>One of the local Speedway gas stations has something they call
>"racing fuel" that is listed as 100 octane. Is this for real?
Why are you asking us? You're the one who's local! :-) Seriously,
if anyone at the gas station speaks English, you might try asking
for the brand name or brochure for this "racing fuel." There are a
couple of manufacturers who still make 100+ octane fuel and sell
through certain individual stations, usually those near race tracks.
The Texaco station near Sears Point, for example, sells 94-octane
leaded premium, though I really think this is more for the farm
equipment in the Sonoma Valley. Real race cars don't run on anything
less than about a hundred (but the '65 Chevelle SS sure liked the
leaded 94!) If there's a circle track or a dragstrip near to this
station, they probably figure it's worth the extra inventory costs
to keep a tank of high-octane stuff for the folks who roll into town
for the bracket races or some bullring action on a Saturday night.
(The cars that run on Indiana's most famous speedway use methanol.)
>I didn't think you could buy "racing fuel" at a regular gas station.
You can buy whatever the manager wants to sell. In particular, the
Unocal line has made it easy for their franchises to sell 100 and 108
octane racing fuels at some street locations. There are also some
independent gas stations that sell Trick racing gas, CAM2, and other
popular brands. Heck, I've even bought Dr. Pepper at a gas station.
In any case, buying it isn't the problem; putting it in your car might
be. So you can show up with a 5-gallon fuel jug and plunk down $4 a
gallon for CAM2 to put in your 11.5:1 semi-race motor, or you can
pour it in your Oldsmobuick Avenuemaster and notice no change except
that the catalytic converter gets coated with lead and fails to work.
In short, the law doesn't specify what a gas station can sell, it
specifies what a customer can buy for a specific set of vehicles.
You would probably violate several Federal and state laws if you
put 100 octane leaded racing gas into a 1990 vehicle registered for
the street, but it's not illegal to put it into an SCCA-approved
fuel jug, for instance. I've done that three or four times this year,
always for use in the race car, though any leftover gas gets put into
whichever tow/support vehicle doesn't have a catalytic converter.
Putting Dr. Pepper in your gas tank is probably a bad idea, though.
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