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Indianapolis Motor Speedway (U.S.)

Logos:
images by Esteban Rivera, 22 September 2022

Description of the flag
Centennial flag

See also:

Description of the flag

Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is an automobile racing circuit located in Speedway, Indiana, on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road, approximately six miles (9.7 km) west of downtown Indianapolis. It has been the home of the Indianapolis 500 (for the IndyCar Series) and the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (formerly Brickyard 400) (now known as the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard) (for the NASCAR Series) races, and has hosted other important events, such as NASCAR, Formula One as the United States Formula One Grand Prix (2000–2007) and
MotoGP as the Indianapolis motorcycle Grand Prix (2008–2015) and other racing series events throughout its storied history.

Constructed in 1909, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Company was established by partners Carl G. Fisher, James A. Allison, Arthur C. Newby and Frank H. Wheeler on March 20, by first purchasing the land in December 1908, intended at first to be an automobile testing ground of the growing industry, a project that was outlined by him as early as November 1906 in an issue of Motor Age magazine. It is the second purpose-built, banked oval racing circuit after Brooklands and the first to be called a 'speedway'. It is the third-oldest permanent automobile race track in the world. The racing track is known as "the brickyard", for the idea of paving the track with bricks or concrete (at the time auto racing competitions were held on unpaved/dirt tracks). Today, 3 feet (0.91 m), or one yard, of original bricks remain exposed at the start-finish line.

With a permanent seating capacity of 257,325, it is the highest-capacity sports venue in the world, which in turn the main event, the "Indianapolis 500 Mile Race" (also known as "Indianapolis 500" or "Indy 500") makes it the world’s largest single-day sporting event, which has been hosted there for more than 100 years, with the first race in the series being held in 1911 (in the previous years since 1909, smaller races were scheduled at the same venue as well as racing meets and the first competition held on the grounds was a gas-filled balloon race, on June 5, 1909).

It is currently owned by Penske Entertainment Corp., a subsidiary of Penske Corporation since
2020 and operated by Indianapolis Motor Speedway, LLC (IMS). Its previous owner for the period 1945-2019, Hulman & Company sold it to Penske, announced on November 4, 2019 (to be effective the next year, January 6, 2020). It was purchased from Eddie Rickenbacker (1927–1945), who had purchased it on November 1, 1927 and sold it to Anton "Tony" Hulman, Jr. after closure in 1941 (until 1945) due to World War II, on November 14, 1945.

The IMS wing and wheel logo has been used since 1909 (source: https://nuvo.newsnirvana.com/). A variation with the wheel looking leftways, was used from the
1960s (other sources mention 1970s, i.e. https://www.encirclephotos.com/image/indianapolis-motor-speedway-logo-in-indianapolis-indiana/) through 2008 (seen here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Motor_Speedway#/media/File:Indianapolis_Motor_Speedway.svg ), featuring on top the most common used flags in auto racing, seven total, from left to right: green, white, blue, chequered, red, black and yellow. The main changes for the 2008 (and current logo in use) are:
"First of all, the entire logo faces the wrong way. For a hundred years, all incarnations of the wing & wheel faced slightly to the viewer’s left. The new one faces the right. The wheel or tire has been made wider and more flat. My friend John Mc pointed out that tires are much wider now. Actually, the tires of today are not as wide as those in the late sixties. Finally, the script now goes straight across instead of curved."
Source: https://oilpressure.com/2011/07/15/the-changing-of-the-wing-wheel-2

Several logos have appeared over the years (sources: https://www.trademarkia.com/company-indianapolis-motor-speedway-corporation-599038-page-1-2, https://www.logolynx.com/topic/indianapolis+motor+speedway, https://news.sportslogos.net/2018/05/25/indy-500-introduces-logo-system-for-2019-and-beyond/other/auto-racing-other/ and https://johnsonindy500.trackforum.com/speedway/indylogos.html). mostly for marketing reasons (to appear on souvenirs, memorabilia and official media broadcasts) including the centennial era (2009-2011) but the main logo is still the wing and wheel in dark gold. The rationale behind the design was to promote the original intent of an automotive and aviation facility. There is some dispute as to who originally designed it. Years ago, someone claimed that they had designed and used the logo and that the Speedway plagiarized it (source: https://oilpressure.com/2011/07/15/the-changing-of-the-wing-wheel-2/). The rather new tradition of having alternate/additional logos started in 1981 for the 65th edition of the race (source: https://doctorindy.com/2015/08/12/history-of-indy-500-logos-the-1980s/) and has been in use ever since.

Its flag is usually (but not exclusively) seen atop the pagoda, first built in 1913 (source:
https://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/at-the-track/yard-of-bricks-pagoda/pagoda-history) and it features the "traditional" "wing and wheel" plus the seven colored flags on top (logo) in the middle of a white horizontal background.

In 2018 it was announced that starting in 2019 a new logo (and flag) system would be introduced, highlighting the wordmark "Indy 500" and wing and wheel logo would be included in plain colors, no flags nor text, along with additional elements (i.e. event edition, https://news.sportslogos.net/2018/05/25/indy-500-introduces-logo-system-for-2019-and-beyond/other/auto-racing-other/).

Sources: https://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/history/people-of-ims/owners, http://archive.ims.com/p/1,
https://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/history/centennial-era,
https://www.speedwayin.gov/egov/apps/document/center.egov?view=item;id=25, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1Qu3hA9NHU,
https://www.penske.com/our-companies/,
https://www.linkedin.com/company/indianapolis-motor-speedway,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddie_Rickenbacker and
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indianapolis_Motor_Speedway

For additional information go to Indianapolis Motor Speedway (official website):
http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com/
Esteban Rivera, 22 September 2022

Centennial flag

images by Esteban Rivera, 22 September 2022

Centennial logo copied image from the original located here: https://www.logolynx.com/images/logolynx/b9/b94852150ae89e398d30708ff1d29320.jpeg, source: https://www.logolynx.com/topic/indianapolis+motor+speedway)

Esteban Rivera, 22 September 2022