22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY may 11-17, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com Motorsports faces environmental impact challenges, but the race to solutions is already underway. By Dave Faries Green Flag “Exciting” is a word tossed around quite a lot in the racing world these days. Drivers use it. So do engineers. Even executives are prone to condense the sport and its current state into the encompassing adjective. In this case, however, they are not referring to action on the track. Instead, there is growing anticipation surrounding the sport’s future—alternative fuels or battery power, for example—as climate change raises questions about racing’s very existence. “We’re at the start of a long journey and a really exciting one,” says Alexander Sims, driver of the IMSA GTP class Action Express Racing Whelen Cadillac, set to compete this weekend, May 12-14, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. “We’re starting a new era.” In a world being smothered by greenhouse gas emissions and non-recyclable waste, auto racing has a serious image problem. While exhaust spewed into the atmosphere by the 20 cars on a Formula 1 grid, the 28 or more that take the green flag at IMSA and IndyCar events, the 36 fielded by NASCAR and other series account for a mere fraction compared to the billions of vehicles commuting daily, motorsports are a highly visible reminder of carbon excess. The sport has been in a similar position before. During the oil crisis of the early 1970s, racing continued through gas rationing, reducing fuel consumption by shaving race distances (NASCAR’s Daytona 500 was shortened to 450 miles). As Bob Kelly, who operated the road course at Watkins Glen, New York, told the New York Times in 1973, “Some guy who has to sit home on the weekend because of rationing turns on his television set or reads a newspaper and sees auto racing. How is he going to feel?” That was a response to a temporary crisis. Climate change spurred by greenhouse gases has devastating potential for the long term. Governments and manufacturers tend to accept battery-powered electric The new BMW M Team RLL car receives applause as it is introduced to a crowd before 24 Hours of Daytona in January. The highly anticipated IMSA GTP class with hybrid fuel and electric power made its debut at this year’s season opener. Michael L. Levitt
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