Michael Bragg, creator and owner of FuelClinic.com
Michael Bragg is serious about fuel economy.
Bragg is the owner and creator of FuelClinic.com, a website that allows any driver to enter fuel receipt information, such as the gallons of fuel purchased, the mileage travelled from the last fillup, and the cost of the fuel. The website then calculates that information to give a comprehensive overview of the driver's current and overall fuel economy, the money spent on fuel per mile, per month, and per year, and the amount of miles driven. It will also show trends in fuel-efficiency changes and driving habits, showing an increase in fuel economy to perhaps accompany a eco-driving tip the driver may have recently practiced.
Bragg claims his website is unique among other websites that promote fuel-saving driving practices. "There are a lot of really good eco-driving programs out there, but nobody is showing you hard data," he says.
Bragg, a 38-year-old IT programmer living in Central Florida, likes to find ways to utilize computer programs to organize various types of data. Inspired by his wife's habit of consistently logging fuel economy statistics on her fuel receipts, he decided to use computer spreadsheets to do the same for his own fuel receipts to monitor his driving habits.
When he tallied up his fuel consumption and its cost, the results astounded him. "I was spending around $3000 a year just in gas to drive back and forth to work," he says.
"I've always been an efficiency freak," he says. "I've been trying to get more done with less my whole life."
So his newfound interest in fuel economy led him to create the beginning version of FuelClinic, and he began reading profusely about different ways to improve fuel economy. "I set a baseline [fuel economy figure], and tried all the gizmos and gadgets and fuel additives," he says. "I would test a fuel additive to see if my baseline went up or down. Nothing changed. The only way I could change my baseline over time was to change my driving habits, because it's all about how you operate the engine."
At this point, the deafening roar of a GT1 Chevrolet Corvette screaming around turn one of Daytona International Speedway interrupts him.
The #55 FuelClinic.com Camaro and the MJK Racing Team
FuelClinic.com is the primary sponsor of the #55 MJK Racing GT1 Camaro race car that is owned, built, and driven by Michael Kern. It has just left the pits and is heading for the grid to begin qualifying for the SCCA Daytona Double racing event this past weekend hosted by RSF Motorsports.
Bragg defies the conventional stereotype of an eco-driver. He doesn't drive a hybrid, nor does he drive insufferably slow. In fact, not only does he sponsor a 540-hp GT1 race car, get this: he's a genuine car guy.
He is eager to share stories of his childhood when he tore down and rebuilt engines, and particularly enjoys remembering how he rebuilt a Jeep engine in his living room as a teenager in his hometown of Baltimore, MD. As the race cars take the hairpin corner in the infield of Daytona, he interrupts himself to remark "I love the sound of these engines."
"I'm trying to bring out the message to a greater audience, and there's no better way right now than racing," he says. He aims to help people save money on fuel, but at the same time wants to "show people that you can still be enthused by and love fast cars."
Naturally, promoting economical and fuel-efficient driving practices while sponsoring a racing team raises some eyebrows, and Bragg is well aware of it. He argues, "I don't need to win over any more of the environmentalists." "They already do this; they've been reached. I want them to use the system, but I'm not trying to talk to them anymore. I'm trying to bring this out to everybody else."
Bragg also refuses to jump into the political snakepit of environmental issues like global warming. "One thing I certainly don't like is the scare-mongering," he says. "On the poll on the homepage [of FuelClinic], 60% of people are concerned about saving money. The smallest percentage of that pie are people that believe in global warming."
In other words, he wants to positively reinforce the incentive of saving money to people as they develop eco-friendly driving habits... with reducing emissions, carbon footprints, and dependence on foreign oil as added perks.
The FuelClinic.com Camaro putting the heat on the competition
"When you're driving to work, your mind is on your family and your checkbook," he says. But "if you save a bit more money during the week, you can come out and enjoy yourself on the weekend."
This refreshingly optimistic approach to eco-driving has garnered Bragg more attention than just sponsorship of a race team. EcoDriveSmart, a company dedicated to helping people become more economical and safe drivers, and the DIA, or Driving Instructors Association, which unites driving instructors of all types around the world, have both teamed up with FuelClinic. As the two companies teach student eco-drivers about safe and fuel-efficient driving methods, FuelClinic computes all the numerical data and outputs results that gives both students and teachers direct and immediate feedback on their progress.
His biggest prospect for growing FuelClinic, however, is by being chosen as one of nine finalists in the ITS Congestion Challenge at Vencorps. The winner of the challenge will be announced next month in Stockholm, Sweden. The excitement in his voice heightens as he describes the scale on which this company operates: "The award will either be given to you by the ITS international president or the U.S. Secretary of Transportation. So this is a big deal. You're going to be on stage in front of everyone that runs the transportation industry across the planet." The award, a $50,000 grant, will be enough for Bragg to fully develop the website into an instructional system of eco-driving classes for businesses of all sizes to use to teach their commercial drivers how to operate the company vehicles in ways that will conserve fuel and save money.
But Bragg is taking it one step at a time. He's already immensely proud of the increases in fuel efficiency that FuelClinic's users have recorded in the website's 10 months of live service. On average, FuelClinic users have improved their fuel efficiency over 6% and have saved over 10,000 gallons of fuel just by tracking their mileage and implementing fuel-saving techniques.
Furthermore, the race team is getting enough attention as it is. MJK Racing piloted the FuelClinic Camaro to a 1st-in-class finish this past Sunday in the second race of the Daytona Double.
It appears then that Michael Bragg, MJK Racing, and FuelClinic.com are not just serious about saving fuel and money, but success and victory as well.
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