Photos by/courtesy of Brian Wood, Roger Richards and www.ihra.com 

With the sleeves ripped off his T-shirt, his mop of curly brown hair fluttering in the Ohio breeze, Mark Thomas is stabbing the air with his shoulders to the beat of heavy-metal music from Danzig and Three Days Grace as he rides a tractor through his 1,000 acres of corn.

He's having a wonderrific time saving the United States.

The five-time International Hot Rod Association Funny Car champion does more than drive a 2002 Dodge Avenger that runs on straight ethanol and is totally lubricated with biodegradable corn oil. He has the ear, no pun intended, of the U.S. Congress and President George W. Bush's Cabinet.

And it's all because of his revolutionary model -- more precisely, his radically simple model -- for practical use of a renewable fuel, a commodity America desperately needs.

Thomas' campaign for value-added agriculture and widespread ethanol use pledges to reduce the price for consumers to operate cars and racers to pursue their passion. Furthermore, it promises to reduce our nation's dependence on foreign oil, reduce the effects of global warming, create jobs, reverse the economic spiral for America's farmers, expand local tax bases, dramatically improve air quality, and decrease the odds of burn injuries in traffic and motorsports accidents. Among its benefits is a positive energy balance, meaning ethanol yields more energy than it takes to produce it. It takes less than 35,000 BTUs of energy to turn corn into ethanol, while the ethanol offers at least 77,000 BTUs of energy.

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All this from corn (which grows on every continent except Antarctica). Is this a Buck Rogers-style fantasy?

No. One acre of corn produces enough ethanol to equal 10 barrels of imported oil. In 2004, 11 percent of the U.S. corn crop was used to produce 3.4 billion gallons of ethanol.

"It's out there. It’s clean, much cleaner. It runs great. Now we need to get our world -- the United States -- to realize we need to do this," Thomas said. "Big oil is big money. That's not to belittle them. They're a profit-driven company, too. But we all need to learn to make this work out, because there's going to come a time when we don't have any more petroleum here.

"I've never seen a fighter jet escort me from the field to a terminal to dump my grain. So it's not the Middle East, where people are dying over this stuff."

Thomas, 46, who tends 800-900 cows and farms a total of 2,300 acres near Louisville, Ohio, with his wife Christine, three children, and seven employees who include his 73-year-old father,  added, "We've got an environmentally friendly car. And with all the turmoil that's going on in the Middle East right now and the price of fuel getting so out of hand, there's not a better time than now for ethanol and renewable fuels to take hold."

Add to that the fact that Hurricane Katrina disrupted the importing, refining, and distributing of a sizeable percentage of America's oil, causing opportunistic companies to pass along a sudden and hefty increase at gas pumps across the nation.

Thomas' vision is a country full of automobiles which burn no fossil fuels, keep farmers like himself in business, don't contribute to air pollution, and help Americans save money.  He said the U.S. has taken the first step toward that scenario.

"Right now if you go across the country, you'll see our gas is enhanced with 10 percent ethanol at the gas pumps," he said. "That 10 percent in your gas will lower the pollution coming out of the tailpipe 25 percent, up the octane three points, and it's a natural de-icer for those of us who live where it gets really cold.

"A bushel of corn will make two and half gallons of ethanol -- for every gallon of ethanol you use, that's two gallons of crude oil we don't have to import. In Ohio, we use about 250 million gallons of ethanol a year at the gas pump. Fifty-some percent of our gas sold here has 10 percent ethanol in it," Thomas said. "You go out west -- the Dakotas, Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska -- they have E-85 filling stations: 85 percent ethanol, 15 percent gas. We were just in the Dakotas not long ago on the way to Edmonton. Their gas was $1.75 a gallon for 85 percent ethanol and regular is $2.50. Big difference."

This homegrown "fuel of the future" has existed for decades. Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier in 1952 in the X-1 using pure ethanol fuel. Nearly 40 years later and nearly two decades ago, in 1989, Baylor University professor Max Schauck set a world record for flying a single-engine aircraft across the Atlantic Ocean using pure ethanol aviation fuel and later was awarded the Harmon Trophy (the ultimate aviator's award, given through the years to such notables as Charles Lindbergh, Wiley Post, Yeager, and several of NASA's pioneer astronauts).

Ethanol's sources are varied. It can be a derivative of corn, wheat, potato wastes, cheese whey, rice straw, sawdust, urban wastes, paper mill wastes, yard clippings, molasses, sugarcane, seaweed, and surplus food crops.

Thomas said ethanol does come from surprising sources. "You've got a small ethanol plant over by me that makes it from outdated beer. Beer that comes off the shelves that's outdated, they ferment it and make ethanol out of it. You can do it from grass clippings. Corn's obviously the best, because you can make so much of it and still have a product," he said. "When they're done making ethanol, the leftover corn -- you take the starch and the enzymes out, distill it, and the leftover corn is a good cattle feed. So you're not wasting anything. You don't have to haul anything to the landfill. It's all used. It's kind of a neat deal. You can make it out of a lot of things." 

The South American way since the 1970s has been to use sugarcane.

Although Thomas said it's mind-boggling that people are ignorant about ethanol and its possibilities, he recognized the need for a more aggressive marketing and educational program.

"The places we go, we tell them about ethanol, and people say, 'Wow! Is that new? We've never heard of it before.' It's still young, even thought it has been around for years. Hitler made ethanol from potatoes. This something that's not new," Thomas said. We have to wake up and see it."

"Brazil is obviously a leader, because they've been doing it. But we've got to follow suit if we plan to have fuel forever. Imagine if the wheels quit turning what happens. Every manufacturer in the world recommends 10 percent ethanol."

Domestic auto manufacturers ignored the warnings that faded from our mid-1970s crisis-du-jour mentality, offering through the ensuing decades not smaller but increasingly bigger, gas-guzzling tank-like passenger vehicles. However, Thomas said, Detroit seems to be receptive to a renewed call for action. 

"Right now a lot of your [models] -- Ford Taurus, Chevy Suburban, Dodge Chrysler mini-vans, are E85 vehicles in the factory. With the technology we have today, they will sense how much ethanol is in the gas with a probe and automatically adjust the fuel system for it," he said. "We've got the technology to make it work, and I think Detroit's behind it. They've got to be. They're already selling cars in Brazil anyhow. So they're making specialty vehicles that go there."

According to the American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE), U.S. ethanol facilities set production records in 2004, as consumers used more than three billion gallons of ethanol in their passenger vehicles. ACE President Bob Scott said in August when he witnessed President Bush's signing of the Energy Security Act of 2005 at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, "This nationwide Renewable Fuels Standard is a significant victory, both for the people who have built the ethanol industry and for the American public who will benefit from a larger supply of homegrown, cost-effective fuel. It is time for this country to take charge of its energy situation, and the production and use of ethanol empowers us to fuel an important portion of our own energy needs."

By the end of this year, an ACE statement said, the U.S. ethanol industry is expected to have the capacity to produce four billion gallons of ethanol annually. By 2012, demand for ethanol and biodiesel in this country likely will reach a minimum of 7.5 billion gallons a year. That is a long way from satisfying the public's thirst for more than 140 billion gallons, but it is a strong first step.

ACE, which calls itself the "grassroots voice of the U.S. ethanol industry," reported that the U.S. has 88 ethanol plants, about half of which are owned by farmers and local investors.

"The great thing about ethanol plants is that they're farmer-owned." Thomas said. "The farmers I've talked to who have invested money in ethanol plants have seen 50-60 percent return on their investment the first year. When you look at that, that's incredible. The tough part for a farmer is where are you going to come up with that $100,000 to invest? You've got to borrow it. (Or $200,000 or $300,000 or a million, whatever it is.) Most of us in farming or agriculture are leveraged pretty hard to start with. It's a tough business. The wealthy people who have invested in it are already wealthy. It's just going to make them wealthier, but that's OK."
   
He said American outrage, or at least demand, followed by American willpower could give us an ethanol-driven auto industry: "Our public opinion can change the world."

Thomas has done his part in getting the word out. Emblazoned on the sides of his Avenger are the words "Ethanol Performs," a testimonial from the Ohio Corn Marketing Program, his primary sponsor since 1990. (His associate sponsors include the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council and its counterparts from Michigan.) The blades on his injector scoop flash the word "corn" at the Hooters Drag Racing Series fans at the IHRA's 12 races and those watching on television.

He made an even bigger splash than that, taking his message all the way to The White House this spring. The invitation came after his visit to the U.S. Capitol last September, just before the 2004 Torco Race Fuels President's Cup Nationals at Maryland International Raceway at Budds Creek.

"We got to have the car at the Capitol Building for nine and a half hours," Thomas said. "It was blast. We really had fun there. We did that for the National Corn Growers Association."  The Ohio, South Dakota, and Michigan corn growers marketing programs banded together to seek permission to put the car on display.

"It had to be attached to a bill. So it had to go through Congress before we could come," Thomas said.  "It was the energy bill. We came in and talked to people. We were well-photographed. It was incredible. We really came out well. We got to talk to Members of Congress.  Then at Budds Creek the following weekend, about 150 staffers from Capitol Hill came down to the race, ate with us, hung out with us. They got to see what the race was like. And two of President Bush's advisors came to the race," he said. "Clay Sell was one of them."

Sell is the Deputy Secretary of Energy. "I spoke with Clay and his son," Thomas said, "and he said, 'We'd really like for you to come to the White House.' I thought, 'Yeah, he's just being nice' and said, 'That's OK - I appreciate you being nice.' Then I started getting these phone calls: 'We want you to come to the White House.' So we got to go to the White House. It was the same night President Bush gave his speech about two months ago."

The Bush Administration didn't invite him because of his trademark smile, his 23 career victories, the fact he hasn't missed an IHRA event since the middle of 1988, or even his humility or self-imposed slave-like worth ethic. ("I have a passion to get a lot done, Thomas said. "And my wife has told me before that I would not be happy if I wasn't livin' triple-overbooked 24 hours a day. I like to be so stressed out. That's the only way I'm comfortable. I like to have too much to do. I like to know that there's no way I'm going to get it all done today but I'm going to try anyhow. So that's just kind of how I live every day. It might not be smart, but it's the way I like it.")

Thomas received the invitation because he has more than an idea about how America can accomplish so much with something so humble as a bushel of corn. He also has experience in growing and harvesting the corn, participating in and understanding the ethanol-making process, and converting his theory to reality on the race track. Thomas understands ethanol, from the kernel of corn to the output of the engine.

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"The big thing is it's nice that we can talk about ethanol, renewable fuels, the things that we do and do our small part. Compared to what our servicemen and women are doing overseas, what people have done in the past for freedom for our country, this is a small thing," Thomas said. "I ask people, 'Make sure the gas you buy at your gas station has ethanol in it.' That's a pretty small part, compared to what a lot of people do."

Thomas, who said if he had to define himself as either farmer or drag racer would choose farmer, has been a believer in ethanol for a quarter-century. And he said he's elated he can show through his other passion, drag racing, what his corn-based fuel can do.

"Back in 1980, which is way before our sponsorship happened, I hauled corn to an ethanol. Plant," Thomas said. "Every county in Ohio had to have somebody haul corn to an ethanol plant. It was the start-up of a big deal. I hauled it for Stark County. I've been behind it for years. Being behind something is doing the best you can for it, but obviously I never had any way I could make it work.

"When it all came about in 1990, we went to the International Hot Rod Association, and we said we wanted to run ethanol instead of methanol. They said that was interesting, that nobody had ever asked them that question before. I know it’s a big deal now, because the Indy Racing League has mandated that in 2007 they have to run 100 percent ethanol. So all of a sudden, that's a big deal happening. And we started doing this clear back in 1990," he said. "They said they would let us be the guinea pig and then rule on it. Well, we won the championship that year, and since then, we've done it a few more times.

"As a farmer, who would ever think there'd be anything in agriculture and farming that would be beneficial for your race car? Those are two different worlds," Thomas said. "But they definitely can go hand in hand. And motorsports has always been the test grounds for new things."

That certainly includes safety measures. Thomas said ethanol is safer in the event of an accident: "Our corn oil has a 200-degree-higher flash point than petroleum oil. So if you kick the rods out or break an oil line or get oil on the headers, it takes 200 degrees more to ignite that. Obviously you don't want anybody to get hurt in this sport. It's just a sport."

But a tug-of-war for the consumers' hearts and wallets is no game. The transition from today's scenario to an ethanol-powered world of tomorrow is not likely to be smooth. Adjustments traditionally are difficult, and America has to be prepared for the reaction of the oil companies.

A surge in the demand for ethanol usage surely won't provide a sudden solution to all the energy problems America faces today. It would trigger a whole different set of dynamics that could change the political, if not literal, landscape.

Brazil, for instance, has the world's largest sugarcane crop. From that it has produced ethanol, as well as sugar, electricity, and industrial heating. Ethanol wasn't a panacea there. For example, sugarcane fields traditionally are burned just before harvest, in order to remove the leaves and kill snakes. In doing that, the country's air pollution simply transferred from urban areas to rural ones. Acres of native forests burned accidentally. Farmers switched from food crops to more lucrative sugarcane, driving up the price of food. And the always-delicate labor situation deteriorated, spawning political unrest and sometimes violence.

And if sugarcane works as well as corn, could we see the balance of natural-resource power make economic giants of struggling nations such as Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Haiti and their Central American neighbors Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Panama? How would that affect the cost of living in the high-priced Hawaiian Islands? Would Puerto Rico emerge as even more valuable U.S. territory, rekindling the smoldering battle of statehood versus independence?  

So the U.S. would be wise to structure its own approach to the mass production of ethanol after considering business, political, and social patterns.

Thomas said oil companies probably aren't thrilled right now about the 10 percent of ethanol in pump gas. "All of a sudden, big oil companies will say, 'Yeah, this is a really good idea. We need to do that.' Then all of a sudden they'll look back and say, 'Wait a minute -- 10 percent of our product . . . is going to be profit we're going to lose.' But it's clean. It's better for the environment. It's renewable. It helps the balance of trade. It's less dependence on foreign oil. What's the problem?" Thomas said.

Would we see big oil companies trying to get in on the ethanol market? "They could," Thomas said. "When you look at how it’s gone over the years, some of the biggest people who were against it are biggest advocates of it."

Embrace it, fear it, or be wary of it, ethanol is gaining popularity in the U.S.

"There's ground broken in Ohio for some new ethanol plants," Thomas said. "There are quite a few new ones going up across North America. There are some going up in Canada. So as we see all this come about, our world's going that way. We're chipping away. We're moving in the right direction.

"We're going to keep needing fuel, whatever kind of fuel it is. We've got to move onward and forward," he said. "That's not going to stop. The ethanol usage will do nothing but get stronger. If we wanted to go on 50 percent ethanol right now, we could never do it. We don't have enough plants built to do that. We're working that way."

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That brings Thomas back to the farm, where his involvement with ethanol began, where his heart really always has been. He said he discovered he certainly doesn't want to be President of the United States. He volunteered to give up drag racing if his family wanted him to (they didn't). He has waved off encouragement from such NHRA Funny Car pals as Whit Bazemore and Del Worsham to come and try the more lucrative 23-race Powerade Series. His life is rooted in those 2300 acres of north central Ohio.

"The farm is cooler than any of that stuff could ever be," he said. "I don't ever want to give that up. That's what I really appreciate: we have a way to feed the world and now we have a way to fuel the world, with ethanol."

And in the Ohio breeze, there in the cornfields, Mark Thomas doesn't care who hears it. The Three Days Grace song "Overrated" plants its own kernel of truth:

Worn out and faded
The weakness starts to show
They’ve created the generation
That we know
Washed up and hated
The system moves too slow
They give us answers
To questions they don’t even know

You made it
You played it
Your s--- is overrated
You made it
You played it
Your s--- is overrated

Used up and jaded
You’re thinking way too slow
So we’re creating
Answers on our own
We can’t relate
To what you think you know
And you create
The problems that will never
Go away