Slow to Wave 'Green' Flag

Aware of the danger, NASCAR has launched several "green" initiatives that have nothing to do with the sticky issue of fossil fuel. Among them: The tires deemed obsolete after just 30 or 40 laps of racing each weekend now are being shredded and recycled, and used motor oil and lubricants also are being collected and re-refined.

"Those efforts will certainly bear fruit much faster than any change in the [fuel] we run," notes Marcus Jadotte, NASCAR's managing director of public affairs. "We run 43 cars on a racetrack, and the amount of fuel burned by those cars is minuscule compared to the overall consumption of petroleum-based products."

But in the view of U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh (D-Ind.), even symbolic gestures are important. That's why he and Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.) wrote France last year asking him to consider switching to ethanol.

While ethanol, a fuel typically derived from renewable sources such as corn, has lost some of its appeal amid evidence that its broad-based use raises food prices, Bayh remains an advocate and believes NASCAR should model "green" behavior.

"Venerated institutions like NASCAR have a responsibility to lead by example and embrace renewable sources that are produced here at home," Bayh wrote in an e-mailed statement last week.

Other racing series have done just that.

The Indy Racing League switched to 100 percent ethanol in 2007, and its signature event, the Indianapolis 500, didn't lose any luster.

The American Le Mans Series, which bills itself as "a global leader in green racing," uses an array of fuels -- all of them alternative fuels that are available to consumers. Its Audis run on diesel; its Chevrolet Corvettes run on cellulosic ethanol (made from organic matter such as grass clippings rather than corn or sugar). A gas-electric hybrid is expected to compete in 2009.

"Our series represents a rolling development lab for the major automobile manufacturers to bring new, cutting-edge technology, not only to make a better racecar but to make a better production car," says Scott Atherton, the series' president and CEO.

But NASCAR has an entertainment-driven philosophy that, in some ways, makes switching fuels more challenging.

For starters, its rulebook is designed to stifle innovation rather than encourage it. That's because the key to staging side-by-side races, NASCAR officials believe, is ensuring that no car has an advantage over another.

As a result, all cars must run the same fuel to reduce the chance of a team spiking it with an illegal additive. All of the cars' bodies also must be identical. Only the engines differentiate a Ford, Chevrolet, Toyota or Dodge. And at the moment, those four manufacturers don't necessarily agree on what the "fuel of the future" is any more than do environmentalists or legislators.