Sunday, May 26, 2019
Speedway, Indiana
39,000 rubber latex deathtraps will be tossed into the environment during spring migration from the center of the United States. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway plans to continue their destructive balloon release tradition during their pre-race celebration of the Indy 500.
For 72 years this environmental vandalism has continued despite decades of public disapproval. Balloon releases waste finite Helium & wreak havoc on land & sea as the latex remnants fall as pollution & threaten animals who consume the colorful trash. It’s time for this willful mass littering to end.
Please join us in urging IMS to act responsibly & halt the balloon releases. Together, we will make these destructive balloon releases a thing of the past!
IndyStar 3/18/19: New billboard pressures IMS to abandon an Indy 500 tradition: the balloon release
Coloradoan 3/18/19: Did Indianapolis Motor Speedway flex its muscle to get billboard taken down?
IndyStar 3/18/19: What goes up must come down: Billboard critical of Indy 500 balloon release is quickly removed
WishTV 3/18/19: Billboard taken down after calling for no more Indy 500 balloon release
[Copy & paste the whole batch below!]indycar@indycar.com
indycarnation@indycar.com
317-492-8500
Pat Garlock
Alex Damron
Director of Communications
317-492-6734
adamron@brickyard.com
Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb
317-232-4567
Town of Speedway town manager
jblasdel@speedwayin.gov
317-246-4100
Town Council
david.lindsey@speedwayin.gov
efisher@speedwayin.gov
graikes@speedwayin.gov
jmatthews@speedwayin.gov
jdelisle@speedwayin.gov
SustainIndy
Melody.Park@indy.gov
sustainindy@indy.gov
317.327.4000
Indiana Department of Natural Resources
Division of Fish & Wildlife
dfw@dnr.in.gov
317-232-4200
877-463-6367
COPY & PASTE:
indycar@indycar.com,
indycarnation@indycar.com,
dboles@brickyard.com,
jkrisiloff@brickyard.com,
jbarbarich@brickyard.com,
dskiver@brickyard.com,
pgarlock@brickyard.com,
jfrye@brickyard.com,
imspr@brickyard.com,
adamron@brickyard.com,
jblasdel@speedwayin.gov,
david.lindsey@speedwayin.gov,
efisher@speedwayin.gov,
graikes@speedwayin.gov,
jmatthews@speedwayin.gov,
jdelisle@speedwayin.gov,
Melody.Park@indy.gov,
dfw@dnr.in.gov,
khartman@brickyard.com,
bbobay@brickyard.com,
kkrisiloff@brickyard.com,
msmith@brickyard.com,
dboles@brickyard.com,
mmiles@brickyard.com,
selliott@brickyard.com,
blee@brickyard.com,
wleavitt@brickyard.com,
nmoreland@brickyard.com,
pkelly@brickyard.com,
hhuffman@brickyard.com,
mthomsen@Brickyard.com,
dcrain@brickyard.com,
jwilliams@brickyard.com,
slester@brickyard.com,
jstewart@brickyard.com,
dboles@brickyard.com,
aroell@brickyard.com
Twitter:
#indycar
#StopLitteringIMS
@ims
@jdouglas4
@AlexDamron
@indycar
@DaleCoyneRacing
@CGRTeams
@FollowAndretti
@ECRIndy
@Team_Penske
@juncosracing
@RLLracing
@AJFoytRacing
@SPMIndyCar
@DRRIndyCar
@IMS
@Indy500blog
@IndyCar
@500Festival
@letterman
@AllenBestwick
@eddiecheeverF1
@rickdebruhl
@JonBeekhuis
@Anthem_Singer
@Group_1001
@NTTDATAservices
@ZachVeach
@GainbridgeLife
@FollowAndretti
@EVERFI
@HondaRacing_HPD
@Bridgestone
@COTA
As much as I love the Indy500 this is unacceptable and should be stopped. Find something else to do.
Stop the littering!!!!
Please stop releasing the balloons they kill wild life and it’s not needed to enjoy the event.
Education and awareness are invaluable to all of us! To intentionally harm the environment and innocent creatures is just wrong! Also, to intentionally litter is illegal. Single use plastic is slowly choking the environment. Why would anyone want to do harm when they know of the consequences? I hope it is stopped!!
Please love all creatures, great and small! ♡ Please love Mother Earth! Without her, we have NOTHING! Together we can make a difference! ♡
Please end the use of balloons!
I have personally witnessed necropsies of two turtles killed by ballon fragments and have found birds strangled in ribbons. It is tragic and so unnecessary. What about giving everyone a bottle of bubbles? It can be a souvenir of an enlightened and pretty way to celebrate.
Basically, IMS is just going to milk this as long as they can.
Get on with it, IMS, take responsibility to be “good citizens” and find a better, more appropriate, tradition!
I live near the Gulf Coast and we loose water birds and sea turtles and solphins and other wildlife to plastics and balloons. Please reconsider and stop releasing them immediately.
We only have one planet, so let’s respect it and keep it clean. For the sake of all life.
It’s the exact same thing as polluting! What goes up must come down! Even today I picked up 3 balloons on my beach walk. Unfortunately I do see a lot of balloons on the beach and at beach Cleanups. Please stop with the balloon release for the sake of the environment and animals that get harmed by them!
How can you with any conscience avoid the reality of the immense amount of trash you are adding to an already badly trashed environment, not to say how many animals are killed by it!! You should be ashamed of yourself!
Let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and assume that they were unaware. Now that they know better I hope they will do better.
Please stop the balloon release I’m Indiana proud, love the 500 but this is so irresponsible to release all those balloons, shoot off confetti but please don’t release balloons!
PLEASE STOP RELEASING BALLOONS? Once we know better we need to do better and you all have known better for years. I promise that if you don’t hold your “mass littering and certain wildlife death” release that your event will still be fun and enjoyed by all. They are there to see the race anyway! This is right in the middle of huge bird migrations and nature is already being pushed to the limit. It just makes no sense to KNOWINGLY throw trash directly into the environment. My family is a group of lifelong Indy fans. Every year for this race they have a huge fish fry and make a day of it. They don’t care about the balloon release. They support ending it, as do most people once they know the harm it causes. Please do the right thing this year.
People go to watch the race, not the balloons. Continuing the balloon release is choosing to willfully damage the environment and kill animals. Please stop.
I was born in Indy on 1/1/1953 when my dad was a student at Butler. He tells stories of working part time as a student at the Indy track. He even took me there when I was an adult to take a 2.5 mile trip around the track. Even though I have no interest in car racing, we still listen to the Indy 500, picking our favorites and betting a modest $1.00! It’s just a part of our family heritage. This all being said, balloon releases are dangerous. They kill wildlife. And we knew this 30 years ago when my oldest daughter protested the balloon release at her First Communion celebration at our local parish. How is it that something we’ve known is dangerous is STILL happening? PLEASE stop the release. Thanks for listening.
Knowing today the damage balloons cause to marine life, this is unacceptable
This is so upsetting and unnecessary. People are being selfish to be entertained briefly but do untold damage.
the mylar type balloons also get caught in the overhead power lines and can cause electrical power outages.
I am 2x removed from someone in the George family; a connection of mine is very tight with them.
I send info to my friend with the link to your (this) site.
Hopefully this will get through.