The Indianapolis Speedrome is the oldest operating figure 8 track in the United States as it opened in 1941. It is believed by many historians that this is the first figure 8 track where cars intersect. The Speedrome is home to the World Figure 8 Championships, the Annual Spring Shootout, and the 3 Hour Endurance Race. The Speedrome is the USAC's most active track with 496 events held, and also produced

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...

’s maiden USAC win on August 9, 1991.

History

Events

Carb Night Classic

The Speedrome hosted the carb night classic from 1962 to 1964 and then once again in 1979.

Three-hour figure 8 championship

The three-hour figure 8 championship is an annual three-hour endurance race featuring late models. It began in 1977 and like any other sport had sprees of dominance.

The death of Don Vogler

On May 1, 1981, Don Vogler and his son Rich Vogler were registered for a USAC midget car feature. Don was about to complete his final warm up lap when he suddenly collided with the wall on turn 3, flipping over the concrete barrier and coming to rest in the catch fence. He was seen gripping his chest before the accident by multiple witnesses. He was pronounced dead in a local hospital a few hours later from

blunt force trauma A blunt trauma, also known as a blunt force trauma or non-penetrating trauma, is a physical trauma due to a forceful impact without penetration of the body's surface. Blunt trauma stands in contrast with penetrating trauma, which occurs when an ...

. The cause of accident is believed to be a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

. His son later raced in IndyCar and NASCAR but died in 1990 at Salem Speedway.

Job Corps riot of 1965

During a Saturday night race in 1965 there were 35 Job Corps men and youths invited as special guests for that night‘s race. The Job Corps members were siting in the back of a pickup truck, when they started yelling obscenities at women entering the restroom. Later, 15 of the youths were standing by the restroom and continued to yell obscenities at race goers until the spectators confronted and attempted to silence the youths. While the youth were being finally escorted out they began throwing sticks and stones into the crowd. A woman suffered lacerations to her arms.

COVID-19 guideline violations

On October 3, 2020, a picture of the Speedrome at full capacity surfaced on the media. At this time, the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

restrictions in place in Marion County had a guideline requiring that all sporting events were to be held at 25% capacity. The Speedrome was fined $1000.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Indianapolis_Speedrome Motorsport venues in Indiana Speedrome Speedrome Figure 8 Motorsport venues