INDIANAPOLIS — Firestone introduced sustainable racing tire features, including recycled steel bead wire in all right-side tires and two monomers derived from palm oil waste residue, during practice for the 110th Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Friday, May 15, 2026. Kylee Jarman checked tire pressure during the practice session.

The company aims to make its racing tires more sustainable each year, a spokesperson said. Each Indianapolis 500 tire is engineered differently for each wheel position, with specific compound and construction combinations built to meet the demands of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and developing an IndyCar racing tire combines chemical formulation and scientific processes. After every race, Firestone scientists and engineers tweak the racing tire formula.

Firestone produces 32,000 racing tires each year, of which 5,000 are made for the Indianapolis 500, a spokesperson said. Each team at the race is allotted 31 sets of tires, totaling 124 tires, and each driver uses four handmade tires.

"Racing tires, they're made by hand. It's an art form," Firestone spokesperson Pat Caporali said. "Our Firestone chief engineer Cara Krstolic describes it like baking brownies in a flat pan. The quality control is amazing."

Teams bring their wheels to the Firestone garage, where the tires are mounted and balanced using machines, then stacked until teams pick them up. Each tire carries a barcode for tracking, and teams return used tires to the garage after finishing with them during the race. Returned tires are recycled for use in sports fields, golf courses, and other applications.

Firestone was chosen as the sole tire provider for IndyCar in 2000, a deal crafted to ensure fairness in racing standards. The selection was based on the company's long history at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where it first supplied tires in 1909. Firestone tires have won 76 of the 89 Indianapolis 500 races in which they have been used, more than twice as many victories as all other tire manufacturers combined. Manufacturers including BFGoodrich, Michelin, Dunlop, Palmer Cord, Firestone, and Goodyear once competed to supply tires for the race.

Harvey Firestone founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company in Akron, Ohio, in August 1900 with 12 employees, initially making tires for carriages and buggies.