The biggest news for the “Great Race” organizers so far is the prospect of powering a ’67 Aston Martin with E-85 for the entire 2008 trek from New York to Paris. The Great Race Web site reports:

2008 Great Race entrant, Rich McKone of Peoria, Illinois is converting his 1967 Aston Martin DB6 to run on Ethanol E-85 for the around-the-world Great Race in 2008…

Instead of running the historical British sports car in the Schuster Class for cars that are 25 years old and older, McKone intends to participate in the Innovation Class in hoping to prove that Ethanol E-85 is the best short-term solution for renewable fuel.

Looks like Chuck was right. Ethanol isn’t just for the Indy Racing League, nor is it just for modern cars.