Future of Green Racing in US Unclear after 2013

by Robert Kozak (Advanced Biofuels USA) The future of the American Le Mans GreenX Challenge^TM in particular and Green Racing in general is uncertain past the 2013 racing season. On Friday, January 4^th 2013, NASCAR GRAND-AM and American Le Mans (ALMS) officials held a press conference to announce “the Conceptual Class Structure” for the unified 2014 racing season.

The announcement, which maintained all existing GRAND-AM classes but cancelled an ALMS prototype class, did not include any commitment to continuing the environmentally strong Green Racing program of the American Le Mans series (ALMS). In a follow-up question, all that NASCAR/ GRAND-AM director of Competition Richard Buck would commit to was “more discussions as we go forward.”

In September 2012, NASCAR purchased the assets of ALMS including two legendary race tracks, Sebring and Road Atlanta, and set about merging ALMS with the NASCAR sports car series called GRAND-AM beginning in 2014.

As we have reported over the past five years, the innovative American Le Man series (ALMS) is highlighted by Corvettes, Ferraris, Porsches, BMWs, and Vipers racing each other on cellulosic E-85 fuel.

In addition, ALMS includes the Green X Challenge at every race. The GreenX, started in 2008 and sponsored by international tire giant Michelin in conjunction with the US DOE and US EPA, has been a forcing function in high performance automotive technology. High performance diesels, bio-butanol as a fuel, production engines enhanced to utilize the octane and vaporization characteristics of ethanol, and low carbon footprint tires have all come to the fore because of the GreenX Challenge and the environmental commitment of ALMS.

By contrast, none of the GRAND-AM racing classes had any of the energy efficiency or renewable fuel requirements of ALMS. All GRAND-AM prototype and sports car classes ran on E-0 gasoline; quite a difference from cellulosic ethanol, biobutanol, high-tech diesel, and kinetic energy storage devices.

The fact that no Green Racing announcement was made at this press conference is especially troubling for two reasons.

Second, the unification of the two series was billed as a “merger of equals.” Therefore, one would have expected the ALMS Green Racing brand to be maintained if ALMS was an equal to the NASCAR juggernaut.

On the potentially positive side, in the Q/A session GRAND-AM director of competition Richard Buck said GRAND-AM and their fuel supplier Sunoco wanted to be “good partners for the environment.” Scott Elkins, ALMS/IMSA COO, said they want to keep renewable fuels in the future.

So, if you want to keep Green Racing, the GreenX Challenge, and renewable fuels, it is important that you contact GRAND-AM now.

The website is www.grand-am.com where they have a fan forum as well as Facebook and Twitter links. We still have a chance, but they need to know from the Friends of Green Racing now. READ MORE (GRAND-AM) and MORE (American Le Mans Series) and MORE (American Le Mans Series) and MORE (American Le Mans Series update 2/15/2013) and MORE (ALMS update 6/14/13)