Mark Thomas is now a six-time International Hot Rod Association Funny Car champion. Thomas, a farmer from Louisville, Ohio, won the International Hot Rod Association Alcohol Funny Car Division world championship once again this year, beating his nearest opponent by more than 100 points. The World Champions will be crowned Saturday, December 9, at the 2006 IHRA Awards Banquet in …
Renova to Supply Ethanol for IRL
Ethanol for the 2007 IndyCar Series will be supplied by Renova Energy of Wyoming. Ethanol Promotion and Information Council executive director Tom Slunecka made that announcement during a press conference Thursday announcing the new team for Rahal-Letterman Racing. “Of course all of our member plants are producing the same high quality product,” said Slunecka. “But Renova Energy will actually be …
Rahal Letterman Powered by Alcohol
Alcohol will be powering the 2007 Rahal-Letterman Racing team in more ways than one. The number 17 Team Ethanol car will be driven once again by Jeff Simmons and sponsored, of course, by the ethanol industry. The second car in the RLR stable will be Number 8, piloted by veteran IndyCar Series driver Scott Sharp and sponsored by Patrón Spirits …
Testing Ethanol in the Engines at Indy
Here’s a screen shot from the home page of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway heralding the ethanol fuel test drive Monday on the track. According to an Indy release, drivers Jeff Simmons of Rahal Letterman Racing and Tony Kanaan of Andretti Green Racing drove Dallara/Honda/Firestone cars powered by ethanol and the 3.5-liter engine, the first time that package was tested at …
Putting Ethanol in the Pipeline
Iowa Senator Tom Harkin, pictured here squeezing into an ethanol-powered funny car, is calling for a study into distributing ethanol by pipeline. Harkin and Senator Dick Lugar (R-IN) introduced legislation on Friday to direct the U.S. Department of Energy to study “the feasibility of transporting ethanol by pipeline from the Midwest to the East and West coasts, where demand is …
Corn Cob Hot Rod
The National Corn Growers Association, the Ohio Corn Growers Association, the Renewable Fuels Association and five-time International Hot Rod Association Funny Car champion Mark Thomas were on Capitol Hill Wednesday to promote ethanol’s success as America’s renewable fuel. Nearly 1000 people turned out to see the race car, which runs on 100 percent ethanol on the IHRA circuit. Pictured in …
Racing to the Hill
The National Corn Growers Association, the Ohio Corn Growers Association and the Renewable Fuels Association are bringing an ethanol-powered, high-performance race car to Capitol Hill this week to promote ethanol. Mark Thomas, five-time International Hot Rod Association Funny Car champion, and his Ohio Corn Growers-sponsored race car will be on the corner of Delaware Avenue and C Street NE on …
Andretti Makes History
Mario Andretti sure was proud Sunday as his 19-year-old son Marco won his first Indy race in Sonoma, California on the Infineon Raceway. That was race number 13 of the season, just one more to go this year on ten percent ethanol before the big switch to 100 percent next year. Meanwhile, Team Ethanol can be proud of Sunday’s race. …
Ethanol in the Family
Father and son ethanol racing team Dan and Jamie Schwartzkopf were at the American Coalition for Ethanol meeting last week in Kansas City and I got a chance to chat with them about Schwartzkopf Racing and Wyoming Ethanol. Dan is the general manager of the ethanol plant, which has Renova Energy as its parent company. They also talk about the …
A Sad Day For Team Ethanol
I just received some very sad news regarding Steve King, King Racing. Steve was involved in a bad accident last evening at the 46th Annual Knoxville Nationals. I’ll just use the statement on the website:
Steve passed away at 15:32 today. He loved you all. Thank you so much for your support. Please keep our family in your prayers.
Steve is pictured to the right of his parents, Danny & Naomi. I met them prior to this year’s Indianapolis 500 on Ethanol Day. Steve was a tireless supporter of the ethanol industry and was a part of Team Ethanol. You can hear his passion for racing and this renewable fuel in the interview I did with him there.
Our hearts go out to Steve’s family. He and they are in our prayers and always will be.