History
The first museum at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was completed April 7, 1956 It was located on the southwest corner of the property, outside turn one of the famous oval, at the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road. Its exhibits included Ray Harroun's 1911 Indy 500 winning car, and a handful of other vehicles. Karl Kizer became the first curator. When it opened, it only had six cars. Within a number of years, dozens of collector cars were being donated and acquired. It did not take long for management to realize that the building was of insufficient size.
In 1975, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway broke ground on a new 96,000-square-foot (8,900 m2) museum and administration building, located in the infield of the track. The two-story white building was made of Wyoming quartz, and along with the museum, housed office space, the ticket office, a gift shop, and photography department. It officially opened to the public on April 5, 1976, coinciding with the year-long United States Bicentennial celebration. The original museum building outside turn one was kept intact, and converted into additional office space.
The museum, representing the entire facility, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987.
In the summer of 1993, the original museum building outside of turn one was demolished. In its place a multi-million dollar administration building was erected. The administrative and ticket offices were moved out of the infield museum building, and relocated to the new admin office. This freed up floor space in the museum for an expanded gift shop and other exhibits.
In 1993, the museum parking lot hosted the first Indy 500 Expo during race festivities, an outdoor interactive spectator exhibit. In 1995, it was expanded and renamed Indy 500 FanFest. It was discontinued after 1997, but in recent years, smaller displays sponsored by Chevrolet have featured former pace cars and other exhibits.
Read more about this topic: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall Of Fame Museum
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