Iowa Ag Secretary takes IndyCar 2-seater to work

Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Bill Northey joined representatives from Iowa Speedway and the Iowa Corn Promotion Board for breakfast in Des Moines and a quick trip to his statehouse office June 15 in the Indy Racing Experience street-legal two-seater.

"It was a fun ride," Northey said. "I definitely got some looks this morning. It's a fun chance to tell folks a little about the Iowa Corn Indy 250."

The IZOD IndyCar Series race at Iowa Speedway on June 20 is sponsored for the fourth consecutive year by the Iowa Corn Growers Association and Iowa Corn Promotion Board. The IZOD IndyCar Series is the only form of motorsports to use a renewable and environmentally-friendly form of fuel (100 percent fuel-grade ethanol) to power its Honda Indy V-8 engines.

"It certainly does send a message, especially when you're running 100 percent ethanol like these IndyCars do," said Dick Gallagher, who was among a group of corn growers who joined the secretary for breakfast. "It's very common to have E10 in your regular gasoline. But we're trying to increase the ethanol blends that we are using, and showing that IndyCars run on 100 percent ethanol sends a very clear message."

Iowa produced a record 10.75 billion gallons of biofuel last year, reducing demand for imported oil by 364 million barrels.

Northey enjoyed his morning commute to the Wallace State Office Building, but said he won't be trading in his flex-fuel vehicle.

"Probably my pick-up is a bit more practical for me," Northey said.