The Ethanol Time Bomb

It was December 2, 2010 when NASCAR Chairman Brian France made the announcement that NASCAR was switching fuels in 2011 to a 15 percent corn ethanol blend under the American Ethanol banner.

"NASCAR and American Ethanol are ideal partners," said France. "American Ethanol's new partnership with NASCAR is much larger and more ambitious than a typical sports sponsorship. Here we have an entire industry looking to NASCAR to communicate its message that America is capable of producing its own renewable, greener fuel."

In 2011, NASCAR will be using television and radio to communicate exactly that message. TV viewers will see and hear about American Ethanol during every single race weekend for the ten months of the season. While France may have believed he was reaping a bumper crop of sponsor dollars, he may in fact have put NASCAR squarely in the middle of a raging national energy debate.

"Ethanol is 20 to 30 percent less efficient than gasoline, making it more expensive per highway mile. It takes 450 pounds of corn to produce the ethanol to fill one SUV tank," said Dr. Walter Williams, economics professor at George Mason University. "That's enough corn to feed one person for a year."

“There is nothing more American than NASCAR and there is no fuel more American than ethanol.” said Tom Buis, CEO of corn ethanol promoter Growth Energy. “We are so proud that the bounty which America’s farmers produce throughout the week will be used in NASCAR racing on Sunday.”

"Not only is corn ethanol wildly inefficient, I mean, it takes more energy to produce it than it ends up providing," said conservative TV host Glenn Beck of Fox News.

“I am a strong believer in the future of ethanol,” said Brandon Hunnicutt, president of the Nebraska Corn Growers Association. “A marketing partnership between American Ethanol and NASCAR following NASCAR’s switch to E15 is clearly a powerful move for the American ethanol industry.”

To test ethanol fuel efficiency, Dan Edmunds of Edmunds.com twice drove from San Diego to Las Vegas and back in a flex-fuel car. First, he fueled up with standard E10 gasoline.

"On E10 gasoline, we made the round trip with 36.5 gallons," said Edmunds. He then repeated the trip using E85, the gasoline replacement fuel for vehicles being promoted by the corn ethanol lobby. "On E85 it took 50 gallons, 37 percent more fuel, to make the round trip," Edmunds says. "Same distance, same vehicle." Click here to read the entire story.

"Higher blends of ethanol do not significantly impact miles per gallon," said Growth Energy's Buis to the San Antonio Express-News. "Since NASCAR has moved to E15, its drivers have not detected any notable decline in MPG. Instead, they've seen an increase in horsepower."

This news from the Wall Street Journal last week: "Although ethanol advocates cite research saying E15 won't damage vehicles, auto makers hold that E15 could harm car and light truck engines and void their warranties. The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing Ford Motor Co., General Motors Co., Toyota Motor Corp., and other auto companies, filed a petition with a U.S. appellate court in Washington on Monday challenging the EPA's approval for the sale of gasoline containing 15% ethanol."

Needless to say, that directly puts three key NASCAR manufacturers publicly against the exact same fuel that NASCAR has just committed to run for the 2011 season.

"Anytime you have Paul Krugman (NY Times) agreeing with the Wall Street Journal (News Corp.), Reason Magazine (Libertarian), Investor's Business Daily, Rolling Stone Magazine, the Christian Science Monitor, John Stossel (click here to view), The Ecological Society of America, the Heritage Foundation (Republican think tank), George Will and Time Magazine you know that corn ethanol has to be one of the most misguided public policies in US history," said University of Michigan economics professor Mark Perry.

Get used to the term "American Ethanol green flag." That's right, NASCAR's green flag is now sponsored and will have the AE logo imprinted on it. This term will be used on TV and radio coverage for all national NASCAR events on starts and restarts.

All of this comes at a time when NASCAR is significantly changing how it deals with the public and the media. Click here for a review of the influence that the Taylor marketing firm is having on the sport.

In 2011, NASCAR will have an even tighter leash on what can be said about the sport and who can say it. The positive marketing of all things NASCAR will be the emphasis and public relations for NASCAR, including social media like Facebook and Twitter, will be controlled by professionals used to promoting products to consumers.

The corn ethanol lobby has already flooded the Internet with positive stories, using the same online marketing tactic as companies like ExtenZe and US Fidelis. A casual Google search for information on corn ethanol forces users to sift through tons of content created by brand marketers.

Next season, NASCAR fans will be confronted with a extensive campaign championing corn ethanol as a great American innovation for energy independence. NASCAR will be positioned as the perfect example of what is right with this energy product.

Whether the American Ethanol sponsorship turns out to be a financial windfall for NASCAR in a tough economy or an ill-advised strategic move that ultimately drags the sport into an even wider debate about renewable energy has yet to be seen. Either way, this could wind-up being the big media story of 2011.

We welcome your comments on the media, NASCAR and the new Sunoco E15 promotion. We are not looking for comments on the positive or negative aspects of ethanol, but rather how this change by Mr. France for the sport will play-out on television, radio and in the NASCAR media. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below.

This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.

Happy Holidays To Our Wonderful Readers

The Daly Planet started on a wing and a prayer after some encouragement from friends and support from my family.

Now, after four seasons, I have an entirely new extended family. It's been wonderful to interact with NASCAR fans all over America. Thanks to the wonders of the Internet, our readership also extends to many countries around the world.

I will be taking a short break over the holiday weekend and resuming with original columns early next week. In the meantime, thank you once again for helping with this project and I hope you have a wonderful holiday season.

Can A Video Game Save NASCAR?

Stranger things have happened. As NASCAR continues to look for a way to break through to younger folks, there continues to be nothing on TV or the radio targeted for that audience.

Last week, we saw the offerings from SPEED for 2011 and the only NASCAR show listed was the same old tired highlights program. FOX, TNT and ESPN offer nothing. SPEED's Race Hub has Ms. Sprint reading tweets every week, but nothing for the teenage audience.

This February, hopefully well before Daytona, there will be a new official NASCAR video game released. It's not hard to understand that getting the younger demographic actively involved in a top-notch video game creates a nice pathway for leading those players to watch the sport on TV.

It's called NASCAR 2011: The Game. Here are some details:

Players can choose to play as themselves or as one of the sport’s real-world drivers as they battle it out for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship. Each Sprint Cup Series driver behaves in the game as he does in the sport.

Damage is meticulously detailed and multi-car wrecks are the most extreme ever experienced in an officially licensed racing game. From the 22 real world tracks to full pit stop strategy action, NASCAR The Game 2011 captures the real atmosphere, sense of speed and spectacle that embodies NASCAR. Players can even feel the thrill of a win with the interactive celebration mode.

The game also includes in-depth multiplayer modes which allow up to 16 players to battle it out for the win online. In both online and offline races, players earn NASCAR experience points which help unlock rewards such as decal packs or special car designs, as well as career sponsorships and special races throughout career mode. Everything you do on the track counts!

“It was crucial to take a fresh look at what makes the sport so popular," said Ed Martin from game design company Eutechnyx. "We’re working very closely with NASCAR, the drivers, the teams, the tracks and the sponsors to get all the minute details right, and give this game the polish and push the fans deserve.”

A fresh look is exactly what so many tired areas of the sport need. This future release is the buzz on gamer websites worldwide. The creators of NASCAR 2011: The Game are renowned for putting together detailed and exciting video games with driving themes. This one is intended for Xbox 360® video game systems from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment systems, and Wii.

Needless to say, there is a NASCARthegame.com website that has lots to offer. Screenshots, a video trailer and information about the new gaming features and how they were developed is fascinating. The attention to detail from speaking to fans, watching races and having drivers relate how they would act in certain situations is pretty amazing.

Strolling through the 43 car field was an experience. Among the familiar names are some that one would perhaps not expect. Danica Patrick, Michael Waltrip, and Kevin Conway are in the field. So are Ryan Truex, Scott Speed and Todd Bodine. It seems that even when putting together the video game of the sport, NASCAR had a tough time with a full field.

NASCAR 2011: The Game also features pit stops and a Chase for the Championship. I'm not a gamer, but it was interesting to see that the game creators managed to add-in pit stops. Supposedly, the in-car perspective gives players the experience of being inside the car for the stops on pit road complete with full crew working in real time.

Click here for the video game's Facebook fan page that is almost at six thousand members. I would expect that this number is going to swell as we approach February. The developers and NASCAR have done a good job with this project in terms of keeping active players, potential buyers and even us hardcore fans involved in the process.

At a time when FOX, ESPN and SPEED are getting ready to roll-out the standard TV coverage of the three national touring series at Daytona, it might just be a stroke of genius to release a video game with drivers from all three series.

Fans of the game drawn by the speed and racing can be led to the TV and online coverage as Daytona approaches with some coordinated marketing efforts from NASCAR. It should be interesting to see just how well NASCAR'S new Integrated Marketing Communications group based in Charlotte, NC handles this challenge.

If the racing on the actual track matches the antics in the video game, NASCAR might finally get some new young eyeballs on Daytona. What an advantage to get new fans simply because they like how a certain driver handles himself on the track in the game and now want to see how he or she handles themselves in person.

Expect to hear a lot more about this major video game effort after the New Year. NASCAR may have an instant hit on its hands as well as the first new attention-grabber for teens across America. Ultimately, the challenge will be for the drivers to keep the new fans they gained through technology and gaming once the real green flag falls.

We welcome your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.