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Visiting Indy during the Month of May? Take a self-guided tour of Hoosier racing history

Editor's note: This story was originally published in 2023. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum closed for renovations in November 2023 and will not reopen until April 2025. Track tours are still available .

Hundreds of thousands of tourists and race fans flock to the Circle City every year during the Month of May and Indianapolis 500 weekend.

For racing die-hards with time to kill — or Hoosiers looking to be tourists in their own city — here's a self-guided tour of some Indy 500 history.

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The obvious: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum

The IMS Museum , housed on Speedway grounds, is home to over 55,000 racing artifacts and more than 300 vehicles, including the 1922 Duesenberg, 1938 Maserati, 1948 Watson and 1911 Marmon Wasp , which won the first Indy 500. Book a guided tour of the museum's collection for $10 to get an expert-led look at racing history.

Visitors can also register for various grounds tours that take you to iconic locations such as victory podium and the beloved yard of bricks, the Pagoda, Gasoline Alley and the Snake Pit. These tours range from $25 to $70 for adults, with discounted pricing for children and seniors.

Shhhhh: There's a secret in the Motor Speedway Museum's basement. They're letting people in on it.

In 2021, the museum decided to open its basement vault to the public, allowing you an exclusive look at some of its most valuable vehicles, including race-winning cars, pace cars and vintage motorcycles. It’s such an exclusive experience, in fact, that cameras aren’t allowed on the tour. These 30-minute guided tours are open to groups of up to six and start at $150 per person.

To learn more about the museum and to book a tour, visit imsmuseum.org .

The less-than-obvious: Indy 500 history hiding in plain sight

Stop for a pretzel and a pint (or two) at Guggman Haus Brewing Co. , located on the former stomping grounds of the Boyle Racing Team.

The operation, located at 1701 Gent Ave., was led by “Umbrella” Mike Boyle, a shadowy labor leader from Chicago who twice went to prison (jury fixing and violating an anti-trust law, if you're curious) but nonetheless ran one of the more successful teams in the race's history. Three-time Indy 500 winner Wilbur Shaw drove for Boyle.

While the original building is no longer, its footprint has been rebuilt and is now home to the aforementioned brewery and taproom featuring racing-themed brews like the Wilbur’s Prize Pilsner and the Winner’s Milk Jug Stout.

Pay your respects at Crown Hill Cemetery

Crown Hill Cemetery is home to several Hoosier notables, including the poet James Whitcomb Riley, President Benjamin Harrison and notorious bank robber John Dillinger. But it’s also the final resting place of dozens of drivers, mechanics and other figures associated with the Indianapolis 500.

Here are just a few of the racing legends buried at Crown Hill:

• John Donald Aitken : Winner of 15 races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but only one Indy 500 (as a team manager). Competed in races and feature events at the Speedway from 1909-16. (d. 1918; Lot 386, Section 37)
• Erwin “Cannon Ball” Baker : Winner of the first race held at the Speedway — a four-lap motorcycle sprint held in 1909. Later drove in the 1922 Indy 500 and would go on to hold multiple unrelated driving and motorcycle records. (d. 1960; Lot 150, Section 60)

Cannon Ball: Indy man won first ever Speedway race, but what came later was crazy

• Floyd Davis : Co-winner of the 1941 race alongside Mauri Rose, drove in four races. (d. 1977; Lot 320, Section 53)
• Carl Fisher : Speedway co-founder who also developed Miami Beach, Florida. (d. 1939; Lot 42, Section 13)
• Harry "Cotton" Henning: Chief mechanic for Boyle Racing who worked with Wilbur Shaw. (d. 1948, Lot 91, Section 78)
• Chet Miller : Drove in 16 Indy 500 races and achieved five Top 10 finishes. Died while practicing for the 1953 race.(d. 1953, community mausoleum south, B-19-A)
• Arthur Newby : Speedway co-founder and founder of Indianapolis Chain and National Motor Vehicle Company. (d. 1933; Lot 39, Section 23)
• Herb Porter : Also known as “Herbie Horsepower,” Porter was a mechanic for Indianapolis 500 winners Bobby Unser, Johnny Rutherford and AJ Foyt. (d. 1999; Lot 754, Section 28)
• Howard “Howdy” Wilcox : Winner of the 1919 race and holder of five Top 10 finishes, Wilcox was the first driver to break 100 mph. He died racing in Pennsylvania. (d. 1923; Lot 240, Section 56)
• Howard “Howdy” Wilcox Jr. : Son of the driver, Howdy is known for founding Indiana University-Bloomington’s Little 500 bicycle race. (d. 2002, community mausoleum north, F-16-2A)

If you’re looking for more or if a map of the highlights would be helpful, the Crown Hill Heritage Foundation has put together a detailed list at bit.ly/3m3PKei . You can also visit crownhillhf.org/tours and find the Racing Legends tour, a downloadable app that lets you build your own tour of all 61 racing legends at Crown Hill, read short bios and, in some cases, listen to recordings by local historians and personalities.

Crown Hill: For decades, their work has brought Crown Hill Cemetery's 'people museum' to life

See some of the hottest cars of the 1920s

Still going? Head downtown to the Indiana State Museum to see Vintage Vision: Cars of the 1920s, an exhibition showcasing 10 of the most-coveted vehicles of the decade, including the 1926 Duesenberg Model A Roadster, all on loan from the IMS Museum.

While you're there, take a stroll through other galleries showcasing the Hoosier State, including explorations of our natural history, Indiana's development as a territory and state and its contributions to American pop culture. Typically closed on Mondays, the museum will be open Memorial Day — perfect for visitors who are sticking around for the holiday weekend.

Admission to the museum, including all galleries and exhibitions, is $16 for adults, $15 for seniors and $11 for children. Learn more about the museum and buy tickets at indianamuseum.org .

Some final thoughts

Go in any order you like, but consider this local's advice: Sunrise and sunset are some of the best times to take in the breathtaking scenery at Crown Hill Cemetery, which is filled with greenspace and offers sweeping views of the city. You could spend all day there, truly. Also, starting at the cemetery allows you to move south and avoid some midday backtracking (the same could be said for the state museum, but in the opposite direction).

You could also add stops. If you're starting early on the west side, you can grab breakfast at Charlie Brown's Pancake & Steak House , for instance. The diner, 1038 Main St., is full of Indy 500 memorabilia. And we would be remiss not to mention Long's Bakery at 1453 N. Tremont St., a cash-only spot with donuts so beloved, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing owner David Letterman once tossed them, barehanded, into a (pre-pandemic) theater audience as a sort-of party favor.

IndyStar is the ultimate source for comprehensive coverage of all the Month of May activities, from pre-race festivities to race day news and updates. Subscribe to get unlimited digital access of all our Indy 500 coverage: indystar.com/subscribe .

Contact IndyStar newsroom development director Holly Hays at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter: @hollyvhays .

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Visiting Indy during the Month of May? Take a self-guided tour of Hoosier racing history

June 14 – 16, 2024

Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, IN

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FREE entry for kids  12 and under. Get  spectator tickets & parking passes, weekend & pre-sale discounts available.

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Enter your car in the Hagerty | Cars & Caffeine . Open to all classic, vintage, exotic and collector vehicles.

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If you would like to feature your business at a SpeedTour event, review our vendor options to promote your company.

Experience 850 hp Trans Am cars, classic Corvettes, Alfas, Porsches, Historic F.1 and Indy cars racing on this legendary track. Indianapolis SpeedTour provides the opportunity to get up close to celebrated drivers, legendary race cars and much more.  The SpeedTour is an event for the whole family so join us for the full weekend; one day won’t be enough!  Indianapolis SpeedTour will feature racers and cars from Trans Am, Sportscar Vintage Racing (SVRA), and more.

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Open to all classic, vintage, exotic and collector cars of interest, you are invited to display your car at some of the greatest historic race tracks in the country and take part in the popular “Last Lap” tour around the track in your show car.

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Trans Am Series

America's Road Racing Series - The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli offers a feast for the eyes and ears with races featuring 70+ grids populated by Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers and Corvettes in four classes, TA, TA2, SGT and GT.

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2024 Indy SpeedTour

Racing makes everything else look like a vague wish for something more or remotely adventurous. — Peter Egan

World-class vintage racing returns to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with Indy SpeedTour. Vintage race cars will take center stage on the road course during the weekend, offering drivers the widest variety of motor racing adventures anywhere. All SVRA classes are invited. Some of the world’s finest vintage racing machines will take to the track, some of which date back before World War I. An incredible collection of race cars will be showcased, including Bugatti, Lotus, Corvette, Ferrari, Jaguar, Aston Martin and Alfa Romeo. Enjoy a Saturday night driver and crew party in front of the pagoda. SVRA will also host the Hagerty Cars & Caffeine car show on the IMS grounds with hundreds of street and performance cars. Numerous special events are also being planned and will soon be announced.

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Eligibility Contact:  Rob Elson –  [email protected] Licensing Contact:  Alex Miller –  [email protected] Car Show:  Kim McCullough –  [email protected] Vendor Sales:  Melissa Clay –  [email protected] Event Information Contact:  Kathy Swinford –  [email protected] PR Contact:  Ashleigh Aungst –  [email protected] Photo/Media Credentials :  [Request Credentials] Pam Shatraw –  [email protected]

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You may not realize just how big Indianapolis Motor Speedway is

The Indianapolis 500 is run every year at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 560-acre facility on the west side of the city. The race is scheduled for the day before Memorial Day each year, weather permitting.

Who owns Indianapolis Motor Speedway?

Roger Penske bought the facility , as well as the IndyCar Series , in 2019.

Tony Hulman , a Terre Haute businessman, bought the facility in 1945 and his family ran it until Penske's purchase.

Eddie Rickenbacker , a World War I fighter pilot who had raced in early Indy 500s, led an ownership group starting in 1927.

The Speedway's founders were Carl Fisher , James Allison, Arthur Newby and Frank Wheeler, who opened the facility in 1909.

How big is Indianapolis Motor Speedway? 

IMS covers 560 acres, bordered by 16th Street on the south, 30th Street on the north, Georgetown Road on the west and and the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course on the east. 

That can be hard to grasp, so here are some fun ways to get at it. IndyStar went all sci-fi on the comparisons: 

Facility officials like to tell fans all the landmarks that could fit inside IMS — at the same time : Yankee Stadium, Churchill Downs, Vatican City, the White House, the Taj Mahal the Rose Bowl and the Roman Colosseum. 

Here's how IMS compares to some other sports facilities and noted outdoor attractions:

∎ Augusta National Golf Club is 365 acres. (Four holes of the Brickyard Crossing golf course are in the Speedway infield.)

∎ Daytona International Speedway, also a 2.5-mile oval, covers approximately 500 acres.

∎ New York's Central Park is 843 acres.

∎ The National Mall in Washington, D.C., is 309 acres.

∎ Niagara Falls State Park in New York state is over 400 acres (140 acres of that is under water).

∎ The Kings Island amusement park near Cincinnati is 364 acres.

Also, depending on a lot of environmental factors, you could grow 12.32 million ears of corn on 560 acres.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway seating 

There are approximately 250,000 permanent seats at IMS. Once general admission tickets are added, roughly 350,000 fit. When the place is at capacity, the population dwarves those of Fort Wayne and South Bend.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway track map 

Here's what you can expect as you get in and around IMS.

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Eddie Gossage, the longtime head of Texas Motor Speedway, dies at 65

FILE - Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage gives a tour of the large television screen being constructed at the track, Feb. 14, 2014, in Fort Worth, Texas. Gossage, an old-school promoter mentored by stock car racing pioneers, has died at the age of 65, Speedway Motorsports announced Thursday night, May 16, 2024. (Ron T. Ennis/Star-Telegram via AP, File)

Eddie Gossage, president and general manager of Texas Motor Speedway, speaks to reporters June 9, 2016, in Dallas. Gossage, an old-school promoter mentored by stock car racing pioneers, has died at the age of 65, Speedway Motorsports announced Thursday night, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)

FILE - Joey Logano celebrates winning the NASCAR Cup Series auto race at Texas Motor Speedway with TMS President Eddie Gossage, left, April 7, 2014, in Fort Worth, Texas. Gossage, an old-school promoter mentored by stock car racing pioneers, has died at the age of 65, Speedway Motorsports announced Thursday night, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Mike Stone, File)

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CONCORD, N.C. (AP) — Eddie Gossage, the longtime head of Texas Motor Speedway and an old-school promoter mentored by stock car racing’s pioneers, has died, Speedway Motorsports announced Thursday night. He was 65.

Gossage stepped down three years ago after 25 years as president of the track in Fort Worth, Texas. In all, Gossage spent 32 years working for Speedway Motorsports, learning the art of selling tickets, packing grandstands and turning races into must-see spectacles from company founder Bruton Smith and longtime executive Humpy Wheeler.

“There was nothing too crazy for Eddie,” IndyCar team owner Bobby Rahal said Friday. “There was nothing too extreme for Eddie in terms of promotions at the races. He was a promoter. You don’t see that often anymore. Most people, yeah, they rent the track out and that’s it, and then complain about not enough spectators coming or something. He was a promoter.”

Gossage had worked for Miller Brewing Co. in motorsports management before joining Speedway Motorsports in 1989. He was still a young public relations director three years later when, during a news conference to promote NASCAR’s first nighttime All-Star race — appropriately billed “One Hot Night” — one of his stunts literally set Smith’s hair on fire.

Smith was tasked with throwing a giant light switch rigged by Gossage to highlight the speedway’s new lighting system. But it shorted out and sparks flew, and Gossage once recalled, “I thought I was headed for the unemployment line for sure.”

“But for some reason, Bruton kept me around,” Gossage said several years ago, “and it wasn’t long after that he gave me an opportunity I could have only dreamed of.”

Smith had begun buying land in North Texas, and he sent Gossage from Charlotte to Fort Worth in 1995 to oversee the project as general manager. Texas Motor Speedway opened two years later for its first NASCAR race, and soon it became one of the premier entertainment facilities in the country, along with a centerpiece of the Speedway Motorsports portfolio.

The 1,500-acre complex includes the 1.5-mile superspeedway, 194 luxury suites, 76 condominiums, a nine-story Speedway Club, office space and the 11,000-seat Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track.

When he announced his retirement in 2021, Gossage said his approach sometimes borrowed from boxing promoters Bob Arum and Don King — and that his ideas were sometimes outrageous. But his intentions were always for the best interest of the fans, the racing and the speedway, and that is why so many remembered him so fondly on Friday.

“Eddie Gossage was a consummate promoter whose outside-the-box ideas helped engage fans across the country,” NASCAR said in a statement Friday. “He was truly passionate about motorsports and always looking for the next great idea to bring new fans to the sport and keep them entertained at the racetrack.”

Gossage also was loyal supporter of IndyCar, which until this season had been on the Texas schedule every year since the track opened in 1997. It hosted the season-opener during the pandemic in 2020 and later a doubleheader as IndyCar struggled to find ovals that would accommodate the high speeds of its cars along with its schedule.

“Eddie Gossage was a giant in the motorsports industry,” IndyCar President Jay Frye said. “His endless creativity, flair and dedication to the fan experience at Texas Motor Speedway raised the bar for race tracks across America.”

Rahal got to know Gossage decades ago, when he was still driving in IndyCar.

“He was out there making things happen,” Rahal said at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where qualifying was scheduled to begin Saturday for the 108th running of the Indy 500. “Of course he had a great mentor with Humpy, but yeah, he was an old friend. But oh, my God, like I said, there was nothing — nothing was out of the question. He’d consider anything, whether it’s the 101st Airborne rappelling down out of helicopters before the race. He did stuff nobody had ever done before.”

Gossage once joked he was “far too young and pretty to retire,” and that he would find something else to do. Smith called him “one of the best promoters ever” and said one of Gossage’s mantras will forever ring true within his company.

“Eddie has always said, ‘If we don’t make a big deal out of it, no one else will, either,’” Smith said. “And he’s right.”

Funeral arrangements were pending. Survivors include Gossage’s wife, Melinda, a daughter, son and three grandchildren.

“Each day I come to work, I see the impact he had throughout our property,” Texas Motor Speedway general manager Mark Faber said. “Eddie laid a foundation for success to build upon for generations to come and made Texas Motor Speedway a showplace of which Texans will always be proud.”

AP Auto Racing Writer Jenna Fryer and AP Sports Writer Dave Skretta contributed to this report.

AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge

May 14 - 26.

Indianapolis 500 Practice

Monday, may 20.

The field of 33 cars is now set, but it's time to start preparing for the race. The roar of engines returns to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as athletes of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES prepare for the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Enjoy the sights and sounds of May at the Brickyard while seeing your favorite drivers dial their cars in as they get ready for 500 miles to glory.

All times eastern time

*subject to change Bronze Badge customers do NOT receive Pit Lane access on Monday, May 20. Those customers can access Pit Lane on Opening Day, Tuesday, May 14, during regular gate hours.

*subject to change