Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, (an enclave suburb of Indianapolis) in the United States. It is the home of the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400, and formerly the home of the United States Grand Prix. It is located on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately 6mi west of Downtown Indianapolis.Constructed in 1909, it is the second purpose built banked oval racing circuit after Brooklands and the first to be called a 'speedway'. It has a permanent seating capacity estimated at 235,000 with infield seating raising capacity to an approximate 400,000. It is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world.Considered relatively flat by American standards, the track is a 2.5mi rectangular oval with dimensions that have remained essentially unchanged since its construction. It has two 5/8mi straightaways, four geometrically identical 1/4mi turns, connected by two 1/8mi short straightaways, termed "short chutes", between turns 1 and 2, and between turns 3 and 4.A modern infield road course was completed in 2000, incorporating part of the oval, including the mainstretch and the southeast turn, measuring 2.605mi. In 2008, and again in 2014, the road course layout was modified to accommodate motorcycle racing, as well as to improve competition. Altogether, the current grounds have expanded from an original 320acre on which the speedway was first built to cover an area of over 559acre. Placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 1987, it is the only such site to be affiliated with automotive racing history.