Speedway

Small Town Breakdown

Known as the "Racing Capital of the World," Speedway, Indiana has nearly 120 years of motorsports heritage and a revitalized Main Street that helps it maintain its small-town feel.

Fast Facts

📍LOCATION: Central Indiana

• Speedway sits in west-central Marion County.

• The west side of the I-465 loop runs along the western edge of the metro area and has multiple exits to Speedway.

• U.S. Route 136 runs east-west and becomes Crawfordsville Road when passing east under I-465 toward Speedway. It eventually becomes 16th Street and runs on the south end of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

• 15 minutes west of downtown Indianapolis

• 1 hour north of Bloomington

• 1 hour south of Lafayette

• 1 hour and 15 minutes east of Terre Haute

👥 POPULATION & RANKING

• 14,268 residents (as of 2024)

• Ranks as Indiana’s 65th-largest town/city

• Fourth-largest incorporated town/city in Marion County behind the county seat/state capital Indianapolis (891,484), Lawrence (49,817), and Beech Grove (14,566).

📏 LAND AREA

• 4.79 square miles

• Speedway is its own municipality even though it is geographically surrounded by Indianapolis on all sides.

📅 FOUNDED

• Marion County was created by an act of the General Assembly on Dec. 31, 1821.

• It was named in honor of Revolutionary War General Francis Marion of South Carolina, who was known as the "Swamp Fox" for his guerrilla tactics.

• The state capital moved from Corydon to Indianapolis on Jan. 10, 1825.

• Speedway’s story began when Carl Fisher, James Allison, Arthur Newby, and Frank Wheeler purchased 320 acres of farmland west of Indianapolis and founded the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Company on March 20, 1909.

• In 1912, one year after the first running of the Indy 500, real estate developer Lemon Trotter platted "Speedway City.”

• The four IMS Company founders envisioned an attractive "horseless city” of automotive industries on the east side and worker housing on the west side.

• Jobs were supplied by Fisher's Prest-O-Lite factory, along with Allison’s 1915 founding of the Speedway Team Company to support his Indy 500 race cars.

• The business eventually evolved into the Allison Engine Company, was sold to General Motors and later acquired by Rolls-Royce North America in 1995.

• Speedway was officially incorporated in 1926. 

🏥 MAIN INDUSTRIES: Manufacturing, Motorsports

• Approximately 4,000 employees specialize in manufacturing, assembly, test, engineering, and support roles at Rolls-Royce North America, producing more Rolls-Royce products than any place in the world.

• The Dallara IndyCar Factory designs and produces carbon-fiber racing chassis. It also has an interactive exhibit space with hands-on simulators, an IndyCar blueprint tunnel, and garage tours.

Start Your Engines at IMS

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the main attraction. Every Memorial Day weekend, the 2.5-mile oval track hosts the Indianapolis 500, the largest single-day sporting event in the world. The 100th running of the 500 in 2016 was a sellout, and it sold out again in 2025 and this year with over 350,000 tickets sold. That means 1 out of every 1,000 people in the United States are at IMS on race day.

Other IMS races include the Sonsio Grand Prix, an INDYCAR SERIES road course race held a couple weeks before the Indy 500 in May, and the Brickyard 400 NASCAR race in the summer.

IMS Museum

If you're not in town for race day, the IMS Museum located on the track grounds reopened in April 2025 following a $61 million renovation. It is home to one of the world's most impressive collections of race cars, including more than 30 Indy 500 winners, the $3.5 million Borg-Warner Trophy on display, rotating exhibits, immersive experiences, and more. Track tours can be added on to museum admission, allowing guests to kiss the bricks, stand atop Victory Podium, and more.

Speedway Indoor Karting & Soap Box Derby

If you and the family want to get behind the wheel or test your skills in a full swing multi-sport and golf simulator, head to Speedway Indoor Karting on Main Street. The facility is open daily, but you can reserve the track or a bay for your party days in advance.

Just two miles east of IMS is the Wilbur Shaw Memorial Soap Box Derby Hill, the longest soap box derby track in the country at 1,000 feet. Built in 1953, it was later named after the three-time Indianapolis 500 winner and Shelbyville native Wilbur Shaw, who won the Indy 500 in 1937, 1939 and 1940, and is the most recent Indiana native to win the race. The hill hosts rallies all summer long, where youth build and race gravity-powered cars.

Speedway’s Food Scene

On the south end of Main Street sits Big Woods Speedway with two full bars, two semi-private spaces, and an outdoor beer garden. Guests love their pulled pork nachos and hickory-smoked wings, and the Peanut Butter Busted Knuckle porter brewed by Quaff ON! is a must.

Just up the street from Big Woods is the Daredevil Speedway Taproom, a brewery, taproom, and restaurant all in one. It has a spacious outdoor seating area, and locals love their thin crust tavern-style pizza.

A few doors down from Daredevil is the first four-time Indianapolis 500 winner A.J. Foyt’s Foyt Wine Vault. The space is part winery, part private lounge, part Foyt Racing Museum. Visitors can sip on wines from Napa and Sonoma while viewing racing memorabilia from one of the sport's all-time greats.

Charlie Brown’s Pancake & Steak House is another Main Street staple, with tons of Indy 500 decor and delicious biscuits and gravy.

On the north end of Main closer to IMS are three popular spots – Dawson’s on Main, O’Reilly’s Irish Bar and Restaurant, and Barbecue and Bourbon. Dawson’s is best known for Gary’s Meatloaf Dinner, tenderloin sandwiches, steaks, and seafood, O’Reilly’s reels you in with its fish and chips, and Barbecue and Bourbon brings it home with delicious catfish nuggets, cornbread and brisket.

If you’re looking for a quick bite, pull up to the Mug n’ Bun drive-in or sit in its outdoor picnic area and enjoy burgers, shakes, and more. It’s located off 10th Street just a few blocks west of Main.

Brickyard Crossing

For golfers, Brickyard Crossing is a historic 18-hole course with 14 holes to the East of the IMS backstretch and four holes in the infield. The idea of having a golf course to generate revenue outside of race day came from IMS founders Carl Fisher and James Allison. It was designed by Indiana architect Bill Diddel and first opened as the Speedway Golf Course in 1929 with nine holes outside and nine inside the infield. Nine more holes were added to the outside of the track in 1965, and the 27-hole layout remained until Pete Dye redesigned it to its current 18-hole layout in the early 1990s. It’s challenging to find an open tee time in May, but playing a round while cars are zooming around the track makes for an unforgettable golf experience.

Parks Market & Summer Concert Series

Meadowood Park on the north side of town spans nearly 13 acres with three shelters, two playgrounds, an interactive climbing rock area, sand volleyball courts, baseball and softball diamonds, and a 0.75-mile walking trail. Every Thursday from 5–8:30 p.m. in July and August, it hosts the popular Speedway Parks Market and Speedway Summer Concerts series. Plus, it’s home to the West Indy Art & Musical Festival, a free one-day event in August for guests to purchase arts and crafts, meet neighbors and enjoy live music.

A few blocks west of Main Street is Leonard Park, home to a playground, tennis and pickleball courts, and Speedway Little League's opening-day parade each spring.

The Sparkplugs

Speedway Senior High School is home to one of the coolest mascots in Indiana… the Sparkplugs.

The school’s first state title came courtesy of boys basketball in 2002 (2A), when the Sparkplugs never trailed in a 62-48 win over Bluffton. Boys hoops has secured three regional titles (1973, 2002, 2013) and 12 sectional titles (1948, 1950, 1952, 1955, 1965, 1967, 1973, 2001–02, 2012–14) in program history.

The most recent state title was in softball in 2018 (2A), when Speedway blanked Bremen, 5-0. In addition to that 2018 postseason run, softball won sectional titles in 2019 and 2021.

Football has been a consistent winner in the postseason as well with eight 2A sectional titles (1998, 2001, 2003–06, 2008, and 2010) and regional championships in 1998, 2001, and 2005.

Check out Nate’s breakdown of Speedway ⬇️