Bridgestone Americas is again demonstrating the use of more sustainable materials and technologies in motorsports at this year’s Indianapolis 500. As its Firestone brand celebrates 25 consecutive years as the exclusive tire supplier of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and Indianapolis 500, Bridgestone has produced a Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 race tire that incorporates two monomers sourced from the waste residue of palm oil processing. These bio-styrene and butadiene monomers are certified by the International Sustainability and Carbon Certification (ISCC) for the transparency and traceability of sustainable raw materials throughout the supply chain.
Firestone’s racing heritage dates back more than 100 years to the first Indy 500 in 1911. Bridgestone remains focused on sustaining the sport for future generations. The demands of racing provide the ultimate challenge for innovation, proving that premium performance can be delivered through more sustainable materials and technologies. Bridgestone aims to extend these efforts beyond motorsports into future mobility solutions.
The Firestone Race Tire Engineering team and nearly 60 race tire production teammates will produce more than 5,000 Indy 500 race tires for use in practice, qualifying, and competition at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) during May.
Using sustainably sourced monomers in this year’s Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 race tires exemplifies Bridgestone’s efforts to prove and accelerate sustainable materials and technologies through motorsports and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. All Firestone Firehawk race tires for the series are manufactured at Bridgestone’s ISCC PLUS-certified Advanced Tire Production Center (ATPC) in Akron, Ohio. This facility was awarded certification in 2022 for its transparency and traceability of sustainable raw materials, including bio, bio-circular, and circular-based synthetic rubber.
Bridgestone partners with Penske Truck Leasing and IMS to transport all Firestone Firehawk Indy 500 tires to the track using electric-powered Freightliner eCascadia trucks.
Outside of the Indy 500, Bridgestone uses guayule-derived natural rubber in the sidewalls of the Firestone Firehawk alternate race tires made for NTT INDYCAR SERIES street course races. Guayule, a desert shrub grown at Bridgestone’s research facility in Arizona, is being explored as a potential alternative source of natural rubber.
Bridgestone continues to use world-class racing as both a global co-creation platform and a proving ground for delivering the values of the Bridgestone E8 Commitment. This corporate commitment outlines eight areas where the company is focused on contributing to a more sustainable world. Bridgestone’s sustainability commitments surrounding the Indianapolis 500 demonstrate the “Emotion," “Energy,” and "Ecology” values of the Bridgestone E8 Commitment. Together with broader initiatives across the company, Bridgestone is making strides toward its targets of achieving carbon neutrality and tires made with 100% renewable and recycled materials by 2050.
