Mercedes to make them run on vegetable oil.
"I think once you start seeing alternative fuels show up in places like racing and places where you least expect them, then you don't think about that guy with the Volkswagen van that runs off of whatever," Petty said.
NASCAR is taking one step in the direction of environmental responsibility by getting the lead out by switching from leaded to unleaded fuel.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said officials are willing to consider renewable fuels, too.
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