Indy car driving nuclear message home

Racing driver Simona De Silvestro, whose car carries the message "Nuclear Clean Air Energy", is currently lying in fifth place in the points standings of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar racing series in the USA after top ten finishes in the first two races of the season.

Racing driver Simona De Silvestro, whose car carries the message "Nuclear Clean Air Energy", is currently lying in fifth place in the points standings of the 2011 IZOD IndyCar racing series in the USA after top ten finishes in the first two races of the season.

Simona De Silvestro's car with a nuclear message (Image: Entergy Nuclear)

The car is part of the HVM Racing team and is sponsored by US utility Entergy, whose chief nuclear officer John Herron watched De Silvestro take fourth place at the St Petersburg Grand Prix in Florida on 27 March. Swiss-born De Silvestro followed on with a ninth place finish at the second race of the season in Birmingham, Alabama on 10 April.
 
Having a message - rather than a sponsor's name or product - emblazoned on the side of a car was a new departure in the 25-car IZOD IndyCar field. As the season opened, team owner Keith Wiggins and driver De Silvestro were both upbeat about the message. "Through history we have seen how sport transcends social barrier - whether race or gender or other - and can lead the way for new thinking. We believe we are doing this with the Nuclear Clean Air Energy message on our car," said Wiggins, while De Silvestro said "I couldn't be more proud to represent Entergy and this industry since I am a personal advocate for clean and safe nuclear power."
 
Entergy is the second largest nuclear generator in the USA, with 12 operating reactors in its generating portfolio including two at Grand Gulf in Mississippi, where it holds an Early Site Permit for the possible construction of a new plant.
 
The next race in the series takes place on 17 April at Long Beach, California.
 
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News