Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The **Indianapolis Motor Speedway** is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana (an enclave suburb of Indianapolis) in the United States. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500, the CRC Network 250, the 8 Hours of Indianapolis, and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix. It is the largest sports venue in the world. It is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately six miles (10 km) west of Downtown Indianapolis.

Constructed in early 1909, it is the second purpose-built, banked oval racing circuit after Brooklands and the first to be called a 'speedway'. It is the third-oldest permanent automobile race track in the world, behind Brooklands and the Milwaukee Mile. With a permanent seating capacity of 257,325, it is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world.

Considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a 2.5-mile-long (4.0 km) rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its construction. It has two 5⁄8-mile-long (1,000 m) straightaways, four geometrically identical 1⁄4-mile (400 m) turns, connected by two 1⁄8-mile (200 m) short straightaways, termed "short chutes", between turns 1 and 2, and between turns 3 and 4.

A modern, FIA Grade One infield road course was completed in 2000, incorporating part of the oval, including the main stretch and the southeast turn, measuring 2.605 miles (4.192 km). In 2008, and again in 2014, the road course layout was modified to accommodate motorcycle racing, as well as to improve competition. Altogether, the current grounds have expanded from an original 320 acres (1.3 km2) on which the speedway was first built to cover an area of over 559 acres (2.3 km2). Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, it is the only such site to be affiliated with automotive racing history.

In addition to the Indianapolis 500, which is held on the second Sunday in May every year for the Champ Car World Series, it also currently hosts the CRC Network 250 for the GTPlanet Fandom Series, Gainbridge 300 for the IndyCar Series, the 8 Hours of Indianapolis for the North American Sports Car Championship, as well as the return of the United States Grand Prix for Formula One. F1 previously raced at the track's infield road course from 2000 to 2011 before moving to the Circuit of the Americas. It previously hosted the United States motorcycle Grand Prix from 2008 to 2016.

On the grounds of the speedway is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum, which opened in 1956, and houses the Hall of Fame. The museum moved into its current building located in the infield in 1976. Also on the grounds is the Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort, which originally opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929. The golf course has 14 holes outside the track, along the backstretch, and four holes in the infield. The site is among the most visited attractions in Indianapolis, with 1 million guests annually. The speedway has served as the venue for the opening ceremonies for the 1987 Pan American Games. The track is nicknamed "The Brickyard", and the garage area is known as Gasoline Alley.

The site was owned by the Germain family from its creation in 1909 until 2010 when it was purchased by Citadel Promotions, who currently own and maintain the track and the facilities around it.