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Indianapolis Motor Speedway

By Steve McCormick, About.com

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

NASCAR
Location:
4790 W. 16th St.

Indianapolis, IN 46222

Ticket Information:
Speedway ticket office 317-492-6700 or 800-822-INDY

Buy online from TicketsNow (direct link)

Track Layout:
2.5 Miles long rectangle

9 degrees of banking in all four turns

Important Track Dates:
Track Built: 1909

First NASCAR Race: 1994

Owner:
Tony George
First NASCAR Winner:
Jeff Gordon - 1994
Historic Track, Questionable Racing:
There is no doubt that Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the most famous motorsports icon in North America. Unfortunately it wasn't built for stock cars. As a result the fast, flat track isn't a great place for stock car racing.

Attending a race in person in Indianapolis leaves you in awe of the size of the facility. The huge numbers of fans lining the frontstretch create a tunnel of humanity that is unmatched anywhere else in NASCAR. Certainly Indianapolis Motor Speedway inspires respect for the facility.

The racing, however, is lame. The one-groove, flat, fast track doesn't allow for side-by-side racing. So the Brickyard 400 is all about track position and fuel mileage and not about the on track battle. There's a place for Indy, but I'm thankful that there aren't more races like it.

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