Travel Tips: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum

credit: NASCAR Media

If you’re making plans to visit “Indy” in July, put a side trip to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum on your list of things to do. There, you can explore more than 100 years’ worth of motorsports and automobile history all in one place.
 

• The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is located on the grounds of Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 4790 W. 16^th St. in Speedway, IN. The Museum was established in 1956 by Tony Hulman Jr. and Karl Kizer, the Museum’s first director, as a place to display memorabilia and race cars. Its current location was built in 1975, and measures approximately 36,000 square feet. In addition to the Museum, it is home to two gift shops, the track’s retail photography store and other offices.
• The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum houses race cars from many series including IndyCar, NASCAR and Formula One, plus sprint car racing, midget racing, motorcycle racing and drag racing. There are also some passenger vehicles in the Museum. It is also home to the Auto Racing Hall of Fame, which was organized in 1952 and revived by Hulman in 1962.
• The Museum offers a number of tours to the public, including the “the Qualifying Lap” – one narrated lap around the oval in an IMS bus – and the “VIP Grounds Tour” – a 90-minute guided tour of the grounds, the racing surface and the infield area. Find out more about these tours in the “Plan Your Visit” section of the website.
• The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum is open daily except Thanksgiving Day and Christmas Day. Hours are 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET from March through October and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET from November through February. Admission at this time is $10 for adults, $5 for kids ages 6-15 and free for kids 5 and under. Learn more about the Museum at http://www.indyracingmuseum.org/.

Planning your NASCAR vacation? Check these out, too:

• Travel Tips: The Dale Trail
• Travel Tips: The NASCAR Hall of Fame
• Travel Tips: The International Motorsports Hall of Fame