It’s race day here at the Chicagoland Speedway and the weather is finally cooperating. Before the race started we had an ethanol press conference here in the media center.

On the podium are (l – r) Jeff Simmons, #17 Team Ethanol driver, Les McTaggert, IRL Senior Technical Director and Tom Slunecka, Executive Director for the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council.

Each of them took a turn making some comments. The conference was emceed by Tom Blattler who conducts public relations work for Team Ethanol.

Les talked about the conversion to ethanol as a fuel blend this year and going into next year. He describes the challenges it presented and the testing required to make sure it would meet the demanding performance needs of IRL cars. He said that race cars using 100 percent ethanol would be tested on the track within the next month.

You can listen to his comments here: Les McTaggert Comments (2 min MP3)

You can find a lot more of my coverage from here in Joliet, IL on Domestic Fuel.