The keynote speaker at the EPIC reception was IndyCar driver Jeff Simmons. Jeff was in great spirits on the eve of the big race here in Indy. I’ve got the audio from his remarks to the group last night.

Jeff says that the story is how far ethanol has come and where things are at with the industry. He got involved right after Paul Dana’s untimely death last year and has had the opportunity to learn a lot about the fuel and especially how it performs in an engine. Like other drivers have been saying in the IRL and other leagues that are now experimenting with ethanol, he says they get better gas mileage and no loss of performance. I’m not an engineer but it appears that an engine that’s tuned to run properly on ethanol will not perform worse when it comes to mileage than regular gas. I’m sure that this would be the case in consumer model cars as well. In fact, I’m betting we’ll see this happen as the fuel and industry continues to develop and works with the auto manufacturers on this issue.

You can listen to Jeff’s remarks here: [audio:http://www.zimmcomm.biz/epic/indy-07-jeff-reception.mp3] Jeff is introduced by EPIC executive director Tom Slunecka and answers a few questions at the end of his remarks which are about 7 minutes long.