Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008

CONCORD, N.C. -- As gas prices soar across the country, the thought of paying $6.25 a gallon would make any consumer cringe.

Yet that's what it costs in NASCAR, where race teams use a special Sunoco 260 GTX unleaded fuel in their cars. Although the gas is free - part of Sunoco's agreement as NASCAR's official fuel supplier - it doesn't mean car owners and drivers aren't feeling the pain at the pump.

"It affects all of us, anybody that's in business," said car owner Richard Childress. "Getting our cars to the racetracks costs a ton in gas money for the haulers. Bringing our people to the tracks, the rising costs of jet fuel. It's very, very expensive to do what we're doing."

Childress, owner of a highly successful race team, isn't complaining. Nor are the drivers who pull in multimillion-dollar salaries and don't flinch at $85 fill-ups on their SUVs.

But no one in NASCAR is immune to the weakening economy and rising fuel costs.

Under Sunoco's deal with NASCAR, teams are provided free fuel at any sanctioned test, practice or race for all three top divisions. A company spokeswoman said it's impossible to determine just how much fuel is used per weekend because of fluctuations in schedules, weather and the teams' practice times each week.

But the good teams test a lot, traveling all over the South to facilities not sanctioned by NASCAR. Sunoco doesn't cover those all-day sessions, and a team typically brings a 55-gallon drum of gas to get them through the test.

Of course, it's all budgeted for, long before the season even starts. And teams aren't affected by the oft-changing fluctuations in fuel costs under the Sunoco deal.

There are critics who complain NASCAR races are dipping into the national supply. But NASCAR officials claim the amount of fuel used - less than 175,000 gallons a year on the Sprint Cup Series - doesn't come close to the 366 million gallons Americans average in daily use.

So NASCAR has no plans to shorten races, as it did in the early 1970s when OPEC hoarded oil to increase prices.

But the pain is still felt away from the track, where teams have noticed a large increase in transportation costs.

From sending diesel-chugging haulers across the country to transport the race cars, to the exorbitant jump in jet fuel, costs are soaring in simply getting drivers, crews and equipment to each event.

"We're really noticing it in credit card costs," said Jay Frye, general manager of Red Bull Racing. "We're getting bills back for thousands and thousands of dollars in diesel fuel that's needed to get the haulers to the track each week. So every time gas prices go up, it affects our monthly budget because we're paying a bigger gas bill than we did last month."

With diesel fuel now more than $4 a gallon, fill-ups now cost more than $1,200 for a truck that gets 4½ to 7½ mpg.

The real pinch, though, comes in jet fuel. Many team owners shuttling crew members and drivers with private planes are considering cutting down on the luxuries.

Many also consider themselves lucky to be at the highest level of racing. Fuel isn't free outside of NASCAR, and as high as the ARCA level teams are paying for gas to get to the track and to race.

Tony Stewart has seen the pinch up close, from sagging attendance at the race track's he owns to helping the promoter at the dirt track in Talladega, Ala., dry the surface after a rain shower.

"The hard thing is you have guys with late models rolling around trying to get the track in and the racing gas there was $8 a gallon."

"To sit there and have those guys rolling around like that and burning fuel just trying to get the track back in shape - you know that has to hurt."