IRL Notes: Three Cheers for Ethanol Fuel

Team Ethanol's Jeff Simmons is the toast of the town in Iowa's corn country.

By Bruce Martin
NSSN Correspondent

NEWTON, Iowa — Jeff Simmons drives the Ethanol-sponsored car in the IndyCar Series. Considering that Ethanol is produced in Iowa from corn grown in the state, the driver from Hartford, Conn., is hailed as a local hero in these parts.

“I’ve had my eye on this race since it was announced,” Simmons said. “We have 1,000 guests here this weekend, which is by far the most I’ve ever had. They are great race fans here. There are more tracks here (56) than all but one state in the country. They have the grass-roots racing. As soon as I came to town for the media day on Tuesday, they talked about the old grand prix they ran here in Des Moines, so the support has been amazing.”

Simmons has attended many trade shows to help promote Ethanol as an alternative fuel in the United States. The IndyCar Series is the only racing series that uses 100-percent fuel-grade Ethanol.

On Sunday morning, Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley and Senator Tom Harkin praised the IndyCar Series for its use of ethanol. Iowa is the leading domestic producer of corn, which is used in ethanol production. Grassley said 300 gallons of ethanol can be produced per acre.

“In Iowa, we don’t think we need to promote Ethanol because we’ve been acquainted with it for so long,” Grassley said. “I still call this an infant industry because people aren’t acquainted with it as we are. The bottom line is that we need to remind ourselves that Ethanol is good for farmers, good for the environment, good for good-paying jobs in rural America, good for our balance of trade because we are importing less petroleum.”

• Scott Sharp competed in the Des Moines Grand Prix four times when he was in Trans-Am. He won the grand prix in 1992 and won the pole all four years he competed, including 1993 when the race was canceled because of a flood after it rained for two-straight days.
  
  “When we used to come to Des Moines, it drew 250,000 people for the weekend,” Sharp said. “How many people live in Des Moines? It’s like everyone in the city came to the race. There are a lot of open-wheel enthusiasts in this state, and to have a track they can drive to is huge.”
  
  
• Before Sunday’s race, IndyCar president Brian Barnhart, the chief steward of the race, told the drivers to “Race Iowa like you would Texas, Kansas or Chicago. Drive with the finesse of a superspeedway, not the aggressiveness of a short track.”  Apparently, the drivers didn’t really listen because the only way to improve position in the race was to be aggressive on restarts, which led to nearly all of the crashes.
  
  “I think it was one of those examples where cautions breed cautions,” Barnhart said. “As close as the competition was, as tight as the pack was, the guys looked at restarts as their best opportunity to improve positions.”
  
  
• Buddy Rice had his best finish since joining Dreyer & Reinbold Racing this season. He was fourth after completing all 250 laps.
  
  “It’s going to help us pretty big in the points,” Rice said. “We were good at Milwaukee. We didn’t have a really quick car here like Milwaukee, but Richmond is another short track and we have two road courses coming up. I was fourth quick at Mid-Ohio in the open test. This stretch here will really help Dreyer & Reinbold. Our pit stops aren’t very good, but if we work on them more, we’ll be OK.”
  
  Team owner Dennis Reinbold had both cars in the top 10, with Sarah Fisher seventh.
  
  
• Darren Manning’s fifth-place finish was his best of the season, but it could have been higher if not for a pit-stop mistake.
  
  “We just needed a splash of fuel, and we filled it up, which was a bit of a shame,” Manning said. “On new tires for us, it took us 15 or 20 laps to get the car to handle right. Track position was important, and you saw how much risk people took on restarts. That was the only chance you had to overtake.
  
  “I need to pump some more iron before I come back here next time. It’s a mini-superspeedway.”
  
  
• Scott Dixon won the pole Saturday night by lapping the .894-mile short track in 17.6486 seconds for a lap at 182.360 miles per hour. That was just a tick faster than Helio Castroneves’s lap at 17.6571 seconds and 182.272 mph. It was Dixon’s first pole of the season and the seventh of his IndyCar Series career. His last pole came at Infineon Raceway in August 2006. His last pole on an oval came at Nazareth Speedway in 2003.