Indy 500 Is Green(ish) Now

It is hard to imagine that 33 souped up racing cars that zoom 500 miles around an oval for three hours can possibly be considered environmentally friendly, but the annual Indianapolis 500 is trying.

“This will be the most sustainable Indy 500 in our 100-plus year history,” declared Mark Miles, president and CEO of the big race’s showrunner, Penske Entertainment Corp.

How? This year’s race will feature a new tire that is composed, in part, of a natural rubber derived from the guayule shrub, which supposedly requires less energy to produce and deliver than rubber tree harvesting. A modest tweak, but okay.

What about the 250,000 amateur drivers who travel to the Indianapolis Speedway every Memorial Day weekend? This year, the 106th running of the Indy 500, fans are able to lessen the footprint of travel by paying for tree plantings through GreenTrees, a carbon offset organization. 

Finally, and maybe best of all, there will be no ridiculous pre-race release of 40,000 or so balloons into the world, far beyond the confines of the Speedway. The race had been ejecting plastic litter into the sky since 1962, but that odious tradition is over at last.

Photo credit: Nathan Brown / Indy Star