Corn Commentary

Indy 500 Winner Thanks Iowa Corn Farmers

2010 Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti is looking forward to a possible third win out of four races at the 4th annual Iowa Corn Indy 250, presented by Pioneer, on June 20 in Newton, Iowa.

Dario won the very first Iowa Corn Indy in 2007, when the series first started using 100 percent ethanol, and again last year. He says Indy’s transition to ethanol was a winner. “It was a big deal for us when we first switched over to ethanol,” he said during an Indy racing press conference Monday. “We’ve had tremendous success as a series with ethanol and had a really seamless transition. It’s just been a real win-win situation for the IndyCar Series.”

Being Scottish and Italian, Dario has no preference between American grown corn ethanol and Brazilian sugarcane ethanol, which fuels all the races in the series except the Iowa Corn 250. “The corn farmers have done a great job,” Dario said. “We thank the farmers, the corn growers, for their support of our series and what they have done with ethanol.”

Dario is hoping to take home another one of the fuel-pump design Iowa Corn 250 trophies. “It’s a very unusual trophy and it really stands out in my office,” he said.

The Iowa Corn Indy 250 is presented by Pioneer, with support from the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and the Iowa Corn Grower’s Association.

You can download (mp3) or just listen to Dario’s comments about ethanol here: