Indy 500 history

Unless you’re a member of the Hulman-George family, an Indy 500 winner, or—now—the holder of a new, top-level $1,000 membership at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, you’re never getting into “the basement.” We did. Here’s what we found.

“All I can compare it to is going down a ski slope. You’re making those long, winding turns. You feel the skis about to lose their grip, getting away from you—but not quite.”

The race and related on-track activities have claimed the lives of at least 54 drivers, mechanics, IMS workers, and spectators since 1911. But innovation in safety procedures and technology have tempered the tragedy.

You’re fighting for fractions of a second all the time out there. That isn’t even a blink of an eye, but at the speeds you race at, that turns into footage. Half a car length, a car length—whatever it was. In my eyes, it was a mile.