Would you have guessed anything different for No. 1? This is the best track in the world.
No other track can hold as many people as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Over 350,000 people flock to Speedway, Indiana for the Indianapolis 500 every year. The Indianapolis 500 is the largest one-day spectator event in the world.
The 2.5-mile track has hosted 95 Indy 500s since 1911. The 100th anniversary of the first race was in May.
So much tradition and history make up the Speedway and the 500.
The month of May is the greatest month of the year in motorsports—all because of the Speedway. If you haven’t been to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I’d suggest you come next year.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway was built in 1909 as a testing facility for the local automotive industry. The track was first paved with crushed rock and tar but was soon repaved with brick; hence, the speedway is often called the “Brickyard.” Resurfacing with asphalt has covered all but a 36-inch (91-cm) strip of bricks at the start/finish line. The 2.5-mile (4-km) track has two 3,300-foot (1,000-metre) straightaways, two 660-foot (200-metre) straightaways, and four quarter-mile (400-metre) turns each banked at an angle of about 9 degrees. The speedway is also home to a 400-mile (644-km) stock-car race each August.
Racing cars used in the Indianapolis 500 have undergone considerable modification over time. The officially approved car now in use has an open-wheel, low-slung, open-cockpit chassis with a rear-mounted high-performance engine having a displacement of 183.6 cubic inches (3.0 litres). Drivers must first qualify in a four-lap time trial. The race starts with a field of 33 cars, arranged in rows of three on the basis of qualifying time. Racers then compete over a distance of 500 miles (800 km), or 200 laps.
In 1911 American Ray Harroun won the first 500 in about 6 hours 42 minutes with an average speed of 74.6 miles (120.1 km) per hour; he received winnings of $14,250. By the race’s ninth decade, the winner’s average speed typically exceeded 160 miles (257 km) per hour—with single-lap speeds of some 220 miles (355 km) per hour—and earnings were roughly $1.3 million. The first foreigner to win the race was Frenchman Jules Goux in 1913, and women began competing in 1977. Since 1936 it has been traditional for the winner to celebrate by drinking a bottle of milk.
Credit : Britannica
Picture Credit : Google
