Indianapolis Motor Speedway has significant roles in the future of racing and the automotive industry, while preserving the history and tradition of a sporting spectacle that dates to May 30, 1911, when Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500.
For Joe Hale, president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, this is an important moment in time. He is overseeing an extensive renovation project that will replace the old museum with a new version that celebrates the past with interactive displays while still featuring some of the priceless remnants and relics that have made the 2.5-mile race track famous around the world.
The concept of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum dates to Tony Hulman’s purchase of the facility in November 1945.
The original museum opened on April 7, 1956, in a building designed by C. Wilbur Foster and Associates. It also housed the ticket office.
It was very small and featured only a few displays and six cars, but the centerpiece was Ray Harroun’s 1911 Indianapolis 500 car, the famed Marmon Wasp. The museum quickly outgrew its space.
In 1975, speedway officials broke ground on a 96,000-square-foot museum and administration building located in the track’s infield. In addition to the museum, the two-story building housed the speedway’s administrative offices, ticket office, a gift shop and photography department.
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