Post by dalejrfan on Jan 22, 2006 23:39:19 GMT -5
NASCAR, the last bastion in American motorsports for leaded gasoline, will convert to unleaded fuel in its Nextel Cup, Busch and Truck series by the start of the 2008 season.The decision, announced Friday, comes as questions began to build once more about why NASCAR hasn't already made the transition that began with passenger cars after passage of the Clear Air Act in 1970.
"We still have some more testing to do, because we want to be careful that there are no unintended consequences," said Gary Nelson, NASCAR vice president for research and development. "But we have tested a current engine using unleaded fuel and all of the indications are good."
Nelson said NASCAR has been looking for an unleaded alternative to the fuel its top series use since the 1990s. One formula was used in some Busch races at one point, but it included an additive known as MTBE that has drawn environmental scrutiny of its own.
Sunoco, the exclusive fuel supplier for NASCAR, developed the formula called 260 GTX and it was used in the Grand American road-racing series beginning last fall. NASCAR also began testing the fuel late last year at its research and development center in Concord, N.C.
NASCAR engines are antiques, using carburetors that allow fuel to flow into engines instead of fuel injectors, which put fuel in under pressure and are used in virtually all of today's street cars. But Nelson said the conversion to unleaded fuel does not signal a switch away from carburetors in NASCAR engines.
Lead-based fuel additives help lubricate engine parts that exist in an extreme environment and, in a Nextel Cup car, produce more than 800 horsepower. But Nelson said race engine builders now use coatings on those parts that make lead less critical.
"This is a very positive step forward," said Frank O'Donnell, executive director of Clean Air Watch, which last year urged NASCAR to switch from leaded fuel. O'Donnell's group renewed that call this week after an Indiana University study of 47 members of one Nextel Cup multicar team's operation showed that 40 percent of those tested had significantly elevated levels of lead in their blood levels.
"There is no level for adults at which we consider lead to be a toxic substance," said Dr. Joseph O'Neil, one of the doctors who conducted the study. "That's because lead doesn't normally appear in the body. But it does exist in the environment and in the general population we usually see levels somewhere between 2.5 and 3. What we saw in our group was an average level of 9.4."
O'Neil said the highest level measured in the crew members tested was 22 and that 19 of those tested had levels of 10 or higher.
"As you might expect, we did find that those who worked on engines and who had contact with exhaust and fuel tended to have higher levels of lead," O'Neil said. "We also found that as blood lead level increased, the number of reported symptoms that could associated with lead also increased."
O'Neil said his study looked only at blood levels and did not test the air and surfaces at the track where lead particles could be present. He said the results convince him that that a study with a larger sample and with those factors also measured is needed as long as lead is present at NASCAR events.
Nelson said that if additional testing of the unleaded fuel in current engine configurations produce no additional major concerns, the conversion to unleaded fuel could come before 2008.
One factor, he said, is that every part of fuel delivery systems - from where Sunoco makes it to the pump at the track where it's put into race vehicles - must first be flushed out completely to remove all lead before unleaded gas can be properly introduced
"We still have some more testing to do, because we want to be careful that there are no unintended consequences," said Gary Nelson, NASCAR vice president for research and development. "But we have tested a current engine using unleaded fuel and all of the indications are good."
Nelson said NASCAR has been looking for an unleaded alternative to the fuel its top series use since the 1990s. One formula was used in some Busch races at one point, but it included an additive known as MTBE that has drawn environmental scrutiny of its own.
Sunoco, the exclusive fuel supplier for NASCAR, developed the formula called 260 GTX and it was used in the Grand American road-racing series beginning last fall. NASCAR also began testing the fuel late last year at its research and development center in Concord, N.C.
NASCAR engines are antiques, using carburetors that allow fuel to flow into engines instead of fuel injectors, which put fuel in under pressure and are used in virtually all of today's street cars. But Nelson said the conversion to unleaded fuel does not signal a switch away from carburetors in NASCAR engines.
Lead-based fuel additives help lubricate engine parts that exist in an extreme environment and, in a Nextel Cup car, produce more than 800 horsepower. But Nelson said race engine builders now use coatings on those parts that make lead less critical.
"This is a very positive step forward," said Frank O'Donnell, executive director of Clean Air Watch, which last year urged NASCAR to switch from leaded fuel. O'Donnell's group renewed that call this week after an Indiana University study of 47 members of one Nextel Cup multicar team's operation showed that 40 percent of those tested had significantly elevated levels of lead in their blood levels.
"There is no level for adults at which we consider lead to be a toxic substance," said Dr. Joseph O'Neil, one of the doctors who conducted the study. "That's because lead doesn't normally appear in the body. But it does exist in the environment and in the general population we usually see levels somewhere between 2.5 and 3. What we saw in our group was an average level of 9.4."
O'Neil said the highest level measured in the crew members tested was 22 and that 19 of those tested had levels of 10 or higher.
"As you might expect, we did find that those who worked on engines and who had contact with exhaust and fuel tended to have higher levels of lead," O'Neil said. "We also found that as blood lead level increased, the number of reported symptoms that could associated with lead also increased."
O'Neil said his study looked only at blood levels and did not test the air and surfaces at the track where lead particles could be present. He said the results convince him that that a study with a larger sample and with those factors also measured is needed as long as lead is present at NASCAR events.
Nelson said that if additional testing of the unleaded fuel in current engine configurations produce no additional major concerns, the conversion to unleaded fuel could come before 2008.
One factor, he said, is that every part of fuel delivery systems - from where Sunoco makes it to the pump at the track where it's put into race vehicles - must first be flushed out completely to remove all lead before unleaded gas can be properly introduced