Speedway to offer spendy lodging in tiny houses for Indy 500 weekend

For folks who want something a little more structurally solid than glamping—meaning high-end tents—but more homey than a hotel, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway plans to offer lodging for this year’s Indy 500 in tiny houses at the track.

The Speedway announced a partnership on Monday morning with Try It Tiny, an online dwelling-and-land-rental service based in central Indiana, that would bring 15 pint-sized houses to the Speedway for lease from Thursday, May 24, to Monday, May 28.

Track officials are calling the collection of shack-sized homes the “Tiny House Hotel.” The concept appears to be piggy-backing on the burgeoning national craze for so-called "tiny houses" that encourage economical living in spare but stylish dwellings.

“This hotel may be tiny, but it will be big in luxury, amenities and fun for fans looking for a race weekend they’ll always remember,” IMS President Doug Boles said in a media release.

Each house will be equipped with a compact kitchen with high-end finishes, a modern bathroom, air conditioning, sleeping quarters and other amenities. Guests will receive four general admission tickets to the race on May 27, on-site parking and access to a private concierge service.

The fare for renting a house will be $3,000. The homes will be located in the track's infield.

The Speedway has experimented in recent years with providing unusual lodging opportunities to fans who want to stay inside the Speedway during race weekend. It began offering glamping—glamorous camping—in 2014.

Try It Tiny is the creation of CEO Maggie Daniels, daughter of former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels

She graduated from Indiana University in 2008 with a degree in finance, did a brief stint as an analyst at investment bank Lehman Brothers in New York before its collapse, at investment bank Barclays.

She left New York in mid-2014 to be closer to family in Indiana, and worked as an investor relations director at Kite Realty Group until late 2016.

She got the idea for Try it Tiny after unexpected success with renting her regular-sized home, which is on the rural outskirts of Zionsville, on Airbnb.

She realized that she needed a place to stay while renting her home, so she started building a tiny home for herself off site.

After researching the industry, she learned there was a market for tiny home sharing and land sharing.