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Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hall of Fame Museum
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Hall of Fame Museum is the automotive museum that sits on the
grounds of the internationally famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway in
Speedway, Indiana; all intrinsically connected to the Indianapolis
500. The museum includes many other marvelous exhibits that include
various forms of motorsports, general automotive history and
passenger cars. Their 50th anniversary was held in 2006, and the
museum houses many of the winning cars of the race. The first museum
here was finished in 1956, on the southwest corner of the park, just
outside of the first turn of the famous oval track, at the corner of
Georgetown Road and 16th Street. Included is the 1911 Indy 500
winning car driven by Ray Harroun, as well as other vehicles; Karl
Kizer becoming the first curator, and it opened with only 6 cars.
Just a few years later, there were dozens, including collector cars,
that had been donated or acquired. But it wasn't long before all
involved realized that it was too small and would require more space
soon. It wouldn't be until 1975, that the speedway broke ground on
the new 96,000 square foot admin building and museum; locating it on
the infield of the track. It was a 2 story white structure made of
Wyoming quartz, with the ticket office, photography department, gift
shop, museum and administrative offices inside. It opened on the day
of this country's bicentennial celebration; while the old building
converted into office space. The entire complex was put on the
National Register of Historical Places in 1975 and became a National
Historic Landmark in 1987. The original building was
demolished in 1993, to make room for the multi-million dollar new
administration building, with the admin offices and ticket office
being moved from the infield building to the new one; allowing a
bigger gift shop and other displays to be put in the old spaces.
That same year, the parking lot for the museum held the first Indy
500 Expo during the race festivities; which became an outdoor
interactive spectator display. Two years later, it was enlarged and
called the Indy 500 Fanfest; but after two years of that, it also
was discontinued, although lately, Chevrolet has sponsored many
smaller displays and exhibits that have showcased former pace cars
and other types of displays. Inside the museum, there are at least
75 cars shown that are rotated regularly, since there isn't enough
room to show more, without crunching everyone together. The museum
contains over 300 of the winning cars, as well as other Indy
vehicles and racing cars from other venues. Some of the wonderful
other items shown include; plaques, gloves, driver suits, trophies,
helmets and more. There is a marvelous display of models, toys,
photographs and paintings; with another that holds a timeline of
scoring devices. The list of cars is huge, and very impressive, and
can only be understood and enjoyed by going there. It is well worth
the trip, or time spent there since this is a big part of racing and
automotive history.
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