Jack Smith pulls his red, Dodge Ram 1500 V-8 pickup alongside the pump and ponders what has become a twice-a-week decision: regular unleaded or mid-grade?

After doing the math, Smith figures he actually can save 3 cents a gallon by going with the 90-octane, mid-grade fuel — a step up in performance and emissions, all for less money.

Provided he can stomach pumping 25 gallons of ethanol-blend gasoline into his beloved vehicle.

“I always worry — about whether it’s good for the engine itself, if it’s good for the economy, whether it’s good for the EPA conditions,” said Smith, a Lawrence resident who commutes to Lenexa for his job as a commercial printer. “But right now? I’m just trying to save a buck. That’s what I’m worried about the most.”

Smith’s decision-making process is becoming more prevalent than ever, as residents throughout Lawrence and across the county look for ways to shave money from their fuel bills as prices continue to hold above $2 a gallon.

Ethanol blends — such as the E10 mixture offered at many Lawrence stations, a fuel containing 10 percent ethyl alcohol made from soybeans and grain sorghum — are drawing more attention as retailers adjust their prices to draw customers.

Kwik Shops in town list mid-grade, ethanol-blend prices at 5 cents a gallon more than regular unleaded, but offer steeper discounts for customers using their Dillons “Plus” cards: 10 cents a gallon for mid-grade, verses 2 cents a gallon for regular unleaded.

“It makes a big difference,” Smith said last week. “I haven’t used it that often, but this is worth it.”

Hy-Vee’s fuel center at Sixth Street and Monterey Way has been listing its mid-grade ethanol blend for the same price as regular unleaded gasoline for more than a year now, but last week actually dropped the blend price 4 cents below regular.

Hy-Vee could afford charging less for the ethanol-blend fuel because taxes on such alternative fuels are lower, said Samantha Woodgate, fuel station manager.

“We put the prices lower so we could sell more of it,” she said. “It’s a better-grade gasoline. It burns hotter. It keeps your car cleaner.”

But the latest price shift — giving customers the ability to get gasoline with an octane rating of at least 89 for less than the price for fuel with a rating of 87 — didn’t last. The lower price unintentionally prompted competitors to drop their prices for regular unleaded, undercutting already-slim margins made on fuel, Woodgate said.

A decade ago, some automakers warned car owners not to use such blended gasolines, saying they could damage engine systems and void warranties.

Not anymore, said Jim Congrove, of Douglas County Farm Bureau, which is organizing an “ethanol rally” Monday at Kwik Shop in Eudora. All automakers foreign and domestic have cleared their gasoline-powered engines for using E10 unleaded fuel.

Such assurances haven’t been enough to steer Verner Lewis III away from his trusty unleaded. Even with the lure of higher-octane content, the E10 gasoline hasn’t made its way into his Buick LeSabre.

“I use unleaded — that’s what my book says I should use, not premium, so I stay with it,” Lewis said last week. “But if it’s 2 cents cheaper, I’ll probably go with ethanol. That’d be worth it.”

Mid-grade unleaded gasoline with ethanol added was cheaper than unleaded gasoline last week at Hy-Vee's fuel center, 4020 W. Sixth St.

Others already have converted.

M.J. Clapp, a stay-at-home mom, usually pumps premium unleaded into her 1991 Ford Explorer, because “every day I drive it, it’s money in my pocket.” But saving 20 cents a gallon has convinced her to veer toward the ethanol blend with no negative effects on her time-tested engine.

“My husband’s a chemist, and that’s what he uses,” Clapp said. “He wouldn’t let me do it if there was some concern.”

Quay Smith, who farms between Lawrence and Lecompton, knows the blend works — and has the numbers to prove it.

The farmer meticulously records every gallon of gasoline and every mile driven in his log book, tucked into the dash of his own Buick LeSabre. He’s gotten up to 27.16 miles a gallon on E10 blends for highway driving, a good “two to four better” than on regular unleaded.

“It’s the same price and it’s better for your car and it’s better for the farmers,” Smith said. “I don’t know why anybody would just use the regular.”