The Truth About Ethanol and Indy

Chuck Zimmerman

Patron CarWe got to the Scott Sharp Patron party a little late yesterday but we did sample a very good margarita. I think this is a sharp looking car don’t you?

I noticed a guest editorial on Dean Kleckner’s Truth About Trade and Technology website that I think sums up the feelings of a lot of farmers this weekend. It’s written by Tim Recker, a corn/soybean grower from Iowa.

A guy with my last name probably shouldn’t go anywhere near the sport of auto racing.

Yet I can hardly wait until one o’clock on Sunday, May 27 when the Indy 500 is scheduled to begin. Just about every corn farmer I know is equally excited.

Drivers will compete to win the 91st running of the Indy 500. And for the first time ever, their vehicles will be powered by corn: They’re using 100-percent fuel-grade ethanol.

If ethanol is good enough for the most famous auto race in the world, shouldn’t it also be good enough for your commute to work? Granted, you may not need to drive 219 miles per hour–the qualifying time of the slowest car in the Indy 500’s 33-vehicle field–unless you hit the snooze bar a few too many times.

Still, there’s no reason why ordinary motorists shouldn’t demand outstanding fuel performance from a quality product such as ethanol.

Well said Tim.

2007 Indy 500 Photo Album

Ag Groups, Ethanol, Indy Racing

Not a Blah Day

Chuck Zimmerman

Pork BillboardThis year I’m renting a Nikon 80-400mm zoom lens to enhance my shooting experience. While I was practicing in turn 3 here at the Speedway I noticed The Other White Meat on display (rotating billboard). Now I’m hungry.

Tonight a group of us are going to the Scott Sharp, Team Patron event at El Torito Grill, a restaurant near our hotel. Here’s my thinking. End of day. Patron Tequila promotion/party. Hotel across the parking lot. Uh . . . . I’m covering that event!

2007 Indy 500 Photo Album

Ag Groups, Indy Racing, Pork

Indianapolis Skyline

Chuck Zimmerman

Indy SkylineIt’s a beautiful day here in Indianapolis as you can see from this photo I hope. Sometimes you get a nice picture at the most unexpected times.

These are the Indy flags in front of the downtown skyline.

At today’s Ethanol Summit, which you can learn more about over on Domestic Fuel I ran into a man representing the Minnesota Farm Bureau. He wanted to meet me because he likes what we’re doing here and subscribes to my podcasts. He said he listened to the latest ZimmCast on the way here!

2007 Indy 500 Photo Album

Indy Racing

Having Fun With EPIC

Chuck Zimmerman

Reece Nanfito and MeHere’s Reece Nanfito, EPIC director of marketing and me having fun at the GasAmerica pump promotion. We weren’t even drinking ethanol yet.

Laura took this picture. I think it captures the essence of working with a client your really enjoy doing business with. I’ve spent a lot of time with the folks at EPIC and truly appreciate not only their mission but their support in sponsoring my coverage of events and allowing us the opportunity to do other work for them too, like re-building their member website.

2007 Indy 500 Photo Album

Indy Racing

Winning a Flex-Fuel Silverado

Chuck Zimmerman

Green Flag Sweepstakes WinnerHANK FM, along with Gas America and EPIC ran the Green Flag Sweepstakes with the winner being picked yesterday afternoon after the pump promotion. HANK was doing a live remote throughout the event. Here’s how it worked.

Participants had to listen to the station or visit a Gas America station for keywords. Then they had to text the word to the station and if they were a winner they got a bounce back text message saying so. The winners all had to show up to press a buzzer and if it played “Dixie” you won a 2-year lease on a Flex-Fuel Chevy Silverado!

Well the winner is Kathleen from Franklin, IN. She was very excited as you can tell. I interviewed her to see how she felt and what she thinks of ethanol. indy-07-kathleen.mp3

2007 Indy 500 Photo Album

Audio, Ethanol, Indy Racing

Media Coverage of Pump Promotion

Chuck Zimmerman

Al Pell and Jeff SimmonsThe Gas America pump promotion here in Indianapolis generated about the most media coverage I’ve seen at one of these. I’m sure EPIC is happy.

We had two tv choppers hovering overhead throughout the event and there was a big backup of cars trying to get in for $2.25 gas. By the way, have you seen the bumper sticker yet that says, “Beer, Now Cheaper Than Gas, Drink Don’t Drive?” That’s a good one.

2007 Indy 500 Photo Album

Ethanol, Indy Racing

Al Pell and Jeff Simmons

Chuck Zimmerman

Al Pell and Jeff SimmonsIt just looks like Al Pell, U. S. Farm Report, is proposing to Jeff Simmons, driver of the Team Ethanol Indy car. Al was actually interviewing Jeff for the show at yesterday’s Gas America pump promotion.

I talked with Jeff and he seems to be very upbeat going into race week for the greatest spectacle in racing.

2007 Indy 500 Photo Album

Indy Racing

Laura Meets Ron

Chuck Zimmerman

Laura and RonI didn’t get to meet and talk with Indianapolis Speedway director of photography, Ron McQueeney (pictured on the right) until after I’d been covering Indy Car races for a year or so. Laura got to meet the man on her first trip out. She seems pretty comfortable jumping right in there and is getting some great shots. I took this picture at yesterday’s Gas America ethanol pump promotion.

We’re taking lots of pictures here this week and a selection is being put into our online photo album. If you see something you’d like a higher res version of let me know and I can email it to you when I get time.

The Ethanol Summit just got over with a little while ago and we’re in the Speedway media center doing some photo and audio editing.

2007 Indy 500 Photo Album

Indy Racing

Our Healthy Land Talks About Farm Bill

Chuck Zimmerman

American Farmland TrustAmerican Farmland Trust is providing tools for people to use when lobbying Congress on the farm bill. It’s on a new section of their website called “Our Healthy Land.”

“Congress is Talking About Your Food” and the corresponding website, www.ourhealthyland.org, give consumers an overview of the federal farm bill, and suggests ways in which they can become informed and join the 2007 Farm Bill debate. The website also offers consumers access to specific resources for further information concerning U.S. farm and food policy. To obtain quantities of the brochure for distribution, please call (800) 370-4879, ext. 17.

The brochure and supporting website are a joint project Coleman Natural Foods (CNF) and American Farmland Trust (AFT) through the Coleman Eco-Project 2015, a decade-long conservation program created to raise awareness about the link between conservation, healthy land, healthy food and healthy people, and connect consumers with where and how their food is raised and produced.

Ag Groups

Hefty Competition at Ag PhD

Chuck Zimmerman

AgMinuteI don’t know how familiar you are with Brian and Darren Hefty of Ag PhD but they’ve just started making their television show available on their website. They also produce a regular radio feature called “The Ag Minute.”

“As farmers ourselves we understand that it might not always be possible to watch Ag PhD as often as farmers would like,” said Brian Hefty, co-host of Ag PhD with his brother, Darren Hefty. “This gives the farmer an opportunity to download that latest information to their computer or other portable media player. We really appreciate the feedback that viewers continue to give us on how the show helps them in their operation, and it’s viewer feedback that has led us to develop an online product.”

Entering it’s tenth year of production, Ag PhD is a weekly half-hour television program that currently airs on 13 affiliates in the upper Midwest and Pacific Northwest, as well as nationwide on the RFD-TV Network (DirecTV channel 379 and Dish Network channel 231).

The brothers sound pretty competitive since they’re currently running a poll to see which one won the weekly “sibling showdown debate.”

Media