NHRA Goes Green - Used Racing Oil to Be Recycled as Street Oil

The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) isn’t only focused on burning fuel and rubber to kill drag strip times as you might think. If we look one inch next to the track (where the association is actually 101 percent keen on obtaining performance) we’ll see that the racer boys are making efforts to reduce their activity’s impact on the environment.

The latest development that cover this area is the signing of a partnership with Safety-Kleen, who will become the association’s Official Trackside environmental service provider, covering all its drag strips.

Safety-Kleen company will initiate multiple Green projects, collaborating with each NHRA track and racing team. The initiatives will include waste management actions and collection of all used fuels, solvents, oil filters, absorbent materials and oils from the event, with an important part of them being recycled. The last product is particularly interesting for us, as the company stated that it plans to launch a motor oil made from recycled NHRA racing oil. If you ask us, the initiative has a huge marketing potential, as long as the engineers manage to offer adequate properties for the resulting product.

"The NHRA believes in being Green," said Eric Zimmer, executive vice president of sales and marketing for Safety-Kleen. "Safety-Kleen is very excited about partnering with NHRA tracks and teams to help support the sport while minimizing its impact on the environment."

"Safety-Kleen understands racing and they know how to help us reduce the racetrack's environmental footprint," said Don Robertson, executive general manager of Gainesville Raceway. "They will not only collect the used oil from the track, but the oil will have a second life when it is recycled and re-refined to make EcoPower motor oil."