The Official Blog of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Arie Luyendyk 1985

He holds the top three speed records at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and has two victories.

One qualifying lap – 237.498, 1996
Four-lap qualifying average – 236.986, 1996
500 miles – 185.981, 1990

And Arie Luyendyk figures his 500-mile mark will stay for a while – it’s already stayed 22 years.

“That (500-mile) record will stay there for a long time,” said Luyendyk, 59, now living in Fountain Hills, Ariz. “Back then we didn’t have a pit speed limit. Now it takes time.”

But for qualifying?

“They could change the cars to make that happen,” he said. “The fans want to see it (broken). Those records are there, but I would like to see someone break them.”

He wasn’t always an ovalmeister, starting with when the Dutchman came up with the former Provimi Veal team.

“We had a small team, and there wasn’t one guy who had worked with a car on an oval,” Luyendyk said. “When I started in ’85, we had a little help from Lola, but no one had worked on a car for an oval. The big change came when I got with a team that could prepare a car for an oval. That started in ’87 with Dick Simon when I got with Larry Curry. You change your attitude and confidence. I had good races with Simon.”

But the 1990 victory at Indianapolis was his first in Indy cars – and Luyendyk could feel it coming.

“I really did feel good about it,” he said. “The whole month went well, qualified third and after some really good days, I thought we could be right there. The communication was good between me and Doug Shierson (the car owner). It was good and professional. We didn’t change that much during the race. Teams like Penske and Newman-Haas knew we were fast.

“I didn’t feel that confident in 1997 (with Treadway Racing). I had the pole, but I was always on the edge. Going into that race with that feeling isn’t good. We worked on the car during the whole race.”

Everything didn’t always work fine. In a race at Texas Motor Speedway in ‘97, scoring had Billy Boat winning in A.J. Foyt’s car, but Luyendyk thought he had won and also went to Victory Lane. An argument ensued, and Foyt pushed/hit Luyendyk into a flower bed. Video of the incident played on sports shows all week.

Eventually, a scoring audit showed Luyendyk to be the winner. After the first day the next weekend at Pikes Peak, Luyendyk came back to the hotel and said: “A.J. and I were talking out on the pit road, and you should have seen it. There must have been 50 photographers there.”

And at Christmas, Texas Motor Speedway promoter Eddie Gossage outfitted his whole staff in officials’ uniforms and the track’s Christmas card showed them all in Victory Lane, Gossage in front with a whistle.

It was rumored at the time and has been confirmed by some that Foyt still has the trophy for that race … he didn’t give it back.

Luyendyk is still in the sport, sharing some INDYCAR race control, rookie coaching and two-seater driving duties. He also said he is “playing around with some real estate.”

“In race control, it really opens my eyes on what goes on there,” he said. “Dispatching safety vehicles and calling cautions. If you’re an active driver, you don’t see it.”

In 1990, a friend of Luyendyk walked on to the pit road on Opening Day at the Speedway and went through Victory Lane, which was, at the time, at pit center. He looked down and saw a coin. It was a Dutch dime. He put it in his pocket and forgot about it.

After Luyendyk won, the friend glued the dime to a block of wood and gave it to Luyendyk the day after the race, telling him the story.

“Oh, that’s spooky,” Luyendyk said at the time.

Earlier this month, the Dutchman was asked about it. Even after 23 years, Arie said, “I still have it.”

1983 Steve Chassey

He drove a car called the Genesee Beer Wagon. He drove for a rookie woman car owner. He is one of two Vietnam War veterans to make a “500” field. He sold insurance to teams for on-track crash damage.

Steve Chassey made his mark at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway with three starts in the hallowed Indianapolis 500 and has stayed involved in different ways through the years.

He had a best finish of 11th in 1983, but he took a lot of different cars to the line, innovations, like the two-tone blue Jet Engineering Eagle, one of arguably the prettiest race cars ever to run on the 2 ½-mile oval.

“I was pretty proud of that,” he said of his ’83 finish. “In ’83, we finished the race with a stock block (engine).”

That was the Genesee Beer Wagon, fielded by Dick Hammond.

The whole experience at the Speedway is something Chassey treasures.

“Growing up in open-wheel  racing, that was the pinnacle of racing,” Chassey said of the Indianapolis 500. “In our careers, it’s what we all looked for. I love the Speedway. They treat me nice.”

Chassey built stock cars, then went into the service. He was scheduled to go to Vietnam as a communications specialist, but that changed and he became part of a howitzer battalion as a sergeant E-5. Pete Halsmer is the only other Vietnam War veteran to make the show at Indy. He was a helicopter pilot.

When Chassey returned to the United States from the war, he started racing sprinters, on his way toward the Midwest and Indy. In 1981, he drove for female car owner Lydia Loughery, but they failed to qualify for the Indianapolis 500.

Chassey started the “500” in 1983, 1987 and 1988. After he retired as a driver, he went into the racing insurance business for on-track physical damage. Generally, at that time in the late 1980s, teams figured about a crash and a half per season in their budgets.

“At one time, we had 16 to 18 cars insured,” Chassey said. “There’s not one of the teams now that I know of that is insured for on-track crash damage now. They look at the premium and say, ‘I can buy a whole car for that.’ But what if you knock off the same corner four or five times during the season?”

Chassey moved from Indianapolis to Glendale, Ariz., in October. He was elected a year ago to serve on the Board of Directors of the Indianapolis 500 Oldtimers organization.

He would get back into insurance if he found a company that wanted to get involved in motorsports. And he’ll certainly be at the Speedway this month.

Gary Bettenhausen 1980

It was a family affair that lasted for several decades, and the Bettenhausen clan became legendary at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

It was also a sport that wasn’t kind to them. The family patriarch, Melvin “Tony” Bettenhausen, died in a practice accident in 1961 at Indianapolis.

Gary Bettenhausen followed in his father Tony’s footsteps to Indy and made 21 starts in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” His favorite race wasn’t 1972, when he led 138 of the 200 laps and fell victim late to mechanical bugaboos.

It was 1980.

“Probably more so,” said Bettenhausen, 71, from his Martinsville, Ind., home. “We took a 5-year-old car, started in the last row and finished third. We changed two tires the whole race, had no radios, so we used hand signals. It was an old Patrick car that Wally Dallenbach had driven.

“Sherman Armstrong already had four cars, and we really didn’t have any time in it. We changed the fuel injection and other things for Race Day, and it ran like a rocket.”

That was his best finish at the Speedway.

Bettenhausen was handicapped by a left-arm injury from an accident on the dirt mile at Syracuse, N.Y., but it didn’t stop him.

“A whole half of my career was with one arm, and I won the dirt title twice,” he said. “My first race back was a 100-lapper indoors at Fort Wayne, and I won it. I got smoother, and that helped me. The first couple years, I couldn’t drive it down the straightaway. As the years went on, it got stronger. For a while, I actually used Velcro on my glove to hold my hand on the wheel. I learned how to compensate.”

In 1992, the paddock was buzzing before the month of May even started. Bettenhausen was hooked up with Nelson Piquet as his teammate. Everybody wondered what stories would come out of the matchup of the sophisticated former Formula One road-racing champion paired with the master of the American dirt oval.

It was surprising. There weren’t any stories.

“It was quite an experience,” Bettenhausen said. “It took about five minutes to decide we liked each other. He’s a fun guy to be around. He called on my birthday or around Christmas two years ago out of the blue. His son is running NASCAR’s Nationwide series, and I watch him all the time.”

Gary B said he doesn’t miss racing in Indy cars.

“Nope,” Gary said, “not the way it is today with all the computers. Half the fun was getting a car set up.”

His brother Merle, who also raced, retired last year as marketing manager for auto dealer Ray Skillman. Sadly, his youngest brother, Tony Jr., was killed in a plane crash in 2000.

Gary’s twin sons, Cary and Todd, started a health-care business and patented an innovative tray that allows surgeons to have tools in exactly the right places when they come out of a sterilizer.

Sadly for his legions of fans, Gary said he doesn’t come by the Speedway anymore.

“It’s too hard on my legs and back because I’m not walking very well,” Gary said.

But the fans never will forget the popular Gary B.

Jack Hewitt 1998

USAC short-track legend Jack Hewitt was excited when he got to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, excited while he was there in 1998 and is still excited now that he has participated in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

When he reached the Speedway in 1998, he was more than moderately on top of the world.

“I only grew up 100 miles from there,” he said. “When you set goals in life … I wanted to drive sprint cars, wanted to race in Australia, which I did for 11 winters, and wanted to run the Indianapolis 500. That was my final goal. The first time I drove around the Speedway, I was thinking, ‘I have to be blessed.’”

Hewitt, from Troy, Ohio, was the “purest” of race drivers. He would drive anything, anywhere, all the time.

“I probably ran 150 features one year,” Hewitt said. “That’s the most I’ve ever done in a year. If I could’ve squeezed in a couple more, I probably would have.”

Two-time USAC Silver Crown National Champion Hewitt, now 61, drove the PDM Racing car in 1998 at Indianapolis as a 46-year-old rookie. He got a lot of help.

“I think I was in with a good bunch of guys,” Hewitt said. “Al Unser, Gary Bettenhausen … a lot of my heroes were there to help me. Johnny Rutherford took me around and told me it was a lot like Winchester. After he told me that, we picked up speed. Paul Diatlovich (owner of PDM) was showing me on the computer what I was doing and I was able to understand it better after JR talked to me.”

The first “500” Hewitt remembers was in 1963, when he walked past his father, who was listening to it on the radio. Parnelli Jones won that year and carried No. 98. Hewitt and PDM carried No. 98 at the Speedway in 1998.

Hewitt’s Indianapolis 500 career started ominously. He crashed on the first day, and the PDM crew rebuilt the damaged machine. He was back on track Wednesday.

“You never give up from your dream,” he said. “I got to hang out with Florence Henderson and Jim Nabors. I was so paranoid about pit stops because I didn’t want to kill the motor. If you’re a race driver, I don’t think it makes a lot of difference what you drive. It’s just another style of racing. In my whole career in sprint cars, I was smooth and patient.

“It was a dream come true. You have goals, and racing in the Indianapolis 500 was one of them. It’s just amazing how many get to do it. I got to be a part of it, and I got to race there. Basketball, baseball … a lot of people didn’t reach their goals. I’ve led a fantastic life.”

On Race Day, many of Hewitt’s fans from short tracks around the Midwest were on hand. Hanging signs from the grandstands is discouraged at IMS because they block the view of other ticket holders, but that didn’t stop Hewitt’s Heroes from hanging a huge bedsheet from the railing of the upper deck at the end of the front straightaway that sported the words, “Do It Hewitt,” a phrase frequently heard over the public address at American short tracks.

Hewitt became the oldest rookie starter in Indianapolis 500 history, a record surpassed only last year by Jean Alesi, 47. Hewitt started 22nd and finished a respectable 12th in the Parker Machinery entry, completing 195 laps.

“It was such a Hollywood script,” Hewitt said. “I ran all day.”

The year 1998 was a big one for Hewitt in another way as well. In the 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora, he won the midget, sprint Silver Crown and modified features.

“It was the most unbelievable achievement in the history of motorsports,” said USAC executive Dick Jordan. “Absolutely incredible. In four different cars … he even wore four different helmets.”

Hewitt suffered a neck injury in 1993, and a second injury in 2002 caused him to retire.

“I’ll be 62 in July,” he said. “I’ve had a wonderful career. I’ve been blessed. I’d still be racing to this day if I hadn’t gotten hurt.”

He developed a two-seat sprint car that he takes to various races so customers and VIPs can experience the thrill of short-track thunder.

“I’ve got a 5-year-old grandson and my son, Cody, who’s 29, ran a sprint car all last year and for having one arm, he did really fine.”

As I mentioned in my previous blog entry, when “Speedway City” was first platted, Main Street was both the physical and economic center of the town.  The first retail building on Main Street is believed to be the Rosner Building at the southwest corner of 16th Street which was built in 1915.  The Rosner family operated retail businesses at that site continuously through 1983, when the Rosner Drug Store closed.  Although the building is currently vacant, as the pictures below show, the exterior of the building hasn’t changed much over the past 95 years.

Rosner Building circa 1915

Rosner Building in 2010

Some of the other key retail businesses on Main Street over the years have been the Speedway Lumber Company from 1921 through 1966, the Speedway Theatre which opened in 1937, a number of grocery stores, the Speedway Savings and Loan Association, Beck’s Drug Store, barber shops, beauty shops, dry cleaners, restaurants and gift shops.

As the boundaries of the Town of Speedway moved both to the west and to the north after World War II, Main Street was no longer physically the center of Town, however, Main Street was able to retain its status as the economic center of town for a number of years.  Then, like many small towns across America, when developers began building retail centers outside of the town center, the economic center of town shifted.  This resulted in a steady decline for Main Street businesses.

Even though the impact on Main Street was significant, Main Street never died.  Today, the retail business that call Main Street home include three restaurants, a flower shop, a barber shop, antique and gift shops, doctors offices, law offices, an embroidery store, and accounting and engineering firms.  Here is a photo taken in May 2009 looking south down Main Street with 16th Street running across the bottom of the photo.  The photo was taken from a balloon in the Centennial Era Balloon Race which celebrated the first event at IMS – a balloon race in 1909.

View of the Town of Speedway's Main Street in 2009

Even though Main Street still houses a number of viable businesses, its importance as a retail center for the town is only a shadow of what it once was, however, work is in progress to add new life to Main Street.

In recent years, Main Street has been the scene of several activities related to IMS events.  The 500 Festival Mini-Marathon route includes a stretch on Main Street prior to the runners turning east on 16th Street and entering IMS for a lap around the track.  The last two years, on the evening before practice begins for the Brickyard 400, the NASCAR race team haulers have lined up on Main Street.  Many fan related activities occurred while the haulers were on display on Main Street.

Fans enjoy the NASCAR haulers lined up on Main Street during Brickyard 400 weekend

Fans enjoy the NASCAR haulers lined up on Main Street during Brickyard 400 weekend

In 2005, the Speedway Town Council authorized the formation of the Speedway Redevelopment Corporation.  The SRC has goals of improving the entire Town of Speedway, but its initial development efforts have been focused on Main Street.  Since the primary sewer line under Main Street was in need of repair, the SRC led efforts to replace the sewers and at the same time implement a “Streetscape” project (repave, re-landscape, and re-sidewalk) to make Main Street more appealing to prospective businesses and residents.   Since Main Street is a key access road to IMS, the Streetscape efforts have been completed in phases so Main Street could remain open during the month of May and the Brickyard 400 weekend.  The fourth and final phase of the Streetscape project between 14th and 16th Streets is in process and is scheduled to be completed by April 30, 2011 in advance of the 100th Anniversary of the Indy 500.  Here is a photo from November 2010 showing the work in progress on the last phase of the street reconstruction.

Final Stages of the Speedway Streetscape Project

The Streetscape work that has been completed features wide sidewalks, bike racks, new street lights, large planters, brick crosswalks, and park benches.  This photo shows the new bike racks and some other features of the Main Street Streetscape project along one of the sections of Main Street that have been completed.

Updated amenities on Main Street thanks to the Streetscape Project

The SRC has worked with community groups and outside consultants to design strategies to encourage development along Main Street.  The town leaders are optimistic that the efforts of the SRC, the continued support from existing businesses and the addition of the Dallara facility, will help to return Main Street to being the “center” of the Town of Speedway once again.

The Main Gate to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1946

The Main Gate to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1946

As the Indianapolis Motor Speedway celebrates the 100th Anniversary of the first Indy 500 in 2011, the hometown of IMS, the Town of Speedway, will be celebrating its 85th Anniversary.  Yes, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is in the Town of Speedway and not the city of Indianapolis.  Here is a brief history of the founding of the Town.

Looking east down 16th Street from Winton Avenue around 1915. The intersection of Winton Avenue and 16th Street was the northwest corner of the original Speedway City.

When Carl Fisher and the founding fathers of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway were looking for land to build the track, they were steered to the location they settled on by Lemon Trotter, a local real estate agent.  At the time the Speedway was constructed, the land was part of rural Wayne Township, approximately 6 miles northeast of the center of Indianapolis.  That land, along with most of the surrounding land, was farmland that had been dense forest prior to the land being open for settlers in the early 1800’s.  One of the reasons the land appealed to Fisher was that it was adjacent to a railroad stop on the Ben Hur line that would connect the track to downtown Indianapolis.

After the track opened in 1909, several businesses were built near the track.  As development began in the area, Carl Fisher, along with Lem Trotter worked together to create what is considered to be one of the first planned cities in the United States.  The plan for “Speedway City” was for Main Street (a north-south road) to be a dividing line between industry and residence.  In 1912, Trotter platted the initial residential section of Speedway City west of Main Street with the other boundaries of 16th Street to the north, 10th Street to the south, and Winton Avenue to the west.  The houses would all face either north or south so that the residents would not see the factories to the east from their front windows.  It was built to be a town for horseless carriages with wide paved roads and garages for each house.

Looking west down 14th street from Main Street circa 1915

In 1926, as commercial, residential and retail development in the area continued, the residents of the area successfully petitioned the Marion County Board of Commissioners to establish the Town of Speedway.  Over the years as the City of Indianapolis expanded its borders to encompass most of Marion County, the Town has kept its independence.  Currently, the Town of Speedway, with current boundaries of roughly 10th Street to the south, Olin Avenue/the eastside of the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course to the east, 30th Street to the north, and High School Road to the West, is completely surrounded by the City of Indianapolis.

The 4.8 square mile Town of Speedway with a population of approximately 13,000 is governed by an elected town council, and the town maintains its own police and fire departments, school district, water utility, library, parks department and street department.

A.J. Watson with the #5 Car (1959)

Donald Davidson talks about A.J. Watson

1969 Practice- Mario Andretti

Mario Andretti 1969 Champion

1968 Parade Lap

Donald Davidson discusses the 1968 Parade Lap