By DOUG SCHMITZ
Iowa Correspondent

NEWTON, Iowa — An estimated 35,838 fans packed the new Iowa Speedway last Sunday and watched Dario Franchitti nip Andretti Green racing teammate Marco Andretti to win the Iowa Corn Indy 250, using 100 percent ethanol.

“These are ethanol-powered cars and our partnership with Iowa corn is so important, not only to the speedway, but also to the agriculture of this state,” said Iowa Speedway President Stan Clement. “For the cars to be running on 100 percent ethanol fuel is just outstanding for this historic event.”

Televised live on ABC-TV, the Iowa Corn Indy 250 marked the first year the 2007 IndyCar Series season will be completely fueled by ethanol, with all competitors using the 3.5-liter Honda Indy V-8 engine fueled by 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol.

“The IndyCar Series needs to be applauded for what they’re doing with (the Honda engines) and so do the ethanol guys for supporting our series,” Franchitti said.

Sponsored by the Iowa Corn Promotion Board and the Iowa Corn Growers Assoc. (ICGA), the IndyCar Series is the first in motorsports to embrace a renewable fuel source. The Iowa Corn Indy 250 was the 142nd IndyCar Series event since the series’ inaugural race in 1996; the Iowa Speedway was the 23rd oval to host an IndyCar Series event.

As Iowa’s newest oval track, the Iowa Speedway became the first chosen venue this year for the IndyCar Series’ biggest event ever in Iowa motorsports history, where the first Championship Car race in Iowa took place on July 9, 1915. Home to 56 racetracks, Iowa is fourth in the nation in the number of motorsports facilities.

Designated A Rusty Wallace Signature Series Track, Iowa Speedway, owned by U.S. Motorsport Corp. and designed by Wallace, is a 40,000-seat, 7/8-mile asphalt oval track located in Newton, Iowa, on I-80, 25 miles east of Des Moines.

Last Sunday’s nearly 36,000 overflow crowd at the IndyCar Series inaugural Iowa Corn Indy 250 exceeded the track’s usual 25,000-seat capacity, which included several thousand fans that lined the fences in the standing-room only areas. More than 1,000 ICGA members and their families were in attendance.

Co-grand marshals Foyt, a four-time Indy 500 winner, and Kyle Phillips, a Knoxville, Iowa farmer and Iowa Corn Promotion Board president, shared the microphone at the start of the race.

Clinching the title as Series point leader, Franchitti’s 0.0681 second win was his second victory in 2007 since he won the Indianapolis 500 last month. The Iowa Corn Indy 250 win helped Franchitti open up a 51-point lead over Tony Kanaan in the points race.

Despite an overcast sky, parking problems and a crash-laden afternoon, Franchitti ultimately held off the 18-year old grandson of the legendary Mario Andretti, who pulled alongside Franchitti at the start-finish line, but couldn’t complete the pass. After the checkered flag went down, Franchitti ended up with an averaged 123.896 miles per hour in the 250-lap race, slowed by six caution periods covering 67 laps.

“This is a great track and it’s in very good condition,” Franchittt said. “It’s very well laid out and there are just a couple of small bumps in turns one and two. But, that’s okay, because it would be a boring race if it was completely smooth all the way around.”

Among the drivers involved in crashes on restarts were Danica Patrick, Sam Hornish Jr., Tony Kanaan and A.J. Foyt IV, with third-place finisher Scott Sharp on the outside car of the four-wide group, where the most serious incident occurred during a restart on lap 99.
“Winning was just what Dario needed for points and this is just what I needed, too,” Andretti said. “This is such a physical place – it’s more like a circle than an oval and you get about four breaths a lap and that’s it. Plus, I’m nursing this cold and, I’ll tell you, I’m beat.”

In the end, Franchitti pocketed $115,800 of the Iowa Speedway record $1,026,000 purse, with his fastest lap at 248, when he was clocked at 182.079 miles per hour; Team Penske’s Helio Castroneves turned in the fastest race lap, with 182.920 mph on lap 240. “It was a great day for the Canadian Club and Andretti Green as a whole (running) 1-2 with Marco,” Franchitti said. “It was a lot of fun to race here in Iowa.”

Iowa’s 61 E85 stations across the state celebrated the Iowa Corn Indy 250 by offering discounted fuel on Thursday, June 21. E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline, is specially formulated to run in Flexible Fuel Vehicles.