I had originally intended to spend just Friday night in Indianapolis and visit the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Saturday. A look on TripAdvisor suggested there wasn’t anything else I “had” to do and this was confirmed by my friend, Cathy, who lived there for several years and said “Indy isn’t a great tourist town…” when I contacted her for advice. However, the track at the Speedway was in use on Saturday and no tours were being offered so I stayed two nights and went to the Speedway today (Sunday).

As it happens, this ended up working very well. Saturday morning was wet and cool so I spent some time planning my next few days before leaving the hotel around midday to drive into town. Cathy had suggested that the White River State Park was pleasant so I headed there and then spent about three hours wandering around and exploring some of the downtown area. The weather got warmer and remained dry while I was walking but the rain started again within a few minutes of my return to the car so my timing was good. Later in the day I went to Indy’s only new, purpose-built  brewery since the end of prohibition for a late lunch/early dinner.

Today I woke up and looked out of my hotel room to see fog. A quick check of the forecast showed it was expected to clear quickly so I headed to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in time for the 9:30 VIP track tour. I grew up near Silverstone racetrack in England and used to attend races there several weekends each summer, ranging from small time club meetings up the the British Grand Prix, and I have always had an interest in motorsports.  The tour of the IMS was very good. We were taken around the track (in a bus at approximately 15% of the speed of Indy cars) but we got to stop at the famous “yard of bricks” to walk on the track and visited the media facilities, stood on the podium, went to the top of the “pagoda” that houses all of the race control functions, visited Gasoline Alley etc. etc. By this time the weather was warm and sunny and everything worked out just as planned.

A further two hours were spent in the IMS Hall of Fame Museum where they display about 50 of the 97 cars that have won at least one of the 100 Indianapolis 500 races run to date.  The display is extensive and immaculate, spanning from the first winner in 1911 to the 99th winner in 2015 and also includes several special non-Indy cars.

After leaving the Speedway I drove about 200 miles west to Springfield, the capital of Illinois. The map/video is here.

I guess I must like bridges. After including a photo of Cincinnati bridges, here is the Indianapolis equivalent showing bridges over the White River.

Getting an expansive shot of the Indiana State Capitol building is difficult. This is the best vantage point I found.

The Indiana Soldiers and Sailors Monument has become a well known symbol of the State and Indianapolis.
The Indianapolis Arts Garden.

The “Yard of Bricks” at the IMS start/finish line not only gives the place its nickname (The Brickyard) but represents the original track that was all bricks. Apparently some 85% of the track still has the original bricks buried under the asphalt.

The Speedway promotes itself as “The Racing Capital of the World”. The early races were described as the “World’s Championship” on the trophy, which may be overstating things, but this historical marker sums up the importance of the speedway and, during the 100th running of the Indy 500 in 2016, there were 350,000 people in attendance which is one in every thousand Americans.
The winner of the first Indy 500 held in 1911.
The view of Turn 4 from the top of the control “pagoda” where cars approach the start/finish line or enter pit lane.