CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- NASCAR will test unleaded fuel in a Busch Series race next month and hopes to have it in all of its series by the start of 2007, said the Associated Press.
The tentative timetable set Monday by NASCAR speeds up the stock car series' earlier intent to move away from gasoline with lead-based additives by 2008.
"The target date is obviously to have it in use for Daytona in 2007," spokesperson Jim Hunter said. "Assuming that everything goes well, and there are no unforeseen problems, that is possible. But we'll [image-nocss] have to run it the Busch and Trucks Series and ARCA to evaluate it."
Busch cars will use the unleaded fuel, bought from supplier Sunoco Inc., in the July 29 race at Gateway International Speedway, beginning a four-week trial of the gasoline. The Truck Series will also use it in Indianapolis and Nashville, Tenn., in August.
Following those events, NASCAR will switch back to the regular gasoline while NASCAR, Sunoco officials and team engine builders evaluate the unleaded fuel. Both series will then switch back to the unleaded gasoline on September 23 for the remainder of the season.
Also, the ARCA Series will use the unleaded fuel in a race at Talladega to give engine builders a chance to examine the use of the gasoline in restrictor plate engines.
A decision on using unleaded fuel in the Nextel Cup Series isn't expected until the end of the season.
NASCAR has used high-octane leaded fuel for decades, but has been searching for an alternative for years and has finally found a solution through Sunoco, it said. NASCAR is exempt from the 1970 Clean Air Act, which required all automobiles to use unleaded fuel. Still, series officials tried an unleaded fuel in 1998 during some Busch races, only to find it contained additives that were dangerous when they came in contact with ground water.
Efforts to develop something that worked were lost when supplier Unocal pulled out after the 2003 season, and it has taken the last few years to get up to speed with Sunoco.
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