Correct! They are doing this because both will support extremely high compression ratios. It does not have a damn thing to do with the environment. If horse piss would support a compression ratio higher than ethanol and also burn they would use horse piss;
The real reason is the "ethanol association' or whatever it is called coughed up the money to Tony George(owner of the Indianapolis speedway and the Indy Racing League)for the changeover. Sponsorship, sponsorship, sponsorship.......show me the money. It has nothing to do with renewable resources, efficiency, or environmentalism.
Methanol was brought to Indy Car racing primarily due to fire safety. A seven-car crash on the second lap of the 1964 Indianapolis 500 resulted in USAC's decision to mandate methanol. Eddie Sachs and Dave MacDonald died in the crash when their gasoline-fueled cars exploded. The gasoline-triggered fire created a dangerous cloud of thick black smoke, which completely blocked the view of the track for oncoming cars. Johnny Rutherford, one of the other drivers involved, drove a methanol-fueled car which also leaked following the crash. While this car burned from the impact of the first fireball, it formed a much lesser inferno than the gasoline cars, and one that burned invisible. That testimony and pressure from the Indianapolis Star writer George Moore, led to the 1965 alcohol fuel mandate. Both methanol and ethanol burn at lower temperatures than gasoline, and both are less volatile, reducing the risk of explosion or flash fire. Both ethanol and methanol contain less energy per gallon.