Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Carl G. Fisher conceived the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with James Allison, Arthur Newby and Frank Wheeler as co-founders, and it opened on August 14, 1909. That autumn, workers laid about 3.2 million ten-pound bricks by hand over a sand cushion, and the track has been the Brickyard ever since.

The first Indianapolis 500 ran on May 30, 1911: forty cars, an estimated 80,000 spectators, and Ray Harroun the winner. The rectangle is 2.5 miles around, with two five-eighths-mile straights, four quarter-mile turns and a short chute between each pair of turns, and the layout is the one drawn in 1909.

In October 1961 the remaining brick was paved over with asphalt, except for a three-foot strip at the start-finish line. That one yard is still exposed. By capacity it is the largest sports venue in the world, with an estimated 235,000 seats.

Drawn from above on a cream ground, the plan shows the oval as a dark ring with the grandstands in pale gray along its outer edge. The infield is green, crossed by the road-course loop in black and dotted with pale clearings, and a small red mark at the bottom center shows the start-finish line. The title runs across the top in spaced capitals, with "Speedway, Indiana" beneath.