A Honda Insight in the UK won class A of the fiercely contested 2006 Formula 1000 Rally Championship at the first attempt using E85 bio ethanol.
The race requires that the cars have engines under 1 liter. An electric/gasoline propulsion system would probably be ideal in a rally situation where a car must stop-and-go like crazy (needing bursts of torque) and the builders were limited in engine size.
A clean-burning, free-from-foreign-oil, efficient racer which is quite the opposite of NASCAR machines.
http://www.crash.net/news_view~t~Hybrid-car-wins-title-at-first-attempt-~cid~15~id~140011.htm
Cool. I've always thought they should have an auto race where the main emphasis is not placed solely on speed, but one which combines speed with fuel economy. Give each racer a set amount of fuel and declare the winner to be the car that can make it around the track the most times at the fastest speed. It might be rather dramatic to see the gas guzzlers dropping out one-by-one, with the remaining fuel sippers battling it out.