The President of Marquis Energy is Mark Marquis, seen here introducing NASCAR driver Kenny Wallace to the crowd attending yesterday’s event held at the Hennepin ethanol plant. I spoke with Mark and learned that Marquis Energy is a real family type business that he had built after growing up on a family farm in this area and branching out into the grain business. In my interview with him you’ll hear him talk about plans to double the size of the Hennepin plant.
Mark is a Growth Energy board member. He says the organization saw the long term agreement with NASCAR as a great opportunity to help get in front of American consumers who will feel more confident about putting higher blends of ethanol in their cars after seeing how well it performs in the race cars. They’ve accomplished that through American Ethanol, a partnership with the National Corn Growers Association. The local NASCAR Nationwide Series STP 300 race on Saturday provided his company with an opportunity to make a special contribution to the effort. He says NASCAR is very popular with his employees and the farmers who send in about 150 trucks of corn a day to the plant. Mark Marquis Interview
I’ll be out on location this morning at Chicagoland Speedway getting my media credentials and checking out the action in preparation for tomorrow’s race.
You can hear Mark’s introduction of Kenny and Kenny’s remarks in this video clip: