Roush promotes propane power for cars

By CHRIS JENKINS

His company is working on electric and hydrogen power projects for the future.

If Jack Roush has anything to say about it, propane soon will be used for more than grilling hamburgers and hot dogs at the infield cookout.

In the wake of Sunday’s Daytona 500 victory by Roush-Fenway NASCAR team driver Matt Kenseth, Roush was back at his headquarters outside Detroit this week to promote his company’s new line of propane-fueled Ford trucks and vans.

A veteran of racing and the automotive industry, Roush loves the sound of a snarling gasoline-powered V-8 as much as the next guy — probably more. But Roush sees alternative fuels as a positive step in the struggling U.S. auto industry’s journey out of the economic wilderness.

“We’re getting ready for the upswing here,” Roush said. “The automobile industry is going to survive. We’re going to morph ourselves into a shape where we can have better market share for the things that we do than we’ve had in the past. And life’s going to be good.”

Roush said alternative fuels are “certainly not a fix-all,” but represent potential good news for an industry beleaguered by talk of bailouts and bankruptcy.

And Roush’s decision to embrace alternative fuels — he’s touting propane as an immediate answer, and his company is working on electric and hydrogen power projects for the future — is another example of a slow shift toward environmental awareness within the NASCAR community.

Although the Indy Racing League has switched to ethanol, NASCAR only recently switched from leaded to unleaded fuel and its cars still use carburetors instead of fuel injection.

But NASCAR recently hired a director of “green innovation,” and NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France has spoken to former vice president Al Gore about making the sport more environmentally friendly.

Not that Roush expects NASCAR to race on an alternative fuel anytime soon.

“If you wanted to look at electric motors, I guess you could race slot cars,” Roush joked. “They wouldn’t make enough noise to generate excitement. I don’t think you could sell tickets for that.”