The Official Blog of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Writer Ralph Kramer grew up on an Indiana farm and saw his first Indianapolis 500 in 1950. In the blog below, Ralph share what the experience of digging through Indy 500 history to create a book was like. Kramer’s books include The Indianapolis Motor Speedway: A 100 Years of Racing and The Indianapolis 500: A Century of Excitement.

The pictures tell the story, upwards of 3 million of them carefully tucked in a vault-like second-floor suite in the Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Hall of Fame Museum: They are the DNA of 100 years of the Indianapolis 500, and more.

What I learned in months and months of studying the ancient prints, negatives and digital images for two books commemorating the Speedway’s centenary was that there is always more to a story. The archived images proved to be little windows, allowing light on the Speedway’s past. But the light did not always provide a clear picture.

A century ago, what really drove Carl Fisher? And what about his wife Jane? Was she really just 15 when he married her? Or 25, as some say.

We know Barney Oldfield didn’t compete in the first Indianapolis 500 because he had his AAA racing license suspended, but what really kept Louis Chevrolet out of field?

Why were Indy’s official starters through the years such flamboyant dressers?  Why was maestro Harry Miller, whose machinery dominated Indy for much of the 1920s, always wearing a hat? And what’s with Mauri Rose’s ever-present pipe?

Louie Meyer’s mom made sure he had buttermilk to drink after he won the 1936 race. A top gun at the American Milk Foundation who knew opportunity when it was knocking saw the picture, and an Indy tradition was born.  But what about Louie’s mom? Was she at the race?  Not even my friend and Speedway historian Donald Davidson, whose recall of all things Indy is phenomenal, can say yes or no.

There are gaps in the Speedway’s pictorial history. For many years the job was hired out to different photographers whose work is not in the track’s possession. But still, to open a 100-year-old album and place a magnifying glass on the really old stuff in the museum vault is to experience a run of goose-bump moments.

In short, it’s like I was a kid again, listening from a tractor seat to radio’s Sid Collins calling Bill Vukovich’s 1954 win or the late great Speedway chief announcer Tom Carnegie painting brilliant word pictures of the epic lap-after-lap 1960 Rathmann-Ward battle for the checkered flag.

Fans can enter for a chance to win a copy of the Slip Case Edition of Kramer’s book, The Indianapolis Motor Speedway: A Century of Excitement as well as tickets to the Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400, and other great Indianapolis Motor Speedway items. Find out more and enter to win by visiting the Old Cars Weekly 100th Anniversary Sweepstakes by May 5, 2011.

The Indianapolis 500: A Century of Excitement

Mario Andretti at the Indianapolis 500 Centennial Gala

Mario Andretti at the Indianapolis 500 Centennial Gala

At IMS, we love listening to our fans and interacting with them through Twitter and Facebook. Some posts are simple and get us excited for upcoming events — “Is It May Yet?” and some posts really get us thinking. So when a fan asked how our Indy 500 logo was made, we went straight to the source, the IMS Creative Department to get an answer.

Each year our Creative Services team looks forward to working on one of our official event logos. We each have plenty of projects we work on throughout the year, but producing an event logo is one of the few things we feel a great deal of personal ownership toward.

Our event logos are printed on about everything that is produced by IMS. Everything from merchandise to wine bottles to fancy watches. There is much joy when seeing something you created on the back of a fan’s t-shirt and knowing the process you went through to design it. For me, designing the Official 2011 Indianapolis 500 event logo was a challenge to say the least.

We always begin designing the event logos a year in advance, but 2011 being a super special year, this process got started a bit earlier than normal. I started physically working on this logo in August of 2009 and was thinking about it well before that. My first thoughts were to come up with something that would distinguish the past from the future. I was looking at the 2011 logo as something that could provide a cornerstone in our timeline of logos. I wanted to design a logo that would not be what someone would expect a 100th anniversary logo from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to look. A logo that would stand out from the rest as a transition into the new.

The first few versions of the logo did not look anything like what was finally approved as the Official Event Logo. To be honest, my original vision for the direction of the logo is entirely different from the final product that you see today.

Input and feedback from the entire team is an important part of the design process, and a meeting was called to share my initial work and concepts towards the logo. However, the Creative team came to the conclusion that our fans would prefer to see us go in the direction of something even more unique and unexpected for the 100th Anniversary logo.

Working with that direction, I was still working on a few different versions. You might be surprised to find out that a second, and even third version of the logo did not get final approval from the team. As the lead designer for the project, this can be frustrating, but for a logo as important as the 2011 Indy 500 logo, having the best possible design was my goal at the end of the day and I just had to keep working with feedback I received from the entire team. It was a rollercoaster ride of a process at times!

At one point I even tried starting over from the beginning, despite being a full seven months along since I was first assigned the project. This time, I decided to run with a totally new direction.

With this new direction I started researching and pulling visuals of past material that IMS had produced. Going back to old program covers, credentials, tickets (check out a gallery of historical tickets here) and anything else I could find from which to pull inspiration. Right off the bat we were off to a good start in this new direction. I was cookin’ and making it happen as coming up with something that was more traditional and expected is way easier than coming up with something new and different. After my initial sketch on paper, to taking this to the computer, everything was going well.

2011 Indy 500 Logo Evolution

Of course, I had small adjustments to make over time. I find the best thing to do is work hard on something and then don’t even look at it for a day, come back to it, and see what jumps out at me as being out of place. That is one reason why some of this design stuff seems to take so much time to get right. There was also advice and suggestions from non-designers. Suggestions are always much appreciated, and part of my job is to filter through the comments and suggestions and apply this non-artistic guidance towards making a stronger mark in the end. Everyone is going to have a different opinion especially when it comes to projects as important as the Indy 500 logo, but part of the design process is to take this input and guidance and turn it into the best-possible final product.

With what ended up being the true final direction, I think the mark we came up with represents the history of the Indianapolis 500 well. I can honestly say that the logo would not have turned out as it did without the help of everyone involved. The feedback so far that I have heard, has been positive and that I really all that matters to me. Hope you like it too!!!

The logo for the 2011 Indianapolis 500 – the 100th anniversary of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” – was unveiled simultaneously Friday, Aug. 13 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, when “Speedway City” was first platted, Main Street was both the physical and economic center of the town.  The first retail building on Main Street is believed to be the Rosner Building at the southwest corner of 16th Street which was built in 1915.  The Rosner family operated retail businesses at that site continuously through 1983, when the Rosner Drug Store closed.  Although the building is currently vacant, as the pictures below show, the exterior of the building hasn’t changed much over the past 95 years.

Rosner Building circa 1915

Rosner Building in 2010

Some of the other key retail businesses on Main Street over the years have been the Speedway Lumber Company from 1921 through 1966, the Speedway Theatre which opened in 1937, a number of grocery stores, the Speedway Savings and Loan Association, Beck’s Drug Store, barber shops, beauty shops, dry cleaners, restaurants and gift shops.

As the boundaries of the Town of Speedway moved both to the west and to the north after World War II, Main Street was no longer physically the center of Town, however, Main Street was able to retain its status as the economic center of town for a number of years.  Then, like many small towns across America, when developers began building retail centers outside of the town center, the economic center of town shifted.  This resulted in a steady decline for Main Street businesses.

Even though the impact on Main Street was significant, Main Street never died.  Today, the retail business that call Main Street home include three restaurants, a flower shop, a barber shop, antique and gift shops, doctors offices, law offices, an embroidery store, and accounting and engineering firms.  Here is a photo taken in May 2009 looking south down Main Street with 16th Street running across the bottom of the photo.  The photo was taken from a balloon in the Centennial Era Balloon Race which celebrated the first event at IMS – a balloon race in 1909.

View of the Town of Speedway's Main Street in 2009

Even though Main Street still houses a number of viable businesses, its importance as a retail center for the town is only a shadow of what it once was, however, work is in progress to add new life to Main Street.

In recent years, Main Street has been the scene of several activities related to IMS events.  The 500 Festival Mini-Marathon route includes a stretch on Main Street prior to the runners turning east on 16th Street and entering IMS for a lap around the track.  The last two years, on the evening before practice begins for the Brickyard 400, the NASCAR race team haulers have lined up on Main Street.  Many fan related activities occurred while the haulers were on display on Main Street.

Fans enjoy the NASCAR haulers lined up on Main Street during Brickyard 400 weekend

Fans enjoy the NASCAR haulers lined up on Main Street during Brickyard 400 weekend

In 2005, the Speedway Town Council authorized the formation of the Speedway Redevelopment Corporation.  The SRC has goals of improving the entire Town of Speedway, but its initial development efforts have been focused on Main Street.  Since the primary sewer line under Main Street was in need of repair, the SRC led efforts to replace the sewers and at the same time implement a “Streetscape” project (repave, re-landscape, and re-sidewalk) to make Main Street more appealing to prospective businesses and residents.   Since Main Street is a key access road to IMS, the Streetscape efforts have been completed in phases so Main Street could remain open during the month of May and the Brickyard 400 weekend.  The fourth and final phase of the Streetscape project between 14th and 16th Streets is in process and is scheduled to be completed by April 30, 2011 in advance of the 100th Anniversary of the Indy 500.  Here is a photo from November 2010 showing the work in progress on the last phase of the street reconstruction.

Final Stages of the Speedway Streetscape Project

The Streetscape work that has been completed features wide sidewalks, bike racks, new street lights, large planters, brick crosswalks, and park benches.  This photo shows the new bike racks and some other features of the Main Street Streetscape project along one of the sections of Main Street that have been completed.

Updated amenities on Main Street thanks to the Streetscape Project

The SRC has worked with community groups and outside consultants to design strategies to encourage development along Main Street.  The town leaders are optimistic that the efforts of the SRC, the continued support from existing businesses and the addition of the Dallara facility, will help to return Main Street to being the “center” of the Town of Speedway once again.

Last week’s Emerging Tech announcement at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway brought to light the enormous role that college and university students can play in advancing automotive technology.

On May 7th, as part of the celebration of the 100th running on the Indy 500, the IMS will welcome colleges and universities from across the United States to showcase energy efficiency, solar power and hybrid power. Emerging Tech Day at the track will include a Formula Hybrid competition, an American Solar Challenge series event and an exhibition kart race by Purdue University students.

What fans must really be thinking though is whether or not Emerging Tech Day will be worth an outing to the track. After learning more about the event, I expect a lot of “yes” responses to that question.

Formula Hybrid competitions challenge students to design, build and race high-performance, fuel-efficient, plug-in hybrid vehicles. The competition requires advanced electrical, mechanical and computer engineering applications but more importantly, encourages students to work within a team to drive innovation.

Returning to Indianapolis in May from Western Michigan University will be student competitors in the American Solar Challenge  known as the ‘Sunseeker’ team. Their team, including the six engineering students who traveled to Indianapolis last week to display their car, will spend countless hours tweaking the solar technology empowering their ‘Sunseeker’ car (Check out some neat photos of the car here) before the competition.

Western Michigan University students with their Sunseeker solar car

Students from Purdue University in nearby West Lafayette, Indiana will race electric-powered karts in a Grand Prix-style race. A special course will be built at the Speedway for the evGrandPrix event. The winner will be the team with overall best kart design, race placement and energy efficiency during 100 laps of racing. The event will include qualification runs and sprint races,

As part of his speech announcing Emerging Tech day, Jeff Belskus, IMS president and chief executive officer, stated that “There’s no better place than IMS to display green technology due to the Speedway’s rich heritage of automotive innovation through the Indianapolis 500.”

Emerging Tech day on May 7th will provide race fans with an inside look at the innovative minds of the college and university students who may someday revolutionize racing as we know it. As if that was not enough, there will also be race action on the track through the evGrandPrix event. Personally, I cannot think of a better way to gear up for the 100th running of the Indy 500.

Now it’s your turn. Do you plan to join us at the track on May 7th for Emerging Tech day? What do you think the greatest innovation in motorsports has been? As a student, were you ever part of similar competitions?

A.J. Watson with the #5 Car (1959)

Donald Davidson talks about A.J. Watson

1969 Practice- Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti 1969 Champion

1922 Indianapolis 500

Donald Davidson discusses the 1922 line-up

The Infield 1947

Infield Fans in 1947

Harlan Fengler in 1924

Donald Davidson discusses Harlan Fengler