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Indianapolis Motor Speedway Auto Racing Tickets for 2005 2006

 

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Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Indianapolis, IN Sun, May 28 2006
12:00 PM

NASCAR INDY 500 Information

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway (The Brickyard), located in Speedway, Indiana (a separate city completely surrounded by Indianapolis), is the oldest surviving auto racing track in the world, having existed since 1908. The track is a flat two and a half mile oval, almost rectangular in nature. It has a spectator capacity of over 300,000, the largest sporting facility in the United States.

NASCAR Drivers in the Indy 500
Prior to 2005, a few NASCAR drivers would be able to compete double duty racing the Indy 500 and the Coca Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway, which takes place the same day, just after the race. In order to make it on time, drivers usually catch a helicopter directly from Indy to take them to Indianapolis International Airport fly into Concord Regional Airport, and even then they barely make it in time to race. Notable drivers include Tony Stewart, Robby Gordon, and John Andretti. Stewart competed double duty in 1999 and 2001, but contract limits restricted him from doing so in 2004. Robby Gordon has done it the most number of times, in 2004 the rain caused him to have to hand over driving duties to another driver. In 2000 Robby Gordon missed the start of the Coca Cola 600, which started pace laps when the Indy 500 finished. Gordon, being a team owner, just placed PJ Jones in his car and finished the Indy 500, receiving no drivers points as PJ Jones started the race but getting owners points. For 2005 the Indianapolis 500 was pushed up to improve their TV ratings, thus preventing NASCAR drivers to be able to compete at Indy and Lowe's on the same day.

Traditions
A long-standing tradition of the Indy 500 is for the victor to drink a bottle of milk immediately after the race. This likely became ritual based on an earlier idea of rehydrating exhausted drivers. Among Indycar drivers, Emerson Fittipaldi is infamous for drinking orange juice after his 1993 victory, rather than the customary milk.

Memorabilia
Many people promote and share information about the Indy 500 and its memorabilia collecting. The National Indy 500 Collectors Club (http://www.ni500cc.com) is an independent active organization that has been dedicated to support such activities. Based out of Indianapolis, they include an experienced membership available for discussion and advise on Indy 500 memorabilia trading and Indy 500 questions in general.