The First Race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

On August 19, 1909, the very first race ran at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Indiana. It was a brief affair, a two-lap, five-mile contest that kicked off three days of automobile and motorcycle competition before a crowd of more than 12,000 spectators.

The oval had been built by local businessmen as a proving ground for Indiana’s booming car industry, with two-and-a-half miles of track surfaced in crushed stone and tar. That surface proved treacherous. Sharp enough to shred tires, it broke apart under the speeds, and the inaugural meet was scarred by fatal crashes involving drivers, mechanics, and spectators.

The bloody debut forced a radical fix: 3.2 million paving bricks, and a nickname that stuck.

The founders resurfaced the entire track, earning it the enduring name “The Brickyard.” Two years later, in 1911, the Speedway staged the first Indianapolis 500, the grueling endurance race that turned a rough cinder oval into a global icon of motorsport.