By DAVE BLOWER JR.
Farm World Editor

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. — After several years of effort the ethanol racing team started by the late Paul Dana found Victory Circle on Sunday on the hilly road, 3.37-mile Watkins Glen International road circuit.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, driving his 16th race for Rahal Letterman Racing Team Ethanol, won the Camping World Grand Prix at The Glen. Hunter-Reay beat Darren Manning of A.J. Foyt Racing to the finish line by 2.4 seconds.

“This is a dream come true for our team,” said Hunter-Reay. “Ethanol has been a terrific sponsor for us, and we appreciate all their support. I’m proud to be part of such an American team.”
This is the third season that ethanol has sponsored one of the Rahal Letterman Racing teams and the second season that the IndyCar Series is racing with 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol. All race cars in the IndyCar Series are powered by 100 percent ethanol fuel.

Hunter-Reay has had some success so far this year. He finished sixth in the Indianapolis 500 in May and earned the race’s Rookie of the Year award.

Team Ethanol’s win was days after the Ethanol Promotion and Information Council (EPIC) and 35 other organizations started the Energy Independence Day initiative - calling consumers to use domestically produced biofuels and simple fuel conservation practices to help America shed its reliance on foreign oil.
“It was an exciting weekend for Team Ethanol, and the ethanol industry congratulates Ryan Hunter-Reay on his victory,” said Toni Nuernberg, executive director of the Ethanol Promo-tion and Information Council (EPIC).

“Ethanol is a domestic, renewable and clean fuel for the IndyCar Series, and it’s a fuel that performs. It’s fitting that over the Independence Day weekend he took Team Ethanol to Victory Circle.”

Dana recruited several ethanol production companies to sponsor his racing team under a unified “ethanol” banner. He started racing with the ethanol support in 2004 in the Indy Pro Series – a driver development league. Dana, who worked with Hemelgarn Racing in 2005 moved to the Indy Racing League. He died prior to the 2006 race in Homestead, Fla. on March 26 while driving warm-up laps.
Primary sponsors of this year’s Team Ethanol car include: ICM Inc.; Fagen Inc. and POET. Other sponsors are: WINBCO Tank, Hogenson Construction, McCor-mick Construction, Endress+Hauser Inc., Victory Energy, Novozymes, Flottweg Seperation Technology, John Zink, U.S. Water Services, Tranter, Fremont Ind., NY Blower, Kenny Pipe & Suppply, Monsanto, Eclipse Burner, A&B Process System, E & I Specialists, Inc, Advance Tank, Brown Tank LLC, Invensys Foxboro Co., J & D Construction, Laidig Sytems, Inc., Lynde Construction, and GEA Group.