Indianapolis Motor Speedway, known worldwide as “The Brickyard,” opened on August 14, 1909, in Speedway, Indiana, just west of downtown Indianapolis. Built by founders Carl G. Fisher, James A. Allison, Arthur C. Newby, and Frank H. Wheeler, the 2.5-mile rectangular oval quickly became the proving ground for the automobile age and has hosted the Indianapolis 500 every year since 1911, save for wartime pauses.
IMS is widely recognized as the highest-capacity sports venue on Earth, and it’s far more than a single race day. The grounds host the IMS Museum, guided track tours, and multiple racing series throughout the year, which means most of the questions people search for — how big it is, what it costs to visit, and when you can actually walk the property — have real, evergreen answers below.
Quick Answer
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has a permanent seating capacity of roughly 235,000, down from a record count of 257,325 seats before a mid-2010s grandstand modernization. Including infield and general-admission crowds, Indy 500 attendance figures are commonly cited in the 300,000+ range, making IMS the largest sports venue in the world by capacity — by a wide margin over any football or soccer stadium.
The Speedway is located at 4790 W. 16th Street in Speedway, Indiana, and its grounds — including the IMS Museum, gift shop, and track tours — are open to visitors on most non-event days, not just during the Indianapolis 500.
How Many People Can Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hold?
The oval’s permanent grandstands seat about 235,000 fans. That figure dropped from an all-time peak of 257,325 — a number verified by an Indianapolis Star seat count in 2004 — after IMS replaced aging bleacher sections with modern, higher-quality seating during its 2010s “Project 100” renovation ahead of the Indy 500’s 100th running in 2016. Fewer seats, but better sightlines and more amenities, was the trade-off.
What pushes IMS past every NFL or college football stadium is the infield. On Indy 500 race day, general-admission infield crowds and suite/mound seating add well beyond 100,000 more spectators on top of the permanent grandstands, which is why total race-day attendance is routinely described as the largest single-day audience in American sports. IMS does not publish an exact modern attendance figure, so treat any precise number beyond the 235,000 permanent-seat count as an estimate.
Planning Your Visit: Tickets, Museum Hours & Parking
You don’t need a race on the calendar to visit IMS. The IMS Museum, located inside the track’s front stretch, is open to the public most days of the year (closed Thanksgiving and Christmas), with shorter winter hours and longer hours in racing season. Museum admission is timed-entry and tiered by age, with reduced pricing for seniors, military, and young kids — always check current pricing before you go, since it changes over time.
Two guided ways to see the track itself: the narrated Kiss the Bricks tour, a roughly 30-minute bus ride that includes a lap of the oval, and the longer Golf Cart Tour, which runs about 90 minutes through normally restricted infield areas. Both require museum admission and are bookable in advance.
Parking at the museum is free on non-event days. On race days and other ticketed events, only vehicles with a valid IMS parking pass can park on the grounds, so museum-only visitors during an event weekend should expect to park off-site and walk in, or buy a parking pass ahead of time.
For Indy 500, Brickyard 400, or IndyCar road-course race tickets, sales run through the track’s own box office as well as authorized resellers. Race tickets are sold by grandstand section and tier (start/finish straightaway sections carry the highest prices, backstretch and short-chute seats the lowest), plus separate infield general-admission and suite options. For current dates, seating charts, and prices, the official Indianapolis Motor Speedway ticket office is the most reliable source, and it can also be reached by phone for in-person or telephone orders.
Track Layout: The Oval and the Road Course
The signature 2.5-mile oval has four distinct turns of nine degrees, twelve minutes of banking — gentle compared to NASCAR’s high-banked ovals, which is part of why Indy cars can run so close together at speed. Four grandstand-lined straights and turns ring the track, and the Yard of Bricks marks the start/finish line.
IMS also contains an infield road course, currently a 2.439-mile, 14-turn configuration dating to a 2014 reconfiguration. It uses part of the oval’s front straight and Turn 1/Turn 2 before winding through the infield, and it’s the layout used for IndyCar’s annual road-course race and for MotoGP when the series raced at Indianapolis. The infield itself also holds the Pagoda control tower, the IMS Museum, and the Brickyard Crossing golf course, which uses the infield and outside of the oval as part of its layout.
A Century of Racing History
IMS was originally paved with 3.2 million bricks in 1909 after the gravel-and-tar surface proved deadly in early races, giving the track its enduring “Brickyard” nickname. Most of the bricks were later paved over with asphalt, but a one-yard strip remains exposed at the start-finish line, where winning drivers still kneel to kiss the bricks.
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and named a National Historic Landmark in 1987, the Speedway changed hands in late 2019 when Roger Penske purchased IMS and the IndyCar Series from the Hulman-George family, with the deal closing in January 2020 and Penske becoming only the track’s fourth owner in its history. It’s now operated by Penske Entertainment Group, which also runs the NTT IndyCar Series.
What Races Are Held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway
The Indianapolis 500, held every Memorial Day weekend, is the anchor event and has run annually since 1911 outside of two world-war interruptions. NASCAR’s Cup Series has raced the Brickyard 400 (now branded around its title sponsor) on the oval since 1994, and IndyCar also runs a separate road-course race, the GMR Grand Prix, on the infield layout each May before the 500.
IMS previously hosted Formula One’s United States Grand Prix from 2000 to 2007 and MotoGP’s Indianapolis Grand Prix from 2008 to 2015, both on infield road-course configurations, before those series moved on to other American venues.
Race Day Traditions
Race day at IMS runs on ritual as much as horsepower: the singing of “Back Home Again in Indiana,” the pre-race release of balloons, and the ceremonial drinking of milk in Victory Lane by the Indy 500 winner. Fans can walk the grounds before the race, view the Yard of Bricks at the start-finish line, and take in the scale of the four-turn oval from grandstands that ring the entire track — a level of pre-race access that’s unusual for a venue this large.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway FAQs
How many people can Indianapolis Motor Speedway hold?
The Speedway has a permanent seating capacity of about 235,000, reduced from a former peak of 257,325 seats after a 2010s grandstand modernization. With infield and general-admission spectators included, Indy 500 race-day crowds commonly exceed 300,000, making it the highest-capacity sports venue in the world.
Why is Indianapolis Motor Speedway called ‘The Brickyard’?
The track was originally paved with 3.2 million bricks in 1909 after early races on the gravel surface proved dangerous. Most bricks were later covered with asphalt, but a yard-long strip remains exposed at the start-finish line, where race winners still kneel to kiss the bricks.
What races are held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
IMS hosts the Indianapolis 500 every May, NASCAR’s Cup Series Brickyard 400 on the oval, and IndyCar’s GMR Grand Prix on the infield road course. It previously held Formula One’s United States Grand Prix (2000-2007) and MotoGP’s Indianapolis Grand Prix (2008-2015).
Can you visit Indianapolis Motor Speedway when there’s no race?
Yes. The IMS Museum and guided track tours, including the Kiss the Bricks bus tour and the longer Golf Cart infield tour, are open on most non-event days year-round. Parking at the museum is free outside of event days.
How much does it cost to visit the IMS Museum or tour the track?
Museum admission is timed-entry and priced by age tier, with track tours sold as an add-on. Pricing changes periodically, so check the current rates on the official IMS Museum and ticket office sites before you go.
How long is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course?
The current infield road course, in use since 2014, is 2.439 miles with 14 turns. It shares part of the oval’s front straight and first two turns before running through the infield, and it’s used for IndyCar’s annual road-course race.
Where is Indianapolis Motor Speedway and where do I park?
The track is at 4790 W. 16th Street in Speedway, Indiana, just west of downtown Indianapolis. Museum-day parking is free; on race and event days, only vehicles with a valid IMS parking pass can park inside the grounds, so other visitors should plan to park outside and walk in.
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