Contradiction in Terms: Green in NASCAR equals 5 mpg
by Sebastian Blanco on Nov 2nd 2009 at 10:29AM 
NASCAR has already gone solar and wants to help you (not themselves) use less fuel, but the cold hard reality is that those ovals are being made in cars that get around five miles per gallon. Not exactly hybrid SUV territory there. So, to reduce the amount of fossil fuels used in each race, race organizers are looking at maybe – just maybe – using alternative fuels in some of the cars.
Before NASCAR gets that ca-razy, though, there are other ways the series might use fewer resources. At least NASCAR's first director of green innovation, Mike Lynch, makes it clear that, "We're not attempting to take any high ground. [...] This is a pragmatic approach to green, and what we're doing now is just the beginning."
Part of the problem is that NASCAR fans don't want to give up what they've become accustomed to. Lee White, president of Toyota Racing Development, told USAToday that, "Doubling fuel mileage means half the horsepower, and putting fans in the stands requires a show." Driver Sam Hornish, Jr. adds, "No one is going to come watch us run battery-powered cars. I don't see anyone making enough electric power to go 200 mph."
Driver Brian Vickers is also more than willing to take the let's-all-do-something-but-you-go-first approach. He said, "Do our cars need to be more fuel efficient? Absolutely. But I think as a whole there's a lot bigger low-hanging fruit we can go after as a sport. There are a lot of fans that come to these races, and there's a lot we don't recycle that we could."
Some of that low-hanging fruit are carbon offsets, possibly replacing carburetors with (gasp!) fuel injection and finally Coke's race-side display that "highlight(s) its recycling businesses and has placed more than 2,600 recycling bins at a dozen tracks that have collected more than 65,000 pounds of recyclable material." When you have such a history of going in circles, maybe progress isn't your forte.
[Source: USAToday via Domestic Fuel]
Photo by pocketwiley. Licensed under Creative Commons license 2.0.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Parlay84 10:38AM (11/02/2009)
I used to be a NASCAR fan, but so what...
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FSM 10:37AM (11/02/2009)
God, to think that all that go juice is wasted on this lowest form of racing. How about cutting the number of laps in half, that way we there will only be 2 hours of left hand turns.
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Glock23 10:46AM (11/02/2009)
Heaven forbid we actually have choices in racing and don't all have to be wine and cheese F1 snobs......
Clay Garland 10:55AM (11/02/2009)
The lowest form of racing with the most talented drivers.
akboss302 10:59AM (11/02/2009)
Most talented drivers, have you ever seen WRC??? Or Baja? If you break down there, you don't just get towed to the pits and given a frappa-latte, you have to fix it, or the crowd carries your mangled car back on the track and you keep going.
dukeisduke 11:16AM (11/02/2009)
Cut the current Bataan Death March of a schedule down to 20 to 24 races per year, scrap the CoT and switch to bodies-in-white, run more road courses, improve the technology, and look at alternative fuels. ALMS is on the right track here, and NA$CAR could be too.
swimstarguy 11:35AM (11/02/2009)
That is such an obvious solution I am embarrassed to say it didn't occur to me.
thipps 12:57PM (11/02/2009)
This eco stuff has gone to far. yes i know its Glen Beck i dont listen to him often (i get my news online) but he does cover SOME interesting stuff. And just so you know Al GORE is being sued by 31,000 scientist including 9,000 PHD's who study the earth and climate.
if you think im crazy just watch this video and research the subject for yourself.
http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=55571787
Climate change = a carbon tax.
C4 6:40AM (11/03/2009)
Less laps, hmmmm.....that's a great idea for many reasons
Hazdaz 10:42AM (11/02/2009)
This is a non-story. I'm ALL FOR higher fuel economy when it comes to production cars, but lets be real here, these are race cars and as boring as I think NASCAR is, in the great big scheme of things even if they doubled the economy of the cars themselves it's still just a drop in the bucket compared to all the other fuel they waste during a typical race - all the support vehicles, all the power needed the run the stands and crew.
Push them to make any new buildings they build be LEED-certified would do lots more than trying to make a dozen racecars more fuel efficient.
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Mike 11:56AM (11/02/2009)
Hazdaz has it right on the money. NASCAR is low tech motorsport. What these cars burn on the track has little more than a symbolic importance. Just enjoy the races and get over it.
john09williams 10:43AM (11/02/2009)
"When you have such a history of going in circles, maybe progress isn't your forte."
Brilliant.
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akboss302 10:43AM (11/02/2009)
So is this post just to generate as much anti-green momentum as possible or what?
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Jim R 10:44AM (11/02/2009)
It's long past time NASCAR got into the 21st century. Smaller-displacement V8s (say a cap of 300ci instead of the current 358ci). Electronic fuel injection. Five, maybe even six-speed transmissions. Allow the cars to be LIGHTER (current minimum weight is I think 3,400lbs w/driver). Reduce that to 3,000lbs w/driver and you'll see steel body panels replaced with CF or fiberglass. All these things will improve efficiency without significantly impacting the actual racing. They'll still be loud, they'll still be fast, they'll still wreck spectacularly and they won't look any different.
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MGS4TW 11:05AM (11/02/2009)
I'm behind that 100%!
I don't particularly care for nascar, but in light of recent developments with Direct-Injection and more specifically a lot more turbocharged cars from the factory, why not drop those big v8s for smaller, direct injected, turbo charged engines?
You could tweak one of those little buggers to be roughly equivalent to the big v8, then throw in a better transmission (6, 7 speed), AND lower the weight of the cars. You'd easily double the fuel economy, if not more.
Ron Peters 12:37PM (11/02/2009)
Excellent comment. I've been bored with Nascar for quite some time. They've removed all the incentive for technology in racing by implementing more and more rules tailored to "even" the playing field. This promotes cheating.
I've always thought that the cars should only have a safety inspection and let the teams figure the rest out. Cheating is eliminated and technology advances. If one or more of the cars go too fast, reduce the tire size on ALL of the cars to slow things down.
Related to economy, why mandate a certain technology (EFI, Direct Injection, Displacement etc), and simply limit the amount of fuel a car is allowed to use for the race. Base it on something like the average amount used by teams that finished. Then let the teams figure out how best to use their fuel. Going slower isn't an option and they still have to be safe so they'll have to be creative. You could then ratchet down the amounts over time to continually increase economy. The side benefit is that the technology used in racing would actually be useful for production, unlike the current state.
garlinski 10:56AM (11/02/2009)
Hmmm... Deisel? If Audi and Peugot can do it... and SUCCEED! Just saying...
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JZeke 11:03AM (11/02/2009)
Why not focus the economy efforts on everything that surrounds the track? Diesel generators, fleets of RVs and transport trucks, all the food stands etc - all of these could be made more efficient.
You could probably generate a ton of electricity just by putting those spring-generator plates in the main walkways.
Tho I'm also all for bringing the hopelessly outdated car tech into the 21st century too. Lots of ways to keep things simple when you reduce weight and use technology sparingly.
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Jim R 11:13AM (11/02/2009)
How about putting solar panels on top of the garages or on top of the grandstands? On race day they help power the concession booths and the like (it won't be near enough, but it'll help). On off days they sell the power to the local utility company.
WTFBBQ 11:16AM (11/02/2009)
Jim R is spot on.
As for those who think nascar drivers can't drive, don't forget that Jeff Gordon went across the pond and kicked butt in a rally car in the Michelin Challenge a few years back . . .
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