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"  ...racing at Indy began! That&amp;#039;s right, in 1909, the first race, a 5-miler in front of 12,000 fans, was held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was won by Austrian engineer Louis Schwitzer at an average speed of 57.4 mph.  The rectangular track\u2014built on 328 acres of farmland near Indianapolis as a test facility for Indiana&amp;#039;s burgeoning car industry\u2014was 2.5 miles around and featured four corners, each 440 yards from start to finish. Of note, the track surface was made of crushed rock and tar, which proved disastrous, as it broke up in places and contributed to the deaths of one driver and two riding mechanics. The famous bricks, 3.2 million of them, were soon installed, and the first Indy 500 was held in 1911, won by Ray Harroun in the famous Marmon Wasp. He completed the 500- mile race at an average speed of 74.59 mph. Total time was 6 hours and 42 minutes. Ever since then, there has been an Indy 500 held every year, the only exceptions being the years 1917-1918 and 1942-1945 because of the World Wars. As next year marks the centennial of the Indianapolis 500, Indy has big plans which started with the recent unveiling of this official logo, below.  Related posts:   For Sale: English Manor with Racing History  "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.roadandtrack.com/motorsports/news/a1367/on-this-day-in-history-15166/>