Indy 500 garbage, balloons and more: This is how bad the race is for the environment

This story was originally published in 2018. 

It's probably safe to assume that people don't go to the Indianapolis 500 to reconnect with nature. Or that an event featuring cars driving around in circles is a celebration of living green.

That said, just what impact does the Indy 500 have on the environment? We examined it from a few perspectives and here's a quick look at what we found:

Trash

Like every left turn at the Indy 500, the mountains of trash left behind are apparently inevitable. 

It's known for it's weirdness (see: couches, kites and a banged up grill). It's known for its danger, like the time a plastic bag derailed Juan Pablo Montoya's qualifying run.

But most of all its known for its abundance. Perhaps it's just part of having more than 300,000 fans get hyped for the biggest sports event of the year. But one has to wonder if the refuse is really worth it.

"We encourage fans to be respectful of the property and the environment," said Alex Damron, the Speedway's director of communications. He added that there are several opportunities for guests to recycle, and that their catering vendor uses biodegradable plates.

Damron could not give a number for how many pounds of trash are left behind after the race. But Fox59 reported in 2013 that Speedway officials estimated 50,000 pounds. For comparison, an IndyCar is about 1,600 pounds — meaning race attendees produce about 31 cars worth of trash.

Luckily, it doesn't stay there for long. Each year, hordes of volunteers tackle the mountains of trash in exchange for donations to their organizations.

Balloons

It's a time-honored tradition that dates back to 1947, according to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: Thousands of balloons are released on race morning. 

It's certainly a sight to see, but just the thought makes Christina Trapani's stomach churn.

"Why the Indy 500 and some universities are still doing balloon releases is beyond me," said Trapani, a marine debris researcher in Virginia. "If you took a bag of (thousands of) balloons and threw them on the ground, that would be littering. So what’s the difference?"

Trapani at one point worked on a stranded response team for wildlife on the Virginia coast. She said there were several times that she found balloons in the gastrointestinal tract of sea life, particularly turtles, who mistake the floating debris for tasty jellyfish.

The danger isn't exclusive to marine life, however. Birds and other wildlife, Trapani said, are also susceptible to either choking on the balloons or starving when they become lodged in their throats. It's such a concern that balloon releases are illegal in a handful of states, according to Balloons Blow, a website devoted to eliminating balloon litter.

According to Damron, the balloons used in the event are made from 100 percent, organic rubber, and are even hand tied to ensure that everything released is fully biodegradable.

Still, according to Trapani, it can take years for the balloons to biodegrade, during which time they continue to pose a threat to wildlife. And, no, it's not implausible that a balloon could make it from the Speedway to the  East Coast.

"A lot of it depended on the currents, the weather and the wind," Trapani said. "Just a few months ago we found a balloon in the Chesapeake Bay that was from Kansas."

Despite the danger and the handful of complaints the Speedway receives every year, it looks like this tradition isn't going anywhere.

"We have not considered an alternative. The balloon release is a cherished piece of our pre-race ceremony and will continue to be part of Race Day," Damron said.

Emissions from traffic

It's difficult to calculate how much carbon Indy 500 spectators spew on their way to and from the race without knowing everyone's exact travel plans and the makes and models of their vehicles. 

So let's turn to the back of the envelope.

Assuming that a fair number of attendees — let's say 150,000, or about half the last year's Indy 500 attendance — will be coming from at least Lafayette-distance away (about an hour's drive). Using America's most popular car (Ford's F-series) at the most popular age (about 11 years), it's fair to assume that those folks would produce about 19.95 million pounds of carbon dioxide, according to the Terrapass carbon footprint calculator.

Now, consider this by comparison. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the average passenger vehicle emits roughly 10,000 pounds of carbon dioxide. Over the course of an entire year.

Oh, and that doesn't take into account the seemingly endless minutes that tick by as drivers sit idling in traffic to arrive at the Speedway or find parking, continuing to spew out greenhouse gases that play their role in climate change. 

Cloudy or smoggy? 

Also making its way out of the countless tailpipes that congregate around the Speedway is a cocktail of other air pollutants that can be hazardous for human health. 

One of the top culprits: particulate matter. These fine particles of soot and metals give smog its murky color and can penetrate deep into the lungs, which make them one of the most serious threats to human health. While these pollutants make their way out of most cars running on gasoline, diesel exhaust is a particularly big contributor. 

Not to be outdone, other exhaust emissions — such as carbon monoxide, hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides — irritate your lungs. Ever had a coughing fit at the Speedway? Now you might know why. 

Race car releases

Saving perhaps the most obvious environmental impact for last ... the spectators aren't the only ones driving cars when it comes to the Indy 500. 

Indy cars slurp up about 115 gallons of fuel on race day. So, yeah, that's roughly five miles to the gallon. No one is arguing these gas-guzzling speedsters that tack to the track are fuel efficient. 

That said, IndyCar switched several years ago to run on fuel that is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent racing gasoline. Fueled by ethanol, the cars burn more fuel cleanly, according to a report presented at the American Chemical Society in 2013. 

That means the emissions they belch out are much lower in air pollutants that can adversely affect human health and contribute to the formation of smog. That includes carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter — those nasty tiny particles of metals that get deep in the lungs. 

But there's also an environmental downside. The fuel cocktail means the cars release mainly carbon dioxide and water vapor into the air — and that means more bad stuff that absorbs and traps heat on Earth.

And that means, yep, global warming. 

Emily Hopkins and Sarah Bowman cover the environment for IndyStar. Contact Emily at (317) 444-6409 or emily.hopkins@indystar.com. Follow them on Twitter: @_thetextfiles. Call Sarah at (317) 444-6129. Follow her on Twitter and Facebook: @IndyStarSarah.

IndyStar's environmental reporting project is made possible through the generous support of the nonprofit Nina Mason Pulliam Charitable Trust.