thumb|275px|right|Visão aérea do Indianapolis Motor Speedway
thumb|275px|right|Outra imagem aérea do IMS

O '''Indianapolis Motor Speedway''' (IMS) está localizado na cidade de Speedway, no estado de Estados Unidos.

O IMS é um dos mais antigos circuitos dos EUA construído em 1909 feito inicialmente de pedras, o formato da pista é um retângulo com os vértices arredondados possuindo 2 retas grandes com 1000 metros de extensão, 2 retas curtas com 200 metros cada e mais 4 curvas cobrindo 400 metros chegando a um total de 4000 metros (4 Km) ou 2,5 milhas.

Devido aos inúmeros acidentes provocados pelas pedras ferindo pilotos e espectadores, o circuito ganhou uma camada de tijolos cobrindo toda a extensão da pista. Por isso, até hoje o IMS é chamado de "brickyard". 

Em 30 de Maio de 1911 foi disputada a primeira 500 milhas de Indianápolis, atraindo um público de mais de 80 mil espectadores. A prova foi vencida por Ray Harroun com uma média de velocidade de 74.602 milhas/hora ou 120.06 km/h.

O circuito ganhou notoriedade mundial durante os 11 anos (1950-1960) em que as 500 milhas fizeram parte do calendário da Fórmula 1.

{{Motorsport venue
|Name           = Indianapolis Motor Speedway 
|Nicknames      = The Brickyard<br>Racing Capital of the World
|Time           = GMT&minus;5
|Location       = 4790 West 16th Street<br>Speedway, Indiana 46222 
|Image          = 300px|center
|Image_caption  = Aerial photo of the Indianpolis Motor Speedway.
|Capacity       = 257,325<ref name="seating"> [http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/irl/indy500/2004-05-27-attendance-count_x.htm Study puts Indy's capacity at 257,325 - USA Today - 5/27/2004]</ref> permanent, plus temporary infield seating to make total capacity of approximately 400,000.
|Owner          = Hulman and Co. 
|Operator       = Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation (subsidiary of Hulman and Co.) 
|Broke_ground   = March 15, 1909 
|Opened         = August 12, 1909 
|Construction_cost = $3 million 
|Architect      = Carl G. Fisher, James A. Allison, F. H. Wheeler and Arthur Newby 
|Former_names   = 
|Events         =
'''IRL Indianapolis 500-Mile Race

'''IRL Firestone Indy Lights'''<br>Firestone Freedom 100

'''NASCAR Sprint Cup Series'''<br>Allstate 400 at The Brickyard

'''FIM Indianapolis Grand Prix 
|Layout1        = Rectangular Oval Track 
|Surface        = Asphalt over Brick 
|Miles_first    = True 
|Length_km      = 4.023 
|Length_mi      = 2.5 
|Turns          = 4 
|Banking        = Turns: 9° 12´<br> Straights: 0° 
|Record_time    = 0:00:37.616 
|Record_driver  =  Arie Luyendyk 
|Record_team    = Treadway Racing 
|Record_year    = 1996 
|Record_class   = IRL IndyCar Series
|Layout2        = Grand Prix Road Course
|Surface2       = Asphalt
|Length_km2     = 4.192 
|Length_mi2     = 2.605 
|Turns2         = 13 
|Record_time2   = 0:01:10.399 
|Record_driver2 =  Rubens Barrichello 
|Record_team2   = Ferrari 
|Record_year2   = 2004 
|Record_class2  = Formula One 
|Layout3        = Motorcycle Grand Prix
|Surface3       = Asphalt
|Length_km3     = 4.185
|Length_mi3     = 2.601
|Turns3         = 16
|Banking3       = 
|Record_time3   = 
|Record_driver3 = 
|Record_team3   = 
|Record_year3   = 
|Record_class3  = 
}}

The '''Indianapolis Motor Speedway''', located in Indianapolis) in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500 race.

It has existed since 1909, and is the original "Speedway," the first racing facility historically to incorporate the word. With a permanent seating capacity for more than 257,000 people<ref name="seating"/> and infield seating that raises capacity to an approximate 400,000, it is the largest and highest-capacity sporting facility in history<ref>[http://www.worldstadiums.com/stadium_menu/stadium_list/100000.shtml List of stadiums with 100,000 plus capacity]</ref> (by comparison, the world's largest stadium seats 150,000 spectators).

Considered relatively flat by American standards but high-banked by Europeans, the Motor Speedway is a two and a half mile, nearly rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its inception: four 1/4 mile turns, two 5/8 mile long straightaways between the fourth and first and second and third turns, and two 1/8 mile short straightaways, termed "short chutes," between the first and second, and third and fourth turns.

A modern infield road course, constructed between 1998 and 2000, includes the southern parts of the oval to create a  track. Altogether, the current grounds have expanded from an original  on which the Speedway was first built to cover over an area of over 559. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, it currently remains the only such landmark to be affiliated with automotive racing history since its inception. 

Besides the United States Grand Prix for Formula One from 2000-07, the inaugural race drew an estimated 225,000 which set an Formula One attendance record. It was also the venue of the opening ceremonies for the 1987 Pan American Games.

Between 2006, Brickyard 400. No driver to date has won any combination between the three events, with only one driver (Juan Pablo Montoya) having competed in all three.

On the grounds of the Speedway is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum, which opened in 1956, and the '''Brickyard Crossing Golf Resort''', which originally opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929.

== History ==

===Early history===
thumb|left|[[Carl G. Fisher|Carl Graham Fisher (1874-1938) of Indiana, an American automotive parts and highway entrepreneur, co-founder and first President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. ''Photo credit: U.S. Library of Congress, May 1909.'']]

When the first race took place in August, 1909, the celebration quickly turned into a disaster due to the surface of crushed stone and tar. There were terrible injuries to the race car drivers and spectators. Cars caught fire, there were deaths, and the race was halted and canceled when only halfway completed (five miles). Louis Schwitzer was declared the winner in front of twelve thousand spectators.

Following an initiative by automotive parts and highway pioneer Carl G. Fisher, an Indiana native who was both a former race car driver and one of the principal investors, the safety concerns for race drivers and spectators eventually led to a substantial additional expenditure to pave the track surface with 3.2 million paving bricks, thus giving the track its popular nickname ''The Brickyard''. Today,  of original bricks still remain at the start/finish line.

Attracting an estimated 80,000 spectators to the first 500 mile (804.672 km) race on Memorial Day May 30, 1911, at $1 admission, the Speedway reopened and hosted the first in a long line of five hundred mile (804.672 km) races now known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race. Ray Harroun won at the brisk average speed of 74.602 mph (120.060 km/h). "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" was born.

===1912&ndash;1929: The Golden Age===
250px|thumb|The "Wing and Wheel", the Indianapolis Motor Speedway logo since 1909.

A classic race followed in 1912 when Joe Dawson made up the deficit to win the race. Three of the next four winners were Europeans, with DePalma being the exception as an American national, though originally Italian born. These races gave Indy a worldwide reputation and international drivers began to enter.

The 1916 race was shortened to 120 laps for . This was for multiple reasons including a lack of entries from Europe (there were so few entries that the Speedway itself entered several cars), a lack of oil, and out of respect for the war in Europe.

<div style="float:right; clear:right;">thumb|An early Indianapolis Motor Speedway.thumb|Advertisement for an Indianapolis Motor Speedway "Harvest Classic" race.</div>

The race was interrupted in the years 1917 and 1918 by Harvest Classic", composed of three races held at 20, 50 and  distances. Johnny Aitken, in a Peugeot, in the end triumphed in all three events he ever won at the facility. It was also his first and only victory in this race, and the last races other than the  that would be held on the grounds for seventy-eight years.

When racing resumed, speeds increased and by 1925, when Peter DePaolo won, the best cars were averaging 100 mph (160 km/h) for the race.

===1930s: The "Junkyard"===
With the Great Depression hitting the nation, the purse dropped from a winners share of $50,000 and a total of $98,250 in 1930 to $18,000 and $54,450 respectively. The rules were also "dumbed down" to what was called the "junkyard formula" to allow more entries during the depression. A record of 42 cars started the 1933 500. With one exception between 1934 until 1979, 33 drivers started the 500; 1947 saw 30 cars start due to a strike by certain teams affiliated with the ASPAR drivers, owners and sponsors association.

By the early 1930s, however, the increasing speeds began to make the track increasingly dangerous, and in the period 1931-1935 there were 15 fatalities. This forced another repavement, with tarmac replacing the bricks in parts of the track. The danger of the track during this period, however, didn't stop Louis Meyer or Wilbur Shaw from becoming the first two three-time winners, with Shaw also being the first back-to-back winner in 1939 and 1940.

===1940s: The Deal===
At the beginning of the 1940s, the track required further improvement. In 1941, half of "Gasoline Alley," the garage area, burned down before the race. With US involvement in World War II, the 1942 500-Mile race was cancelled in December of 1941. Late in 1942, a ban on all auto racing led to the canceling of the 500-Mile Race for the rest of the war for a total of four years (1942-1945). The track was more or less abandoned during the war and was in bad shape. 

Many of the locals conceded that the Speedway would be sold after the war and become a housing development. With the end of the war in sight, on News to be $750,000. Major renovations and repairs were made at a quick pace to the frail Speedway before the 1946 race. Since then and up to today, the Speedway continues to grow. Stands have been built and remodelled many times over, suites and museums were added, and many other additions helped bring back Indy's reputation as a great track.

===1950s: Roadsters===
Several successful drivers helped increase the reputation of The Brickyard as well, including three-time winner Mauri Rose and 1953-54 winner Bill Vukovich. 

In the 1950s, cars were topping out at 150 mph (240 km/h), helping to draw more and more fans. Kurtis, Kuzma, and Watson chassis dominated the field. Nearly all were powered by the Offenhauser engines. The crowd favorite Novi, with its unique sound and look, was the most powerful car of the decade that dominated time trials. However, they would never make the full  in first place, often breaking down before the end or having to make too many pit stops because of the massive engine's thirst for fuel and the weight that went with the extra fuel.

The track’s reputation improved so much the 500-Mile Race became part of the Formula One World Championship for 11 years (1950-1960), even though none of the Indy drivers raced in Formula One and only Ferrari's Alberto Ascari of the F1 drivers at the time raced in the 500. Five time World Champion Juan Fangio practiced at the Speedway in 1958, but ultimately decided against it.

The 1950s were also the most dangerous era of American racing. Of the 33 drivers to qualify for the 1953 race, nearly half, 16, were to eventually die in racing accidents.

===End of the roadsters to the modern IndyCar===
thumb|200px|The pylon.

In October 1961, the final remaining brick sections of the track were paved over with asphalt, with the exception of a distinct three-foot-wide line of bricks at the start/finish line. The "Brickyard" thus became known for its "Yard of Bricks".

Ironically, a wave of F1 drivers went to the Speedway in the 1960s, and the rear-engine revolution that was started in F1 by the Cooper team changed the face of the 500 as well; since Jim Clark's win in 1965, every winner has driven a rear-engined car. Bobby and Al Unser leading the charge in the 1960s and 1970s, of whom Foyt and Al Unser would eventually become, respectively, the first two of three drivers, to date, to win four times each.

From 1970 to 1981, Indianapolis had a twin in the city of Ontario, California by the name of the Ontario Motor Speedway, this track was known as the "Indianapolis of the West" and the home of the California 500; but was a financial failure due to bad management and not holding enough races on the racetrack.

The 1980s brought a new generation of speedsters, led by four-time race winner 1989) and won six pole positions. Other stars of the decade included 1989 race came down to a final ten-lap, thrilling duel between Fittipaldi and Al Unser, Jr., culminating in Unser crashing in the third turn of the 199th lap after making contact with Fittpaldi's right front tire.

The early 1990s witnessed fastest 500 to date, with an average speed 185.981 mph (299.307 km/h). Mears becoming the third four-time winner after a late-race duel with 1991, and Al Unser, Jr. finally securing victory by defeating last-place-starting driver 1992, the closest finish in race history to date.

The 500 got a new look in 1996 when it became an CART.

===NASCAR and IROC at Indy===

From 1919 to 1993, the 500 was the only race run at the Brickyard. However, when IROC) event in 1998.