Busy season at Indianapolis Motor Speedway kicks off with big eclipse event

With the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 just three months out, Indianapolis Motor Speedway leaders are kicking things into high gear. After all, the track’s calendar is rather full this year, with a major eclipse event on April 8—set to draw tens of thousands of people—and several other events, including a return to the oval course for NASCAR.

IBJ spoke with IMS President Doug Boles about how ticket sales are going for this year’s Indy 500 and numerous other topics, including whether a return of Formula One is on the horizon and Roger Penkse’s continued investment in the track.

The interview, conducted Monday, has been edited for length and clarity.

We’re about 90 days out from the Indianapolis 500. How are ticket sales faring?

We’ve got a few things, really, that are super strong. First, our general-admission ticket sales are going great. We’re also sold out of our suites again. … From a ticket-renewal standpoint, it was the strongest [renewal period] we’ve ever had. It was crazy how strong it was from the start, and it’s continued since then, ahead of 2023 numbers.

Until just recently, our ticket sales overall were head-to-head with 2016 [the 100th anniversary of the Indy 500]. It trails 2016 a little bit right now, which we figured at some point would happen, but we’re still ahead of 2023. Last year, we were just under 10,000 reserved seats from being sold out, and we’re going to be better than that. The question is: Just how much better?

To what do you attribute the strength of the renewals?

Part of it is, people just want to make sure they go ahead and get tickets—after all, it’s the best pricing you’re ever going to get for an Indy 500 ticket, in those 500 hours after the race ends.

There’s also the competition on the track and the story lines there. The way the finishes have had a lot of excitement lately really solidifies for a fan who’s here that they’re seeing something special, and that makes them want to come back.

Then … I hear more now from fans about how excited they are that Roger Penske is investing alongside their emotional and financial investment, particularly in the little things. When I talk to somebody who has been here 30, 40, even 50 years, they can’t wait to bring people back because this place looks better than it did when they first started coming.

I think our fan feels a lot of pride in the fact that they invest a lot emotionally and financially in the Indy 500 experience and now [the track has an] owner in Roger Penske who’s investing alongside them and understands that their experience is really important to the health of the series or to the Speedway in the series.

What sort of investments are being made ahead of the 2024 calendar?

Really, it will depend on what gate our guests come through and what sort of experience they want.

If they’re a general-admission ticketholder, we’re adding 10 relatively large video boards that can be seen from the spectator mounds. Right now, on the road course, those on the mounds can generally only see boards placed behind them. So, we did a bunch of experimenting last fall and are going to install video boards so fans can follow action on those and on the track at once.

In Turn 4, it’s been hard to keep track of the race if you leave your seat to go to get concessions. So we’re putting a big video board on the back of the Turn 4 grandstands, as well. We’ve got one of those in Turn 1, and it will actually be a brand-new [version] this year, with better resolution and better technology.

Those are just some of the changes Roger has made in the last six months. We’ve also got new fencing inside Turn 3 and new SAFER [Steel and Foam Energy Reduction] walls in places where historically we don’t have any impacts, but we’re continuing to move forward to try and make the track a safer environment.

How much has Penske spent on the track since acquiring it and as part of this round in particular?

I don’t know the total for this round offhand, but our [capital expenditures] every year are in the, call it, $12 million to $15 million [range]. Mr. Penske has invested over $50 million since buying the track.

Obviously, last year there was a scary moment when Felix Rosenqvist and Kyle Kirkwood collided, sending a tire off the track and over the fence in Turn 3. What additional precautions are in place for this year, and how are you feeling about where things stand in terms of fan safety after an incident like that?

In my 10 years in this job, that was one of the scarier moments, certainly, that I’ve seen at the Speedway, in particular. But I think the quickness with which the IndyCar Series and Dallara really tried to understand what happened in that instance and the way they addressed it [was strong].

We spent a lot of time looking at the fence, understanding what our fence height was and what the overhang angle was and making sure we are standard or better in the industry, in terms of the way the fence structure works. So, we feel—especially because of the work that Dallara and the NTT IndyCar Series did—like we have the answer to that, and hopefully we don’t see that kind of situation again.

What is happening behind the scenes now to get the track ready for the month of May?

Right now, we’re in the process of basically de-winterizing. There are certain things that we can do … now because [the areas are] better protected from the elements. But there are others that you have to wait until almost April 1 [to do].

The video boards arrived on property last week, so we’re going through all those and building the brackets so we can install those as soon as the weather gets better. Same with the new SAFER wall and the fencing improvements.

This is shaping up to be a pretty busy year at the track. What can you share about what people can expect to see?

Well, the most unique thing we’ve got going on other than the 108th running of the Indy 500 is our eclipse event. We actually announced that on April 8, 2018, having no idea what we were going to do. The team has done an unbelievable job of recruiting NASA and Purdue University and putting all these elements together to make this a crazy-good event.

I think when we first envisioned it in 2018, we figured we would just open up the doors and people can come in and watch. But the team has just come up with all these great ideas and pulled things together to produce something incredible. Purdue has been a fantastic partner, and it fits right into space, engineering, STEM, all the things that are big for them. Then being able to work with NASA—they’ve been a great partner for us. I’m really excited about that one, and that’s big.

Additionally, we have the Shell Eco Marathon that takes place in April and sort of flies under the radar. But we love it because it’s students at a high school and university level who come to IMS and use it as a proving ground, not for speed but to determine how far they can go on a set amount of fuel. It’s really about training the next generation of automotive engineers.

With this year’s Indianapolis 500, [teams are] qualifying with the lighter cars because the hybrid was delayed, and the Speedway and its fans get the benefit of that. The cars will be lighter, which means they’ll be faster in qualifying—I can’t wait to see what happens. We ran 235-mile-per-hour laps last year; if our weather’s good, who knows— 237 is probably out of reach, but 236? Maybe not.

Obviously, we’re returning to the oval with the Brickyard 400 presented by PPG. As much as people were ready to leave the oval several years ago … just as many seem excited that it’s back. Our ticket sales are better than they’ve ever been, with the exception of when Jeff Gordon announced his retirement, which drove a lot of ticket sales.

And then, our IMSA race this year moves to six hours, making it a proper endurance race, up from the two hours, 40 minutes it was last year. That means you could see teams put an IndyCar driver in their car, so I think that will be a lot of fun for our fans.

How is attendance looking for the eclipse event?

That question is a bit difficult to answer because people under 18 are free and don’t require a ticket. What we know is, we’ve already sold over 12,000 tickets to that event—and that doesn’t include buses, either. We’ve got dozens and dozens and dozens of schools that are bringing buses.

So we’ve been having a debate among staff, where we’re trying to think about where we’re going to land. In my head, I’m thinking maybe 25,000. But with the amount already sold and with [about 40 days] left to sell, it could be anywhere from 30,000 to 50,000 here for that day.

There have been some big off-track events at the Speedway over the years, including the Rolling Stones concert several years back. How would you say this event compares, in terms of anticipation, to those other off-track events?

I think there was a lot of buzz around the [July 4, 2014] Rolling Stones concert, but I think the buzz was mostly local. What’s interesting about the eclipse is, we’ve sold tickets to people from 46 states and almost one dozen different countries.

The other thing that we’re seeing, too, is the number of media outlets—particularly Midwest media outlets like Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus and Michigan—that are really interested in what’s happening here.

There has been some controversy over the past several months related to IMS intellectual property, particularly in the way we’ve seen Formula One races marketed, including recently when ESPN broadcast a promotion for the racing series’ upcoming season. In response to that, IMS has taken a pretty strong stance to ensure its trademark for “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is honored. Can you address that?

In each of the cases we’ve seen … we didn’t feel like [the errors] were directed by F1, especially given the fact that everyone from the series agreed with our concerns and got those taken down. In this round, we think the problem came from the domestic television partner, and we have it resolved. It does remind us every time it happens that we have a brand that people care about and [that] people actually use.

The same thing happened with NASCAR, where one of their young social media people posted something on the day of the Daytona 500, and they took it down almost before we knew it existed.

I appreciate how passionate our fans are, and I’m just as passionate. But I don’t think yet this rises to the level of something that’s premeditated by F1; I think these are honest mistakes.

At the same time, we are going to continue to police it, and we are going to continue to make sure people know that this is our mark, this is our brand, and it does violate the trademark because it’s a similar product. We have a legal standing to ask that they not use it and standing, if we need it, to take legal recourse to keep them from using it.

Does a situation like this complicate the possibility of F1 one day making a return to Indianapolis and those relationships?

I think it’s just business, and I don’t think it’s straining the relationship at all … . If there was a consistent use of [the trademarked phrase] or it rose to another level, then yes, maybe. But I think right now, I don’t see that as a hurdle to having conversation about a future here.

So, that being said, could we see a return of F1 to Indianapolis Motor Speedway anytime soon?

It’s not on the table right now. The last real conversation we had with them was in 2020 when they were looking for a venue as their schedule was getting truncated because of COVID. We had some more serious conversations then, and then a little bit related to 2021. But really since then, we’ve not had a conversation at such a level.

We don’t have an opening in our schedule, and I think for them trying to add a fourth race in North America would be challenging, especially trying to fit it in our schedule. We’ve gotten to the point now where we’re at almost 150 days a year of on-track activity, and that doesn’t include the setup and teardown for each of those. Then you’ve got to take out three or four months just because our weather isn’t conducive to having on-track events. So, we’re as busy as we’ve ever been.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen a few efforts that have helped the track return a bit to its roots as a proving ground for automotive concepts, including the track’s use for the Indy Autonomous Challenge. Is that something that you see as being a big part of what the track is moving forward?

Yeah, I think it is. But I think even if you look at the NTT IndyCar Series today, the fully renewable biodiesel fuel that we’re running—while it may not be a new mirror or a new engine or that kind of thing—it’s a huge thing to run an entire IndyCar Series on 100% renewable fuel. And the hybrid program that they’re doing is something I think is pretty exciting.

I love the Eco Marathon and Shell’s involvement here because it engages kids and students and really gets them thinking about the automobile. But the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the place where they live, where they’re building their love for it. We’re continuing to work with the Indy Autonomous Challenge as that event continues to grow and will be hosting them again here this fall.

Another one is Verizon, as they’ve been testing some technology here, as has NTT—with that partnership we’re doing a lot, including how we can communicate better to our customers related to gate times or concession stands. So, we’re using this place to test a lot of things—they just might be smaller than that one big thing … that everybody uses every day.

I do believe it’s important to our DNA, and I think we’re continuing to do it, including with the several things I just named.•