The green flag that starts the Indy 500 scheduled for Sunday, May 28, holds extra significance this year: The 33 open-wheel cars will be the cleanest, greenest and potentially meanest in the 107-year history of the classic American race.
Indy cars will be burning 100 percent renewable biofuel, using carbon neutral motor oil and orbiting the oval on tires made of recycled plastics. Even some of the support trucks delivering supplies to the track will be electric-powered.
The new fuel blend — when its entire life cycle from production to exhaust is taken into consideration — reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 60 percent over fossil fuels, according to Shell USA, which supplies race fuel to IndyCar. The fuel blend is perhaps the biggest contributor to this effort that thrusts the NTT IndyCar Series into the lead in cleaning up American motorsports.