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History of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built on 328 acres of farmland five miles northwest of Indiana's capital city in the spring of 1909. Financed by four local businessmen, Carl Fisher, James Allison, Frank Wheeler and Arthur Newby, it was planned as a year-round testing facility for the fast-growing automobile industry in Indiana. Occasional race meets would be presented at the track, featuring those very same manufacturers racing their products against each other. Spectators, it was reasoned, would be sufficiently impressed as to want to head downtown quickly to the showrooms for a closer look at one of these new-fangled contraptions.

Four turns, each banked at nine degrees and 12 minutes and measuring exactly 440 yards from entrance to exit, were linked together by a pair of long straights and, at the north and south ends of the property, by a pair of short straights to form a rectangular-shaped 2 ½ mile track as dictated by the confines of the available land.

With the original surface of crushed rock and tar proving to be disastrous at the opening motorcycle and automobile racing events in August of 1909, 3,200,000 paving bricks were imported by rail from the western part of the state in the fall, laid on their sides in a bed of sand and fixed with mortar, this inspiring the nickname "The Brickyard".

Poor attendance at a trio of three-day meets on the revamped surface in 1910 caused the owners to rethink their plans and focus instead on a single event for 1911. They envisioned it as an event of gigantic proportions offering a huge purse. On May 30 - Memorial Day - a grueling 500-Mile race paying $14,250 to win took place, enjoying instant success and attracting universal recognition…and making history as the inaugural Indianapolis 500.

With the exception of an additional program of racing on a single day in September 1916, no race other than the Indianapolis 500 was to be held at the Speedway until a tremendously successful NASCAR stock car event, the Brickyard 400, debuted in 1994. The 500 was suspended during America's involvement in the two world wars, 1917-1918 and 1942-1945, but held in all other years.

Asphalt was first applied to the rougher portions of the track in 1936, and by 1941 all but the greater part of the mainstraight had become blacktop. The remainder of the bricks were finally covered over in the fall of 1961. Most of the original paving bricks are still in place underneath the modern asphalt surface, with only the famous "yard of bricks" still exposed at the start/finish line as a nostalgic reminder of the past.

The track has changed ownership only twice. With Carl Fisher heavily involved in the development of Miami Beach and Jim Allison's nearby engineering company growing rapidly, the foursome sold IMS in 1927 to a group headed up by WWI flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker. Rickenbacker had actually driven in several 500s before he ever knew how to fly. One of Rickenbacker's first actions was to install an 18-hole golf course on the grounds in 1929, now known as Brickyard Crossing and home of a Senior PGA Tour golf tournament, the Brickyard Crossing Championship, in September.

Allowed to fall into a terrible state of disrepair as a result of four years of neglect during WWII, the Speedway was purchased in 1945 by Terre Haute, Indiana, businessman Anton "Tony" Hulman, Jr. He immediately embarked on a phenomenal rejuvenation program that began the transformation of the facility into what it is today. Hulman passed away in October 1977, but to this day members of his family perpetuate the traditions of the Speedway - now encompassing 559 acres - while continuing to transform it beyond the wildest imaginations of its founders.

The Hulman-George family continues to own and operate the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Mari Hulman George serving as Chairman of the Board and Anton "Tony" George serving as President and Chief Executive Officer.

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