Archive for Thursday, March 1, 2007
Unleaded fuel not easy switch
March 1, 2007
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On January 2005, NASCAR made one of those announcements that elicits more yawns than headlines.
Then came last week's racing at California Speedway. And suddenly, the topic of using unleaded fuel in NASCAR vehicles was burying the needle on the buzz-o-meter.
This week, in the wake of a California Nextel Cup race that featured a high number of blown engines, NASCAR observers are wondering about the effect of unleaded gasoline on the situation.
NASCAR traditionally has been exempt from provisions of the Clean Air Act of 1970, which mandated use of unleaded fuel in automobiles. But that did not mean that NASCAR was comfortable with its use of leaded gas.
During the years, NASCAR began testing alternative racing fuels, but none were deemed usable.
In 2004, NASCAR began testing an unleaded formula from Sunoco.
In January 2005, NASCAR announced that the fuel showed promise and would be used beginning with the 2008 season. A year and a half later, officials announced that the schedule for using unleaded fuel had been accelerated.
The fuel was first used in a Busch series race last July at Gateway International Raceway near St. Louis. A couple of other Busch and Truck series events featured the use of unleaded last year.
After analyzing the data from those races, officials announced that unleaded fuel would be put into use full time beginning with last weekend's races at California.
In the days leading up to the race, several engine-builders talked about the potential effects of unleaded fuel on engines - and on racing.
Doug Yates, one of the most respected engine-builders in the garages, said the concern was lubrication. Leaded fuel, he said, has lubricating properties that unleaded does not.
"What we have problems with is valves and valve seats, and we've been through a very intense process of trying to find the right coatings to protect the valves from wear," Yates said. "That's one of the issues that we have, and hopefully have done our homework and we won't have any problems with those."
During the race, five cars retired because of what were listed as engine problems: one Ford, one Dodge, one Toyota and two Chevrolets.
The precise cause of the failures will not be known until the engines are taken apart and analyzed.
But Ken Schrader, who drives a Yates-powered Ford for the Wood Bros., said: "That's very unusual for a Roush-Yates motor. They're good, dependable engines. It could be a little bit of that (unleaded fuel)."
Jack Roush, owner of Roush Fenway Racing - whose driver, Matt Kenseth, won Sunday's Auto Club 500 - went out of his way to praise the unleaded fuel after the race.
"I want to compliment Sunoco for this environmentally friendly, lead-free fuel that caused us no problem," Roush said. "We didn't have an issue with valve-seat recession or anything else that was a concern. From what I can see, the people that had trouble, it didn't relate to the fuel. The fuel gave us good fuel mileage and it performed admirably."
Yates said NASCAR needs to take the lead studying alternative fuels.
"Right now our whole country is in a bit of a crisis. What the people in the stands see, they go out and usually follow suit, so if we could be leaders in that way, I would be proud to be part of that."
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1 March 2007
at 6:14 a.m.
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Ragingbear (Anonymous) says…
whaaaaaaaaaaa! i can't use this environmentally harmful and outdated fuel for this sport that produces more pollution in a day than all of New York does in an hour. Whaaaaaaa!
Get over it people. Nascar should be banned altogether. It's a stupid sport, only watched by inbred rednecks that are easily entertained by cars running in a circle.
1 March 2007
at 6:31 a.m.
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grubesteak (Anonymous) says…
I second that, Ragingbear.
1 March 2007
at 6:44 a.m.
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blue73harley (Anonymous) says…
May you both be tormented by the spirit of Dale Sr.
1 March 2007
at 6:53 a.m.
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imastinker (Anonymous) says…
First - the EPA has not control over off road vehicles. They can't mandate anything. Second - the pollution impact in negligible. Third - there is a lot fo design that goes on there that ends up in your cars that you drive - including safety features and suspension, etc.
I don't watch NASCAR either - but it's very helpful to the manufacturers.
1 March 2007
at 7:51 a.m.
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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
I will no pretend to be “Cut-And-Paste-Merrill” for a moment!
“
nascar Knocked By Lead-Heads
Friday , March 04, 2005
By Steve Milloy
advertisementenvironmentalists have blown a gasket over the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing's continued use of leaded gasoline in its stock car races.
Since NASCAR (search) has science and safety on its side, I hope it has the good sense not to cave in to this eco-harassment.
The Clean Air Trust (search) “urged” NASCAR in a Jan. 19 letter to consider the supposedly dire consequences of using leaded fuel: “By permitting the continued use of lead, your organization may be putting millions of spectators and nearby residents at unnecessary risk of suffering serious health effects, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.”
Lead was eliminated from most gasoline in the U.S. during the 1970s and 1980s. In 1990, however, Congress exempted the aviation and racing industries from the lead ban. The exemptions made sense since no one wanted airplanes falling from the sky because of stalled engines and auto racing would only add an insignificant amount of lead to the environment.
NASCAR engines run on a high performance fuel designed exclusively for competition called 110 Leaded Racing Gasoline (search). Not only does the “Official Fuel of NASCAR” make stock cars run better, but its components make it resistant to explosion, which naturally makes things safer for drivers in racing accidents.
In contrast to the sound reasoning used to permit racing cars to use leaded gasoline, the Clean Air Trust drags out the usual myths about lead in its attack on NASCAR.
“According to the EPA, lead causes damage to the kidneys, liver, brain and nerves, and other organs,” claims the letter. What it omitted mentioning was that you would have to be exposed to unusually high levels of lead for it to affect your health.
The classic lead poisoning (search) scenario involves chronic ingestion of lead-contaminated dust from deteriorating lead-based paint that is chipping, peeling or flaking in older homes in poor condition. NASCAR fans and the communities surrounding NASCAR racetracks are far removed from such high exposures to lead. There is no evidence that anyone has ever been overexposed to lead because of NASCAR racing.
As toxicologists say, “it's the dose that makes the poison.” Exposures to low levels of lead are not known to cause health effects.
The Clean Air Trust nevertheless alleged, “Even low levels of lead damage the brain and nerves in fetuses and young children, resulting in learning deficits and lowered IQ.” Not only is this mythical assertion still unsupported by any solid science more than 25 years after it was first publicized, it actually originated in the shadowy world of scientific misconduct.
Cont'd.
1 March 2007
at 7:51 a.m.
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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
Cont'd.
“”Removing lead from the gasoline used by highway vehicles is one of the great public health success stories in recent times. Because of the ban on lead in highway gasoline, the EPA reports that levels of lead in the air have dropped by 94 percent since 1980,” the Clean Air Trust writes.
There is little doubt that there is much less lead in the environment due to air pollution controls - even though we use more lead today than ever before. But it's possible that the effect of banning leaded gasoline has been oversold.
Scientists examining sediment cores from New York City's Central Park Lake dating back 100 years concluded in 1999 that “incineration of solid waste, rather than leaded gasoline, has been the dominant source of atmospheric lead in New York City, and possibly many other urban areas during the 20th century.”
“Lead deposition rates to the atmosphere reached a peak from the late 1930s to early 1960s, decades before maximum emissions from combustion of leaded gasoline,” according to an article published in the American Chemical Society journal Environmental Science and Technology.
Moreover, regardless of the reason for lower levels of lead in the environment, it's much less clear that public health has benefited commensurately from the decrease in ambient lead levels.
Though surveys indicate that blood lead levels have dramatically declined over the last few decades, I could not find a single study reporting - or even estimating - precisely what health benefits have been produced or what health problems have been avoided by the reported lower blood lead levels.
No doubt the Clean Air Trust hopes to exploit NASCAR's immense popularity and both the public's tendency to overreact to health scares in order to gain media attention and facilitate fundraising.
As the stock car racing season has just kicked off, I'm sure NASCAR won't be too happy if eco-activist protesters start showing up at races wearing gas masks and chanting “Get the lead out!” and “NASCAR pollution lowers kids' IQs!”
Assuming the protesters survive amid the loyal stock car racing fans who are unlikely to appreciate their disruption, let's hope NASCAR isn't the next brand-sensitive business to surrender to junk science-fueled eco-activist harassment and extortion.
Steven Milloy publishes JunkScience.com and CSRwatch.com, is adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and is the author of Junk Science Judo: Self-defense Against Health Scares and Scams (Cato Institute, 20
© Associated Press. All rights reserved.”
Thanks.
Marion.
1 March 2007
at 8:14 a.m.
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mommaeffortx2 (Anonymous) says…
inbreed rednecks?? now that is mean and uncalled for.
1 March 2007
at 8:28 a.m.
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Marion (Marion Lynn) says…
Momma:
The Pseudo-liberal/Neo-socialists which infest Lawrence are nothing but hate-filled psychos.
Thanks.
Marion.
1 March 2007
at 9:21 a.m.
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crazyks (Anonymous) says…
I didn't even know that leaded gasoline still existed. Where on earth do you find it? Do they manufacture it specifically for race cars?
You learn something new every day…
1 March 2007
at 11:38 a.m.
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blue73harley (Anonymous) says…
crazyks - just google “racing fuel”.
1 March 2007
at 12:44 p.m.
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Confrontation (Anonymous) says…
I always assumed that Nascar was watched by ex-homeless Lawrencians. Right, Ragingbear? Or, are they just too classy?