8/17: Investigating Indy's Speedway aka The Brickyard!

I would imagine when you think of Indianapolis, the Indy 500 comes to mind right away, right?! As it did to Steven and me, too, we decided to head first thing on that August morning to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) among the most visited attractions in Indianapolis, with one million guests annually. Even though neither of us are race car fans, the chance of actually being on the famous track with the Kiss the Bricks Tour wasn't something we wanted to pass up.

I was amazed to read the IMS was constructed in 1909. That made it the world's oldest continuously operated racecourse and also the site of the largest one-day sports event anywhere. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, it was dedicated on the 59th running of the Indy 500 in 1975.

Out front was a model was of the winning car used by A.J. Foyt in the 1970 Indy 500.

The tour was narrated by Bob Jenkins, the famous NASCAR announcer. He mentioned the land had been purchased in 1909 for $72,000 and that 3.2 million bricks were placed on the track in just 62 days. Paving in 1909 was still relatively new with only a few miles of public roads paved, leaving little knowledge of what would work best.  Before the work was completed, locals nicknamed the track The Brickyard.

When the privately-held Speedway was built on farmland 5.5 miles northwest of the city center, the purpose was as a combination racetrack and testing facility for the new automobile industry. 

The first event ever held at the speedway was a helium gas-filled balloon competition more than two months before the oval was completed in 1909. Nine balloons lifted off "racing" for trophies at the event which drew a reported 40,000 people.

Since the beginning, the Indy 500 has had four turns on the 2.5 mile-long route. As we headed around the turn, the driver pointed out the 31 degrees of banking had existed since the beginning.

Imagine 33 cars all vying to get around the narrow confines of Turn 1 at huge rates of speed! Our speed was a far more sedate 20 mph compared to the fastest lap of 237 mph in 1996.

All the millions of bricks that had been placed in 1909 have subsequently been buried under several layers of asphalt.

The Racing Capital of the World:

Also on the grounds was the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort, which originally opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929. The golf course has 14 holes outside the track, along the backstretch, and four holes in the infield. 

The Speedway's founders sold the facility in 1927 to WW I flying ace Captain Eddie Rickenbacker who was a veteran of several 500-mile races before his years in the service. 

In the center of the Speedway was The Panasonic Pagoda, the media broadcast center and home to private suites. The Pagoda was as close to Japan as we got last year because our anticipated three-week stop there last May was of course sidetracked because of the pandemic.

In the background was the flag stand that in 2000 replaced the crow's nest from the USS Indy that had sunk at the end of WW II. 

The seating capacity including the stands and infield was close to 400,000 people, the entire population of Cincinnati or Iceland! Our driver said tickets cost $150 for seats in the lower deck and only $40 on the mounds. He joked there was always room for one more person since the last sold-out event had been in 2016. 

In October 1961, the remaining bricks that had been installed in 1909 on the front straightaway were covered with asphalt except for a three-foot strip called the Yard of Bricks which still remained at the start/finish line.

The tradition has long been that Indy 500 winners now 'kiss the bricks' after crossing the finish line. All five participants in the tour were also encouraged to do the same but only one did so! That was NOT Steven nor I!

In 2011, two special bricks were added on the track's 100th anniversary and to mark A.J. Foyt as the first four-time winner.

The garages in Gasoline Alley: I could hardly believe it only takes a driver's crew 8 seconds to add fuel and change a tire before the driver is back on the speedway.

After our exciting tour, we headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum which was on the grounds of the speedway. Opened in 1956, it housed the Hall of Fame. 

Hot Rod was a term used for a modified passenger car made popular when GIs returning from WW II used their technical and engineering knowledge gained from military service to modify 1930s American domestic cars in their own backyards or garages. The hobby led to the desire to build fast vehicles and the hot-rodding craze. Hot-rodders weren't only interested in vehicle performance, but also in customizing their 'ride' to separate it from others. 

Jenkins, whose voice we'd listened to while on the track, was one of the first on-air employees of the ESPN cable network when it launched in 1979. From then until 2000, he anchored NASCAR races for the network and occasionally ABC. His voice was also heard internationally from 1990-1998 as the chief announcer for the IMS Radio Network. 

Some fun records at the Speedway:

When garages were added inside Turn 1 in 1910, they made IMS one of the only racetracks to have permanent garages. Have you ever thought of the Speedway in terms of aviation? I sure hadn’t! But when the Speedway hosted the National Aviation Meet in 1910, the Wright Brothers participated. Orville Wright took a two-lap flight around the infield and one of their aircraft set a new world altitude record of almost 5000 feet.

Congrats to the Speedway who way back in 1935 was the first track in the world to install safety-warning lights and new concrete walls were built around the racing surface. When helmet use also became mandatory that same year, it was a first for motor racing worldwide. They weren’t required in European Grand Prix racing until 1952.

The Borg-Warner Trophy was unveiled for the first time at a dinner hosted by Eddie Rickenbacker in 1936. It was then officially declared the annual prize for Indianapolis 500 winners.

A pit wall was constructed in 1938 to separate the crews' work area from the pit so crews had a safer working environment during track activity. 

When Louis Meyer won his third Indianapolis 500 in 1936, he requested a bottle of buttermilk in the Victory Circle. That became the inspiration for the winner to drink milk!

Because of the war, there were no events from 1942 until 1945.

The first electronic scoring pylon was erected at the Speedway in 1959. That same year the use of fire retardant uniforms became mandatory.

In 1960, there were 29 lead changes among five drivers in the 500. That stood until 2012.

Parnelli Jones was the first driver to break the 150-mph barrier in 1962.

Janet Guthrie made history in the 1977 Indy 500 when she became the first female driver to qualify for the race. Guthrie started the race from 18th position but retired with timing gear failure after 27 laps. She was eventually classified 29th. 1977 was also the year when A.J. Foyt made history when he became the first driver to win the race four times.

The winner's share of the Indy 500 purse exceeded $1 million for the first time in 1989.

When Arie Luyendyk won the 500 in 1990 at a record speed of 185.981 mph, the record wasn't broken until 2013.

Al Unser, Jr. eked out a hard-fought victory in 1992 by defeating last-place starting driver Scott Goodyear by 0.043 of a second, a margin that is still the closest finish in race history.

The second running of the Indy 500 was won in 1912 by a stripped-down version of a National passenger car.

This magnificent Mercedes-Benz was built in 1932 and ordered directly from the factory by Iraqi King Faisal in 1931 who had been portrayed as a young man by Alec Guinness in Lawrence of Arabia. 

After a political upheaval forced him to abdicate and leave for Switzerland, the car was used for state occasions by his son who had ascended the throne. After his death in 1939, the car spent many years in Beirut where it was purchased in 1967 by IMS owner Tony Hulman. With the car's supercharger engaged, the massive engine could produce 200 horsepower. 

Clark Gable and other screen stars took their turns driving cars on the famous track!

Larry Bisceglia was an auto mechanic who attended the Indy 500 as far back as 1926. He arrived at the 1948 race with his aging 1933 DeSoto hoping to be the first fan to line up at the gate but found two others there ahead of him. He tried again a year later but was still beaten by one other vehicle. 

Bisceglia finally achieved his goal on May 11, 1949, and went on to become quite famous for annually becoming the 'first in line.' His DeSoto was replaced in 1955 with this 1951 Chevrolet panel truck which became highly recognizable when he covered it with hundreds of racing decals. It was acquired by the museum in 1967. 

Even though we weren't racecar fans a trip to Indianapolis wouldn't have been complete for us without visiting the famous racetrack and standing on the Yard of Bricks! We both loved hearing and reading about so many Indy 500 drivers that had become household names even to us non-believers.

Next post: A stop at the state capitol as after all that had been the primary reason we'd come to Indy in the first place! 

Posted on January 28th, 2021, from our home in the Denver suburbs. Thankfully, Steven was able to get his initial vaccine yesterday and will get the second one in a month. Being so much younger, I'm on the waiting list still! I hope you and your loved ones are safe and connected in this harrowing time.