In addition to Team Ethanol's strong on-track showing in 2004, the team also ramped up its show car program, taking the message of this clean, American, renewable energy source to trade shows and race markets coast-to-coast.

In cooperation with the American Coalition for Ethanol, the Team Ethanol show car visited petroleum industry trade shows in key markets including Omaha, Ne., Grand Rapids, Mich., Madison, Wis., Atlantic City, N.J., Indianapolis, Ind., and Hershey, Penn.

"We launched our cooperation with Team Ethanol last year and we were pleased to be able to expand on that in '04," said ACE's market development director Ron Lamberty. "We continue to get great response to the car at the petroleum shows, which is important as these shows are attended by all of the key ethanol customers and distributors. It's a very targeted, very effective promotional campaign."

In addition to the petroleum shows, the Team Ethanol show car also appeared at three key ethanol industry shows: the RFA show in Miami in February, BBI Fuel Ethanol Workshop in Madison in June, and the ACE Annual Convention in Duluth in August.

The 2004 season also saw an expansion of Team Ethanol's partnership with the all-volunteer fan booster group IRL Crew. The Ethanol show car was displayed at the IRL Crew booth at the IndyCar races in Indianapolis, Kansas City, Nashville, Milwaukee, Michigan, Kentucky and Ft. Worth.

The car provides increased visibility for ethanol among the more than 1.2 million IndyCar fans that attended races this season. It also provides a format for market research as questions about ethanol awareness were included in the ballot for the IRL's Most Popular Driver.

"The fans really love the car, we get a lot of positive feedback," said the IRL Crew's Roger Jett. "We appreciate the opportunity to work with Paul Dana and the team. It's important more people learn about ethanol and we're happy to help."