It’s time for the running of the fifth Iowa Corn Indy 250 presented by Pioneer Hi-Bred. One of our drivers will be Marco Andretti. Marco is seen here on a break from practice laps today out at Iowa Speedway. Yesterday he was signing autographs at the Urbandale Kum & Go. The Kum & Go chain has been a proponent of ethanol for a long time and was conducting a promotion with the Iowa Corn Growers.

I spoke with Marco and asked him about racing on ethanol fuel and his thoughts on the race which will be under the lights on Saturday evening for the first time. Marco Andretti Interview

Representing Kum & Go at the promotional event was the Chief Operating Officer, Dennis Folden, seen here with Marco. Dennis says they now have 74 stores serving E85!

During the two hour promotion at the store you could purchase E85 for just 85 cents and regular unleaded containing ten percent ethanol was lowered by 25 cents/gallon. There was no lack of cars pulling in to fill up. Dennis Folden Interview

Also on hand pumping ethanol into cars during the promotion was Vachel White, a corn grower who servers on the Industrial Uses Committee of the Iowa Corn Growers. He says people like “cheap” gasoline and ethanol is making that happen. As a corn grower he says this promotion means a lot to him. Vachel White Interview

I am collecting photos from all the activities going on here in Iowa. You can find them here: 2011 Iowa Corn Indy 250 Photo Album