The 2.5 mi. Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909 as an automotive testing and competition facility when the car industry was thriving in Indiana. Its first races caused the track's crushed stone and tar surface to break up badly. The surface was immediately repaved with 3.2 million bricks. It has been known as the "Brickyard" ever since (most of those bricks remain under the modern asphalt surface). 3 race dates in 1910 gave way to just one spectacular race in 1911, when the Indianapolis 500 was born. The Indianapolis 500 marks its 78th running on May 29, 1994. It has always been scheduled for the Memorial Holiday except during the 2 World Wars. In 1994, a new tradition begins with the Inaugural Brickyard 400 for NASCAR Winston Cup stock cars on Saturday, August 6.

Carl Graham Fisher (a cyclist and daredevil who helped to create the first car headlights and rear-view mirrors) was the Speedway's founder, together with business partner James A. Allison (also involved together in Presto-lite), and the idea of the circuit was established after Fisher was riding one day with his cycling friends. However, he sold it to WWI flying ace Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker in 1927. Rickenbacker sold it to Tony Hulman of Terre Haute Ind. in late 1945. Early in Hulman's tenure the Indianapolis 500 came to be known as "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing". Hulman's daughter, Mari Hulman George, today is IMS Chairman. Her son, Tony Hulman George, is IMS President, Under the Hulman George family's leadership, the Speedway's facilities are constantly replaced and modernized to ensure its historic stature as "The Greatest Race Course in the World" and "The Capital of Auto Racing".

In 1999, Tony George agreed with Bernie Ecclestone to hold the new US Grand Prix, and a new Grand Prix track was built within the oval, incorporating turn 1 was a right hander.

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