After leaving Washington, DC and the convoy I’ve been travelling with for the last 2 weeks it was on to Kansas City for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council’s “Performance Weekend.” This is a weekend of activities for EPIC members that includes Sunday’s Kansas Lottery Indy 300 race.

Here’s some members from Sterling (Colorado) Ethanol, which is building a plant in Yuma, CO checking in prior to the evening welcome reception.

Also on hand was Rahal-Letterman team driver, Jeff Simmons. Jeff will be driving the #17 Ethanol Car in tomorrow’s race.

I asked Jeff how things are going and what ethanol has meant from a competitiveness standpoint in the season so far.

He says that one effect seems to be less engine problems and attributes that to the cleaner burning ethanol blend they’re using in the Indy cars this year.

Here’s my interview with Jeff: Jeff Simmons Interview (3 min MP3)