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Nascar Goes Green06-24-09 | News

Nascar Goes Green

A tree stores approximately one ton of CO2 over its lifetime, which means that the entire CO2 emissions from a typical race will be offset during this time.

The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing announced “NASCAR Green Clean Air”—a program to help capture the carbon emissions produced by racing. Under a pilot program that will expand significantly next year, NASCAR will plant 10 new trees for each green flag that drops during Cup Series events.

The tracks participating in the tree-planting program ?EUR??,,????'??+ 11 this year and every venue visited by the Cup Series in 2010 ?EUR??,,????'??+ will mitigate 100 percent of the carbon emissions produced by the race cars competing in their Cup Series events.

“This is a first, important step in an ambitious five-year plan to significantly reduce the environmental footprint of NASCAR, while raising awareness of conservation among fans,” NASCAR chairman and CEO Brian France said. “Our goal is to be an environmental leader not only in sports but in all industry.”

Over time, rolled out across all three national series, NASCAR and its partners will be planting approximately 20 acres of new trees each year. Michigan International Speedway, which is at the forefront of green initiatives, is matching the carbon-capturing planting effort at its track.