How the Indy 500 track has stood the test of time for 115 years

The Indy 500 – or the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, to give it its formal title – was introduced back in 1911, and more than a cenury on, its track still has its original bricks.

The annual racing event is part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport which includes the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix, and is a highlight for gearheads the world over.

The inaugural Indy 500 race took place on May 30, 1911, and was won by Ray Harroun. 

Now 115 years on, the racers who take part this year on May 25, will be driving across the very same bricks Harroun did.

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The Indy 500, billed as ‘the greatest spectacle in racing’, is steeped in tradition.

Racers will customarily swig a glass of milk after winning, while eating peanuts at the track is considered bad luck. 

However, perhaps the most enduring tradition of the event is the original track, affectionately known as the Brickyard, that was first laid in 1909 and can still be seen today. 

At the start/finish line of the track, there’s one yard (91cm) of exposed original brick

But those aren’t the only bricks that remain; many of the 3.2 original examples are hiding beneath the asphalt at the track. 

“Most of the bricks are still under there,” IMS and INDYCAR president Doug Boles, told Road & Track. 

“That’s the cool thing about it, when you run the Indy 500, you are racing on the same track, same layout, just a few inches above where they were in 1910 when they first started racing on the bricks.”

Pretty cool, right?

The original bricks were the racing surface at the 2.5-mile track until the 1930s, when asphalt was laid in the corners and, later, on the back stretch. 

However, it wasn’t until 1961 that asphalt was used to cover almost the entirety of the track, aside from that exposed yard that is still in place today. 

Since then, the Brickyard has been resurfaced several times and has also had inches removed from the surface.

But still, underneath it all are those Culver Block bricks that were placed there more than a century ago.

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