People who race cars in the United States, whether they are professional or amateur, or they do it for fun or profit, are justifiably nervous after the Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association (SEMA) issued a chilling press release. It claims the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to cut greenhouse gases by outlawing the conversion of street cars to race cars and the manufacture and sale of emissions-related equipment or parts used in such conversions.
The new rules are buried in a 629-page document that was published last summer in the Federal Register. The offending—or offensive—paragraph states, “Certified motor vehicles and motor vehicle engines and their emission control devices must remain in their certified configuration even if they are used solely for competition or if they become non-road vehicles or engines; anyone modifying a certified motor vehicle or motor vehicle engine for any reason is subject to the tampering and defeat device prohibitions of paragraph (a)(3) of this section and 42 U.S.C.”
At first glance, this rule could mean that only purpose-built racecars or street cars that were totally stock and unmodified would be legal. Every car in club racing programs throughout the country that started life as a street car but had an aftermarket chip, software program, performance exhaust, catalytic converter removal, or any other modification that altered the car’s configuration or affected the car’s emissions would be illegal, even if the car is never again driven on the street.
"This proposed regulation represents overreaching by the agency, runs contrary to the law and defies decades of racing activity where EPA has acknowledged and allowed conversion of vehicles," said SEMA CEO Chris Kersting. "Congress did not intend the original Clean Air Act to extend to vehicles modified for racing and has reinforced that intent on more than one occasion." SEMA said it intends to lead an industry coalition to oppose the final adoption of this rule.
One might think that this EPA proposal is just normal U.S. government business-as-usual looking out for the environment and being transparent in the process, until one observes that not only was this single paragraph hidden in a 629-page proposal, but that document was the proposal for 2021–2027 medium- and heavy-vehicle greenhouse gas targets. In other words, it was the proposed rules for truck emissions targets for six to eleven years from now.
If the EPA thinks that racecar emissions are such a serious threat to the environment that street cars converted to racecars must retain a totally stock configuration and emissions system or risk turning their owners into criminals, then the EPA should be upfront and forthright and make it a standalone proposal so that it can be discussed and debated openly instead of hiding it in a huge volume about truck emissions. Regardless of anyone’s position on emissions, greenhouse gases, and the environment, we deserve better than this.—Scott Blazey
