Domestic Fuel

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer will return once again to the Iowa Speedway in 2010.

The Iowa Corn Growers Association, the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and Pioneer have renewed their sponsorship for the 4th Annual race, to be held on June 20, 2010. There were concerns that the race started specifically to highlight the United States ethanol industry might be discontinued after Brazil took over sponsorship of the Indy Car Series this year, but Iowa corn growers and Pioneer have agreed to sponsor the race for at least one more year.

“Powering Indy Cars at top speeds is the ultimate in ethanol performance,” said Tim Burrack, a farmer from NE Iowa and Chairman of the Iowa Corn Promotion Board. “Iowa Corn is at the track again this year because the cars are not only running on corn ethanol, but thousands of Iowans hear and see our messages about the power, performance, reliability, and energy independence from homegrown corn ethanol.”

Previous Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer races have set record attendance at the Iowa Speedway with over 40,000 fans packing the stands.

Even though the Indy Car Series races this year are sponsored by the Brazilian ethanol industry, the Iowa Corn Indy 250 will still feature homegrown fuel. The race will be held June 21 at the Iowa Speedway in Newton, Iowa and sponsored once again by Pioneer Hi-Bred and the Iowa Corn Growers Association.

According to Craig Floss, CEO of the Iowa Corn Growers, the race is an excellent opportunity to inform the general public about the benefits of corn and ethanol. “Our reach has moved well beyond the state of Iowa to a national and even a global audience,” said Floss. “We are able to have the sponsorship opportunities on television this year which is a great way for us to talk about corn, all the places corn goes, and all the products that include corn.”

Pioneer Director of End Use Markets Russ Saunders says sponsorship of the Iowa Corn 250 is a great opportunity to show that support for ethanol and corn growers. “When we look at how fuel prices seem to be headed back up and we have economic challenges all around us, it’s more important than ever that we tell the story of ethanol,” said Saunders.

Saunders says Pioneer has been working to provide new technologies for growers to produce more and better corn to provide the food, feed and fuel needs of the nation and the world, including higher yielding varieties and grain that yields more ethanol per bushel. In addition, they are working on corn varieties that use less nitrogen fertilizer and less water and Pioneer’s parent company Dupont is actively involved in the development of second generation cellulosic ethanol.

The Iowa Corn 250 will be broadcast live on ABC starting at noon central time on June 21 with race time at 12:30 pm.

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 is racing into Newton for the third year, and in celebration the Iowa Corn Promotion Board (ICPB) is offering drivers discounted ethanol through two pump promotions. The events will offer consumers the opportunity to register for $250 worth of free ethanol and the chance to win prizes including tickets to the race and the chance to win a ride in an Indy car. The events include radio remotes and an Indy show car will be on hand.

“We want consumers to celebrate with ethanol promotions prior to the Iowa Corn Indy 250. The race will be at the Iowa Speedway on Sunday, June 21,” says Shannon Textor, Iowa Corn marketing director. “We’re proud that 100 percent of locally produced Iowa ethanol is used in the race. We want all consumers to recognize the advantages of using corn ethanol.”

Ethanol promotions will take place at the following locations:

Friday, June 12, 2009
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Casey’s General Store
6630 Mills Civic Parkway
West Des Moines, Iowa

Friday, June 19, 2009
11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Prairie Gas
4300 S. 22nd Avenue E
Newton, Iowa

For more information visit www.iowacorn.org. The race is Sunday, June 21 at 12:30 PM Central Time. It will be broadcast live on ABC.

The domestic ethanol industry is pleading with the Indy Racing League to reconsider the decision to make Brazil the official ethanol supplier for the 23 IndyCar Series races.

In a letter to IRL commercial division president Terry Angstadt this week, Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dinneen implored the IRL to “at least ensure that the Indianapolis 500 be run on American homegrown ethanol and suggested the league need look no further than the network of ethanol producers in the state of Indiana.”

Earlier this week, IRL announced a multi-year partnership with APEX-Brasil making the trade promotion agency the official ethanol supplier to the IndyCar Series beginning with the 2009 season. The deal includes cooperation from UNICA (the Brazilian Sugarcane Industry Association) to identify those interested in supplying ethanol to the series. Initially, UNICA will look to partner with a U.S.-based ethanol company to supply the IndyCar Series with corn-based ethanol.

“The move to other sources of ethanol is a natural progression as the ethanol industry continues to grow and evolve,” said Angstadt. “We continue to strive to be on the leading edge of the greening of racing. The IndyCar Series was the first motorsports series to mandate use of a renewable fuel, and now we will work with the ethanol industry in both the United States and Brazil to promote the use of all types of ethanol by consumers.”

Reportedly, the new agreement with Brazil does include an exception for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 to use domestically produced corn ethanol, but no exception for the Indy 500.

At the Iowa Speedway yesterday, the Iowa Corn Growers Association held an outdoor press conference. They used it to help educate media about corn usage by placing banners on the side of a grain trailer showing the relative percentages of corn used for different purposes like livestock feed and ethanol.

I did a short interview with Gary Edwards, ICGA board member. Ken Root, WHO, also participated. Gary farms in Animosa, IA which is in one of the most flood impacted areas of the state. He says that although corn growth is behind schedule and there is a lot of land impacted, he expects that the state will still have a good crop. He wants people to keep in mind that last year they had a record corn crop and this year still has the potential to be one of the biggest. He says the water levels have gone down significantly already and he expects that a lot of those fields will dry out and be re-planted. He has no doubt that they’ll be able to provide all the corn needed for both food and fuel again this year.

You can listen to my interview with Gary here:

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Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

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This year’s Iowa Corn Indy 250 is over and as usual, ethanol won. Actually, Dan Wheldon, Target Chip Ganassi Racing won the race.

He’s seen here holding up the trophy which is a replica gas pump.

The Team Ethanol car ran as high as 3rd place but according to driver, Ryan Hunter-Reay, they lost a gamble on fuel strategy. He ran a strong race all day and really wanted to finish on the podium in front of so many fans of ethanol but it wasn’t to be. He finished 8th though and maybe he’ll get some breaks to go his way next time.

I’m out of here and heading home before getting on the road again tomorrow for the “Transition To a Bio Economy” conference in Berkeley, CA. I’ll be doing some posts from there starting on Tuesday.

Don’t forget to check out my photo album from all the activities of the past few days.

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 is underway here at Iowa Speedway and the weather is perfect.

Team Ethanol started at position 17 but driver Ryan Hunter-Reay made a bold move and jumped to 7th almost immediately and has been holding there by mid race.

I’ll post more at the end of the race which, depending on cautions, won’t be long.

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

The qualifying session for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 got rained out last night so unfortunately that means the drivers will start according to their points standing. That was a blow to Team Ethanol. The car was performing very well and would likely have had a much better starting position. Ryan Hunter-Reay, who spoke at the EPIC member reception last night, says he’ll make up for it though.

Members attending the reception were able to ask him questions, get his autograph and have their pictures taken. This little guy seemed very surprised to be picked up by Ryan for a picture.

You can listen to Ryan’s comments here:

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Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

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The Ethanol Car wound up practice in the top 10 with a combined (2 sessions) lap speed of 183.114.

Ryan Hunter-Reay, the driver got in 166 practice laps and is ready to go for tomorrow’s race.

To get a sense of what it’s like in the pits, at least in practice, I shot some video during this morning’s session.

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album

After today’s ethanol press conference the media were treated to rides out on the track in the Iowa Speedway Pace Car.

Our driver was Davey Hamilton.

For most of us it was our first time and even though we only went about 95 mph, the curves were tough to deal with. As hard as I was pressing up against the door I was very glad to have my seat belt on.

Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album