Hitting the bricks

Tuesday, May 22, 2007 | 7:57 a.m.

'Green' race

To become more environmentally responsible, this year's Indianapolis 500 will be the first in which each of the 33 race cars will be powered by 100 percent fuel-grade ethanol.

The IndyCar Series this season became the first major auto racing series to use ethanol, which burns cleaner and produces fewer harmful greenhouse gas emissions.

Ethanol is a 100 percent renewable fuel that is distilled from high-starch crops - primarily corn in the United States. By the end of the year, nearly 140 plants are expected to be producing 7 billion gallons of ethanol.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway earned the nickname "The Brickyard " because the racing surface of the 2.5-mile oval used to consist of 3.2 million street-paving bricks. Beginning in 1936, patches of asphalt were applied to the rougher sections of the track and almost the entire surface was covered in asphalt by 1961.

Today, only a 3-foot section of the track - at the start/ finish line and spanning the width of the track - is brick.

Historic field

For the first time in the 91-year history of the race, three females will take the green flag for Sunday's running of the Indianapolis 500.

Sarah Fisher, a 26-year-old from Ohio, will be making her sixth Indy 500 start from the outside of the seventh row. Her best finish at Indy was 21st in 2004.

Danica Patrick, a 25-year-old from Illinois, will be making her third Indy 500 start from the middle of the third row. Patrick made history in 2005 when she finished fourth and became the first woman to lead a lap in the Indianapolis 500.

Milka Duno, a 35-year-old Venezuelan, is a veteran sports car racer who is making her first start in the Indy 500. She will start from the middle of the 10th row.

Janet Guthrie (three starts) and Lyn St. James (seven starts) are the only other women who have raced in the Indianapolis 500, although Desire Wilson passed her Indy 500 driver's test in 1982 but failed to qualify for the race.

Got milk?

The tradition of the Indy 500 winner drinking milk in victory lane began in 1936 and has been a part of the post-race celebration since 1956.

According to Indianapolis Motor Speedway historians, three-time Indy 500 winner Louis Meyer regularly drank buttermilk on hot days for refreshment and he decided to drink some in victory lane in 1936 after his third 500 victory. A dairy industry executive saw a photograph of this in a newspaper the next day and decided it would be great publicity for the industry if a bottle of milk became a part of future post-race celebrations.

The presence of milk in victory lane was sporadic between 1937 and 1955. The tradition was revived in 1956 and continues to this day.

Meyer, incidentally, lived in Searchlight from 1972 until his death in 1995.