Indianapolis motor speedway hall of fame

Official website of the museum

HERE

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Constructed in 1909, the speedway has contributed significantly to the advancement of automotive technology and development of safety devices. It is unchallenged as the world's oldest continuously operated races course and the site of the largest one~day sports event anywhere. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places and dedicated on the 59th running of the "500," May 25, 1975.

PRESENTED BY THE HISTORIC LANDMARKS FOUNDATION OF INDIANA

The famous Borg-Warner trophy with the images of the race winners

The winner of the first Indianapolis "500"

AJ Foyt gallery of the four time winning cars

Directions to the Museum

Back to Historical markers

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My opinion of the visit:

This was the first time that I have ever been to the track, or the museum. The museum is located with the oval of the track, so upon entering you drive right under the track itself. Our visit was during the weekday, the week before Christmas 2004, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The museum is immaculate, and the cars are well cared for, there are only rope barriers separating you from the cars, so it is possible to take some detailed photos, but as you can see the cars are very close to one another, so any side shots would be difficult at best. There is an optional bus ride tour of the track, although the track was closed for resurfacing during our visit, the bus tour did run the inside of the track around some of the buildings. We did not get to see the track itself. I would still recommend taking the bus tour. There is also a 20 minute movie that plays on the 1/2 hour, If you are totally unfamiliar with Indy, it would be best to watch the movie first, and then look through the museum, it will help explain some of the history, and make the car exhibits more meaningful. About 1/2 of the museum is Indy cars, the other half contains many more important cars that have contributed to the automotive industry itself.

I would definitely recommend that if you are within 120 miles of the museum that you plan a stop to visit. Depending on how busy it is, I can only guess that it's probably swamped a month or two before the race you should plan a Four hour visit, if you are really a car aficionado, or Two hours if just a casual interest.