Entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher conceived the idea for a dedicated automobile proving ground after observing European superiority in car design and craftsmanship in the early 1900s. After visiting the Brooklands circuit outside London in 1907, Fisher enlisted partners James A. Allison, Arthur C. Newby, and Frank H. Wheeler to purchase 328 acres of farmland west of Indianapolis for $72,000. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Company was incorporated on March 20, 1909.
Construction began in March 1909. The original surface of gravel, limestone, and tar proved dangerously inadequate during the first car races in August of that year, resulting in multiple fatalities. Fisher and his partners responded by paving the entire 2.5-mile oval with 3.2 million bricks — each hand laid over sand, leveled, and mortared. The final ceremonial brick was laid by Indiana Governor Thomas R. Marshall. Locals soon nicknamed the facility "The Brickyard," a name that endures to this day. A single three-foot strip of original bricks remains exposed at the start-finish line — the Yard of Bricks.
The track is a rectangular oval measuring 2.500 miles (4.023 km), with two straightaways, four identical turns banked at 9°12', and two short chutes. These dimensions have remained essentially unchanged since 1909.
The inaugural Indianapolis 500 was run on May 30, 1911, drawing an estimated 80,000 spectators. Ray Harroun won at an average speed of 74.602 mph, driving solo and relying on what is considered the first use of a rear-view mirror in automobile competition.
The race joined the Formula One World Championship from 1950 to 1960, though it drew only a handful of F1 regulars — notably Alberto Ascari of Ferrari in 1952. In October 1961 the final remaining brick sections were paved with asphalt, leaving only the Yard of Bricks at the finish line.
During the 1960s the rear-engine revolution transformed the 500. Jim Clark won in a rear-engine Lotus 38 in 1965, and every winner since has used a rear-engine car. Graham Hill won on his first attempt in 1966, becoming the only driver to achieve motorsport's Triple Crown: the Monaco Grand Prix, Indianapolis 500, and Le Mans 24 Hours.
A.J. Foyt became the first four-time winner in 1977. Janet Guthrie became the first woman to qualify for the race that same year. Al Unser Sr. and Rick Mears each also won four times; Mears additionally broke the 220 mph barrier in qualifying in 1989. Helio Castroneves joined the four-time winner club in 2021. The closest finish in race history for 34 years was Al Unser Jr.'s 0.043-second margin over Scott Goodyear in 1992.
The 1950s roadster era saw Offenhauser-powered Kurtis, Kuzma, and Watson chassis dominate, while the 1980s brought Rick Mears, Danny Sullivan, and Emerson Fittipaldi to prominence. The early 2000s saw Juan Pablo Montoya and Helio Castroneves each win in consecutive years as CART teams crossed over to the rival Indy Racing League's event.
Fisher and his partners sold to World War I flying ace Eddie Rickenbacker in 1927 for an undisclosed sum. Rickenbacker added a golf course to the infield and raced the 500 four times himself. After the track fell into disrepair during World War II, three-time 500 winner Wilbur Shaw brokered its sale to Terre Haute businessman Tony Hulman on November 14, 1945, for a reported $750,000. The Hulman-George family owned the speedway for three generations until 2019, when Penske Entertainment Corp., a subsidiary of Roger Penske's Penske Corporation, acquired it along with the IndyCar Series. Fox Corporation subsequently acquired a 33% stake in Penske Entertainment in July 2025.
NASCAR arrived at the Brickyard in August 1994 with the inaugural Brickyard 400, which attracted the largest crowd and largest cash purse in NASCAR history at the time. A modern FIA Grade One infield road course measuring 2.605 miles was completed in 2000, enabling Formula One's return to the United States for the first time since 1991. The United States Grand Prix ran at Indianapolis from 2000 to 2007. The 2005 race became one of the most controversial in F1 history when Michelin tire safety concerns led all seven Michelin-shod teams to pit at the end of the formation lap, leaving only six Bridgestone cars to contest the event.
MotoGP was hosted from 2008 to 2015 on a counter-clockwise combined road-course layout. The IndyCar Grand Prix on the infield road course, inaugurated in 2014, now serves as a regular lead-in to the Indianapolis 500 each May.
In October 2021 the speedway hosted the inaugural Indy Autonomous Challenge, in which university teams from around the world competed in autonomous vehicles on the oval, with the Technical University of Munich team claiming the $1 million prize.
Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the speedway is the only such landmark affiliated with automotive racing history. It attracts approximately one million visitors annually. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, located in the infield since 1976, houses the Hall of Fame and a permanent collection of historically significant race cars. The Brickyard Crossing Golf Course, a Pete Dye-designed 18-hole layout with four holes in the infield, has hosted events on both the PGA Tour Seniors and the LPGA Tour. IndyCar's headquarters are in buildings directly across the street, reinforcing Indianapolis's identity as the Racing Capital of the World.
Gallery · 4 related images
