Indianapolis prides itself on being known as the Racing Capital of the World. The city welcomes thousands of fans from across the globe every year to get entertained by the biggest spectacles in motorsports. The cornerstone of this pilgrimage site is the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where NASCAR will travel this weekend with great pomp and show. And Kevin Harvick couldn’t be more pleased with the visit.
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The retired icon expressed the joy that a driver gets going to race in Indianapolis on the Harvick Happy Hour podcast. He said, “The fans are so freaking smart. Their racing IQ is high and when you look at our TV ratings, Indianapolis is always in the top five. When you go to Indy, the race fans understand racing more than anywhere else we go in the whole country.”
He continued noting that going into such an environment as a race car driver and talking about the sport with fans is great fun. NASCAR is set to hold races across all three national tiers and the ARCA Menards Series this weekend. It also returns to race on the oval track that was last used back in 2020. The event is bound to be an exciting affair for both drivers and the speed-loving residents of Indianapolis.
Looking behind the love for racing in Indianapolis
Why racing is so vested in the Hoosier DNA can be traced back to 1905 when Carl G. Fisher, an automotive entrepreneur, dreamed of a race track in the city. The racing industry had been rising in popularity at the time and Fisher decided to take a piece of the pie. He completed the construction of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1909 with the support of a few partners.
Races began taking place every weekend in 1910 after a rocky debut that saw the track’s original gravel surface repaved with bricks, earning it the name “The Brickyard.” The venue’s popularity peaked between the two World Wars as attendance reached the thousands. The coming of the Second World War, however, cast it into a period of doom.
The track exchanged hands multiple times in the war’s aftermath before landing in those of racer Wilbur Shaw and businessman Tony Hulman. The duo cast magic into the deteriorating race track in the 1940s and 1950s to revive its glory. Having been a constant in all the chaos that the 20th century brought, the track went on to find a permanent place in the hearts of those who called Indiana home and alongside it, racing.
