Track cleanup begins - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

Just how much trash do a quarter-million Indianapolis 500 spectators leave behind?  No one knows for sure, but it's estimated in the tens of tons.  And you can see evidence each Memorial Day that leaving trash behind is just another track tradition. 

So at 8:00 a.m., another 500 tradition takes place, as non-profit groups will put on the gloves, get out the trash bags and make the Indianapolis Motor Speedway clean again.  It's a dirty job, but it's also profitable.  For years, churches, scout troops and civic groups have given their time and effort, and in exchange, IMS has paid them for their service by donating money to their various causes.  

"We've found that it actually feels better in some ways," said Speedway spokesman Doug Boles. "We have three major events here during the year, so we don't have the need for full-time ecology staff.  So it works out well that we can rely on these organizations, and many of these organizations have been doing this since we started."

And this is such a popular fundraiser that there are actually 100 non-profit organizations on a four-year waiting list just to get the opportunity to come to IMS and clean.

Boles said there's no good way to measure just how much trash gets cleaned up each Memorial Day after the 500. "There's obviously tons and tons and tons of trash," he said, "especially if you look in the infield in Turn 3 - it's full of trash when people leave and then the bleachers are full of trash."

So at 8:00 a.m., sleeves will be rolled up and gloves donned so the great clean-up can begin.