Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
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Official Site: indianapolismotorspeedway.com
Wikipedia: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Page Sections History Multimedia Photographs Documents Article Index |
History
The following section is an excerpt from Wikipedia's Indianapolis Motor Speedway page on 10 July 2016, text available via the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana, (an enclave suburb of Indianapolis) in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400. It is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately six miles (10 km) west of Downtown Indianapolis.
Constructed in 1909, it is the original speedway, the first racing facility so named. It has a permanent seating capacity estimated at 235,000 with infield seating raising capacity to an approximate 400,000. It is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world.
Considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a two-and-a-half mile, nearly rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its inception: four 1⁄4-mile (400 m) turns, two 5⁄8-mile-long (1,000 m) straightaways between the fourth and first turns and the second and third turns, and two 1⁄8-mile (200 m) short straightaways, termed "short chutes", between the first and second, and third and fourth turns.
A modern infield road course was constructed between 1998 and 2000, incorporating the western and southern portions of the oval (including the southwest turn) to create a 2.605-mile (4.192 km) track. In 2008, the road course was modified to replace the southwest turn with an additional infield section for motorcycle racing, resulting in a 2.621-mile (4.218 km) course. Altogether, the current grounds have expanded from an original 320 acres (1.3 km2) on which the speedway was first built to cover an area of over 559 acres (2.3 km2). Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Site in 1987, it is the only such site to be affiliated with automotive racing history.
In addition to the Indianapolis 500, the speedway also hosts NASCAR's Brickyard 400. From 2000 to 2007, the speedway also hosted the United States Grand Prix for Formula One. The inaugural USGP race drew an estimated 400,000 spectators, setting a Formula One attendance record. In 2008, the speedway added the Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix, a Grand Prix motorcycle racing event.
On the grounds of the speedway is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which opened in 1956. The museum moved into its current building located in the infield near the short chute between turns one and two in 1975; its previous building outside the track at the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road was razed for the construction of current IMS administration offices. Also on the grounds is the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort, which originally opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929. The golf course has 14 holes outside of the track, along the backstretch, and four holes in the infield. The speedway was also the venue of the opening ceremonies for the 1987 Pan American Games.
| Date | Media or Collection Name & Details | Files |
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| 23 June 1992 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway NASCAR Tire Test NASCAR Winston Cup John Walczak |  Photo Collection Page |
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Event: Indianapolis Motor Speedway NASCAR Tire Test
Photographer: John Walczak Date: 23 June 1992 View photo of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1992 - 1,591KB |
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Event: Indianapolis Motor Speedway NASCAR Tire Test
Photographer: John Walczak Date: 23 June 1992 View photo of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1992 - 1,623KB |
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Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2001
Photographer: Rick Dikeman License: GNU Free Documentation License View photo of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2001 - 54KB |
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Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2005
Photographer: Derek Jensen Date: 21 July 2005 View photo of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2005 - 1,823KB |
| Date | Document Name & Details | Documents |
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| 1971 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway Visitor Guide Indianapolis Motor Speedway | PNG format - 35KB - 12 pages |
| 6 July 2009 | Recognizing the 100th anniversary of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 111th United States Congress, 1st Session - Senate Resolution 207 Submitted, referred to Committee on the Judicary |  PDF Page - 118KB - 4 pages |
| 7 July 2009 | Recognizing the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 111th United States Congress, 1st Session - House Resolution 608 Submitted, referred to Committee on Government Reform | PDF Page - 119KB - 4 pages |
