TALLADEGA -- For a sport in which some drivers avoided cars painted green because that was considered unlucky, NASCAR has taken a decidedly green hue these days.
NASCAR, which as recently as five years ago was still using leaded fuel to race stock cars, has launched a Green Initiative that now includes tree planting, solar panels, electronics recycling and more.
For a sport that has long been associated with a conservative political philosophy, taking a deep plunge into environmentalism wasn't easy or quick.
"It was a pretty tough pitch," said Brook Porter, a San Francisco-based venture capitalist who consulted with NASCAR on starting its Green Initiative. "The last thing you want to do is alienate your fan base."
But NASCAR's strategy has been to emphasize three objectives that resonate with fans, said Mike Lynch, managing director of NASCAR's Green Innovation program: conservation, job creation and weaning America from dependence on oil from the Middle East.
It has been effective, Lynch said, citing polling conducted by NASCAR that he says shows "NASCAR fans have shifted even more than the general population" toward support for such programs.
NASCAR's ethanol program is a pillar of that strategy.
Leaded gas had been banned for highway use long ago, but NASCAR had a special exemption to continue using the pollutant. Leaded gas helped prevent wear to the engine valves that endure extreme stress at the speeds NASCAR engines run. NASCAR finally got the lead out in 2008, and then went a step further in 2010 by switching to a blend with 15 percent ethanol.
Commercials touting NASCAR's use of corn-based ethanol are heavy with American flags waving in the breeze and amber waves of Iowa corn.
But using corn to make ethanol hasn't been free of controversy. Critics have claimed that it requires too much energy to produce, needs tax breaks to keep it economical and drives up food prices by reducing the supply of corn. Porter says the arguments against corn-based ethanol are exaggerated.
Nonetheless, NASCAR is looking at alternatives to producing ethanol from corn, such as corn cobs and other cellulose-based corn waste products.
One of NASCAR's newest programs seeks to offset the carbon that race cars pump into the atmosphere by planting trees at race tracks and communities surrounding those tracks.
"We've been doubling the size of it every year," Lynch said. "We're going to keep doubling the size of it until we're completely covering the circuit."
This year tree planting has come to Talladega Superspeedway, the sprawling complex where the air at night on a race weekend is heavy with smoke from wood camp fires.
For every green flag that is waved in today's Aaron's 499 Sprint Cup race, NASCAR and the track will plant 10 new trees. The more wrecks and blown engines there are that require restarts, the more trees that will be planted.
NASCAR has determined that one car going 500 miles -- the length of many of its races -- puts one metric ton of carbon into the atmosphere. One tree over a 40-year life span stores that much carbon.
"So it's one tree per car," Lynch said.
Where those trees will be planted hasn't been decided yet, said Talladega Superspeedway Chairman Grant Lynch, but he's leaning toward putting them away from the track.
"We thought it would be better if we could plant them in areas that were devastated by the tornadoes," Grant Lynch said.
Talladega has had an active recycling program for two years, but in other areas of NASCAR's green push the track isn't on the lead lap.
Pocono Raceway, for instance, is powered completely by solar energy. Roush Fenway Racing recycles nearly 100 percent of its wrecked race cars. Kyle Busch Motorsports is working toward acquiring LEED certification for energy efficiency for its new shop in North Carolina.
Talladega, Grant Lynch said, would like to do more, but has been hindered by the lack of resources available in Talladega County.
"We're not as far along as some tracks in more metropolitan areas," he said.
The track did look at the possibility of erecting windmills to produce electricity, Grant Lynch said, but discovered the Talladega area does not produce enough sustained wind to make it feasible.
Solar panels are a possibility, he said, but the cost would require some type of government grant or tax break to make it happen.
Porter said tracks such as Talladega in areas that have cheaper electricity from coal and hydroelectric will find it harder to make solar energy work financially.
A major goal of the program, Mike Lynch said, is to promote energy and environmental sustainability. And recycling is a big part of that.
Goodyear already recycles the 130,000 tires that NASCAR teams use each year. Some of that material becomes rubber mulch used in playgrounds. At some point, Mike Lynch said, it is likely to be used in rubberized asphalt to pave highways.
The used oil produced during today's race will be recycled. And Talladega, which has always had to employ a small army of workers to pick up trash in the aftermath of a race weekend, not only gives plastic bags to fans for collecting cans and bottles, it also will provide fans a way to recycle their used cell phones.
Fans can recycle their old phones by picking up a prepaid mailer at the Sprint Experience display in Horsepower Plaza outside Turn 4.
Porter, who now works for the venture capital firm Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Peters, which doesn't work with NASCAR, said the sport's approach to green innovations is more extensive than many other sports.
"It's more of a sideshow for other sports," he said. "You don't have an NFL Green Initiative."
More than other sports, NASCAR is heavily involved in technology, so taking a lead in energy efficiency made sense, Porter said.
By involving its core products -- its race cars -- instead of window-dressing efforts such as recycling a few cans and bottles, NASCAR's program "speaks volumes as to whether this is just a sideshow or a core commitment," Porter said.
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