1909 : First race is held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
On this day in 1909, the first race is held at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway, now the home of the world's most famous motor racing
competition, the Indianapolis 500.
Built on 328 acres of farmland five miles northwest of Indianapolis,
Indiana, the speedway was started by local businessmen as a testing
facility for Indiana's growing automobile industry. The idea was that
occasional races at the track would pit cars from different
manufacturers against each other. After seeing what these cars could
do, spectators would presumably head down to the showroom of their
choice to get a closer look.
The rectangular two-and-a-half-mile track linked four turns, each
exactly 440 yards from start to finish, by two long and two short
straight sections. In that first five-mile race on August 19, 1909,
12,000 spectators watched Austrian engineer Louis Schwitzer win with
an average speed of 57.4 miles per hour. The track's surface of
crushed rock and tar proved a disaster, breaking up in a number of
places and causing the deaths of two drivers, two mechanics and two
spectators.
The surface was soon replaced with 3.2 million paving bricks, laid in
a bed of sand and fixed with mortar. Dubbed "The Brickyard," the
speedway reopened in December 1909. In 1911, low attendance led the
track's owners to make a crucial decision: Instead of shorter races,
they resolved to focus on a single, longer event each year, for a much
larger prize. That May 30 marked the debut of the Indy 500--a grueling
500-mile race that was an immediate hit with audiences and drew press
attention from all over the country. Driver Ray Haroun won the purse
of $14,250, with an average speed of 74.59 mph and a total time of 6
hours and 42 minutes.
Since 1911, the Indianapolis 500 has been held every year, with the
exception of 1917-18 and 1942-45, when the United States was involved
in the two world wars. With an average crowd of 400,000, the Indy 500
is the best-attended event in U.S. sports. In 1936, asphalt was used
for the first time to cover the rougher parts of the track, and by
1941 most of the track was paved. The last of the speedway's original
bricks were covered in 1961, except for a three-foot line of bricks
left exposed at the start-finish line as a nostalgic reminder of the
track's history.
history.com/tdih.do
1812 : Old Ironsides earns its names
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6994
1942 : Allies raid Dieppe
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5273
1960 : Captured U.S. spy pilot sentenced in Russia
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5274
#########################################
On this day in 1909, the first race is held at the Indianapolis Motor
Speedway, now the home of the world's most famous motor racing
competition, the Indianapolis 500.
Built on 328 acres of farmland five miles northwest of Indianapolis,
Indiana, the speedway was started by local businessmen as a testing
facility for Indiana's growing automobile industry. The idea was that
occasional races at the track would pit cars from different
manufacturers against each other. After seeing what these cars could
do, spectators would presumably head down to the showroom of their
choice to get a closer look.
The rectangular two-and-a-half-mile track linked four turns, each
exactly 440 yards from start to finish, by two long and two short
straight sections. In that first five-mile race on August 19, 1909,
12,000 spectators watched Austrian engineer Louis Schwitzer win with
an average speed of 57.4 miles per hour. The track's surface of
crushed rock and tar proved a disaster, breaking up in a number of
places and causing the deaths of two drivers, two mechanics and two
spectators.
The surface was soon replaced with 3.2 million paving bricks, laid in
a bed of sand and fixed with mortar. Dubbed "The Brickyard," the
speedway reopened in December 1909. In 1911, low attendance led the
track's owners to make a crucial decision: Instead of shorter races,
they resolved to focus on a single, longer event each year, for a much
larger prize. That May 30 marked the debut of the Indy 500--a grueling
500-mile race that was an immediate hit with audiences and drew press
attention from all over the country. Driver Ray Haroun won the purse
of $14,250, with an average speed of 74.59 mph and a total time of 6
hours and 42 minutes.
Since 1911, the Indianapolis 500 has been held every year, with the
exception of 1917-18 and 1942-45, when the United States was involved
in the two world wars. With an average crowd of 400,000, the Indy 500
is the best-attended event in U.S. sports. In 1936, asphalt was used
for the first time to cover the rougher parts of the track, and by
1941 most of the track was paved. The last of the speedway's original
bricks were covered in 1961, except for a three-foot line of bricks
left exposed at the start-finish line as a nostalgic reminder of the
track's history.
history.com/tdih.do
1812 : Old Ironsides earns its names
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=6994
1942 : Allies raid Dieppe
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5273
1960 : Captured U.S. spy pilot sentenced in Russia
history.com/tdih.do?action=tdihArticleCategory&id=5274
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