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Back in February, a gasoline distributor told Karen Riley, vice president of operations for nine-store Jiffy Mini-Marts Inc. (Terre Haute, IN), about an alternative fuel called E-85. The mix of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline, he said, was produced in the United States and it could be used in some cars that were already on the road.

"My dad (the chain's founder, Jim Fash) was against it," Riley says. "I was really interested in it. We went around and talked to the car dealerships. Dad's argument was, 'If they aren't going to sell the cars for the fuel, you aren't going to