Indianapolis, just say the name and it raises goose bumps for legions of racing fans. It also furnishes one of NASCAR’s most competitive race weekends. Drivers in three series compete on two contradistinctive ovals, Indianapolis Motor Speedway also known as “The Brickyard” a 2.5 mile oval, perhaps the most celebrated racing venues in the world and Indianapolis Raceway Park, a distinctive .686 mile narrow short track that many drivers consider to be one of the most challenging short tracks in the United States.

Fastenal and Bobby Hamilton Racing will be pulling double duty in Indy,competing at both circuits. Bobby Hamilton Jr. will drive the No. 04 Fastenal Dodge Charger in the NASCAR Nextel Cup event at the Brickyard (The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard) and he will also pilot the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge Ram in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Indianapolis Raceway Park (The Power Stroke Diesel 200).

In last year’s testing session for the Brickyard event 2004 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Champ Bobby Hamilton Sr. topped the Cup Series regulars on the final day of testing for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard with a lap of 183.905mph in the #04 Bobby Hamilton Racing Dodge. It was the fastest lap overall of six days of testing during the last three weeks at the historic 2.5-mile oval. Bobby Hamilton Jr. was second fastest at 182.576mph in the #32 Chevrolet, proof that both Hamilton’s have a way of negotiating their way successfully around the famed course. In this year’s pre-race testing at the Brickyard Hamilton Jr. was the 11th fastest driver posting a time of 50.406 which equates to a 178.550 mile per hour lap around the 2.5 mile oval. In 2006 Hamilton Jr. has stepped up as a pinch hitter, subbing for Hamilton Sr. who is valiantly fighting and recovering from the effects of head and neck cancer.  

“It’s amazing how much one word can change your life,” Hamilton Sr. says.  “When you hear it, feel it, bear it, and breathe it - that one word, cancer, changes your entire view on the way you see every single aspect of your life.  I will never be the same person I was before I found out I had cancer.  I am now a better person for what I have endured just as all the millions of people in our country who feel the same way after battling cancer.”

While Hamilton Jr. continues to battle the fierce competition in the No. 18 Fastenal Dodge against other NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series competitors, Hamilton Sr. battles a more ferocious foe. His goal is to first get back to the racetrack on a weekly basis and to continue to oversee BHR’s on track efforts and then to climb back into the cockpit at the season ending NCTS race at Homestead in November.

"Going back to the track is great for me,” Hamilton Sr. said.  “I went to Kentucky Speedway where I knew the weather would cooperate and it would be cooler.  It was great to see so many people again who had been calling me and checking in.  It means a lot to know our garage area is so close knit.  I'm on the uphill swing of things now.  Everyday is getting better for me and I am healing up very fast according to my doctor. I'm not pushing it because it is more important for me to be in control of the healing process.  I have orders from Dr. Murphy and I follow them.  It may be the first time I am following the rules.  Right now my focus is going to that race shop everyday and getting it back on track.  Then we'll go to IRP with a new focus and a better finish.  We'll travel back and forth to IMS to check on things there, but everyone has a direction and so far is following my plan to get ready for that race."

More History on The Brickyard

1912 to the 1920s - The Golden Age of Racing

A classic race followed in 1912 when Ralph DePalma lost a five lap lead with five laps to go when his car broke down. As his car was being pushed around the circuit, Joe Dawson made up the deficit to win the race. These races gave Indy a worldwide reputation and international drivers began to enter. Three of the next four winners were Europeans, with DePalma being the exception as an American national, though originally Italian born.

The 1916 race was shortened to 120 laps for 300 miles. This was for multiple reasons including a lack of entries from Europe (there were so few entries that the Speedway itself entered several cars), a lack of oil, and out of respect for the war in Europe.

The race was interrupted in the years 1917 and 1918 by World War I, when Indy served as a military hub for repairs. Just before this period, however, on September 9, 1916, the Speedway hosted a day of short racing events termed the "Harvest Classic," composed of three races held at 20, 50 and 100 mile distances.
Driver Mel Marquette's wrecked McFarlan racing car at the 1912 Indianapolis 500Johnny Aitken, in a Peugeot, triumphed in all three, in the end the only events he ever won at the facility, and the last races other than the 500-mile that would be held on the grounds for seventy-eight years.
When racing resumed, speeds increased and by 1925, when Peter DePaolo won, the best cars were averaging 100 mph (160 km/h) for the race.

1930s

With the depression hitting the nation, the purse dropped from a winners share of $50,000 and a total of $98,250 in 1930 to $18,000 and $54,450 respectively. The rules were also "dumbed down" to what was called the "junk formula" to allow more entries during the depression. A record of 42 cars started the 1933 500. From 1934 onward, 33 drivers started the 500, with 1947 being the exception with 30 starters.

By the early 1930s, however, the increasing speeds began to make the track increasingly dangerous, and in the period 1931-1935 there were 15 fatalities. This forced another repavement, with tarmac replacing the bricks in parts of the track. The danger of the track during this period, however, didn't stop Louis Meyer or Wilbur Shaw from becoming three-time winners, with Shaw also being the first back-to-back winner (1939-1940).

The Deal

At the beginning of the 1940s, the track required further improvement. In 1941, half of "Gasoline Alley," the garage area, burned down before the race. With US involvement in World War II, the 1942 500-Mile race was cancelled in December of 1941. Late in 1942, a ban on all auto racing led to the canceling of the 500-Mile Race for the rest of the war for a total of four years (1942-1945). The track was more or less abandoned during the war and was in bad shape. Many of the locals conceded that the Speedway would be sold after the war and become a housing development. With the end of the war in sight, on November 29, 1944, 3-time 500 winner Wilbur Shaw came back to do a 500-mile tire test approved by the government for Firestone. Shaw was shocked at the state of the Speedway and contacted owner Eddie Rickenbacker only to discover that it was for sale. Shaw then sent out letters to the automobile industry to try to find a buyer. All the responses indicated that the Speedway would be turned into a private facility for the buyer. Shaw then looked around for someone to buy the Speedway who understood what it was about. He found Terre Haute, Indiana businessman Tony Hulman. Meetings were set up and the purchase of the Speedway happened on November 14, 1945. Though not officially commented on, the purchase price for the Speedway was reported by the Indianapolis Star and News to be $750,000. Major renovations and repairs were made at a quick pace to the frail Speedway before the 1946 race. Since then and up to today, the Speedway continues to grow. Stands have been built and remodelled many times over, suites and museums were added, and many other additions helped bring back Indy's reputation as a great track.

The Roadsters and the 1950's

Several drivers helped grow the reputation of The Brickyard as well, including three-time winner Mauri Rose and 1953-54 winner Bill Vukovich.

In the 1950s, cars were topping out at 150 mph (240 km/h), helping to draw more and more fans. Kurtis, Kuzma, and Watson chassis dominated the field. All were nearly powered by the Offenhauser engines. The crowd favorite Novi, with its unique sound and look, was powerful car of the decade that dominated time trials. However, they would never make the full 500 miles in first place, often breaking down before the end or having to make too many pit stops because of the massive engine's thirst for fuel and the weight that went with the extra fuel.

The track’s reputation improved so much the 500-Mile Race became part of the Formula One World Championship for 11 years (1950-1960), even though none of the Indy drivers raced in Formula One and only Ferrari's Alberto Ascari of the F1 drivers at the time raced in the 500. Five time World Champion Juan Fangio practiced at the Speedway in 1958, but ultimately decided against it.

The 1950's were also the most dangerous era of racing. Of the 33 drivers of the 1953 race, one less than half, 16, died from racing accidents.

End of the Roadsters to the Modern IndyCar
 
The start of the first United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis in 2000In October of 1961, the track became completely asphalt, with the exception of a distinct three-foot-wide line of bricks at the start/finish line, turning the "Brickyard" into the "Yard of Bricks."

Ironically, a wave of F1 drivers went to the Speedway in the 1960s, and the rear-engine revolution that was started in F1 by the Cooper team changed the face of the 500 as well; since Jim Clark's win in 1965, every winner has driven a rear-engined car. Graham Hill won the following year in his first attempt, eventually to become the only driver to date to achieve auto racing's "Triple Crown" of winning the World Championship, Indianapolis 500, and Le Mans 24 Hours. There were enough Americans to compete with them, with A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, and Bobby and Al Unser leading the charge in the 1960s and 1970s, of whom Foyt and Al Unser would eventually become, respectively, the first two of to date three drivers to win four times each. In the 1970s the Speedway became more than a race track, as it began to feature a golf course and a hotel.

From 1970 to 1981, Indianapolis had a twin in the city of Ontario, California by the name of the Ontario Motor Speedway, this track was known as the "Indianapolis of the West" and the home of the California 500; but was a financial failure due to bad management and not holding enough races on the racetrack.

The 1980s brought a new generation of speedsters, led by Rick Mears (who recorded the first 200 mph (320 km/h) race lap in 1982), Danny Sullivan, and Bobby Rahal. In 1989, F1 veteran Emerson Fittipaldi astounded both drivers and fans while winning by recording the first 220 mph (350 km/h) lap in a race; before then, Indy had never even witnessed a 210 mph (340 km/h) race lap. The following year witnessed Arie Luyendyk winning in the fastest 500 to date, with an average lap of 185.981 mph (299.307 km/h), and in 1991, Mears becoming the third four-time winner after a late-race duel with Michael Andretti.

NASCAR, Formula One, IROC, PGA golf at Indy

NASCAR - From 1919 to 1993, the 500 was the only racing done on the Brickyard. However, when Tony George (Hulman's grandson) inherited the track, he brought more racing to the Speedway, with the NASCAR Allstate 400 at The Brickyard (until 2005 and still commonly referred to as the Brickyard 400) and an International Race Of Champions (IROC) event. The golf course was changed from 27 holes (nine inside, eighteen outside) to a new 18-hole layout designed by legendary golf architect Pete Dye, with a Champions Tour (formerly the Senior PGA Tour) event hosted there. The 500 itself got a new look in 1996 when it became an event of George's Indy Racing League, formed as a rival to the Champ Car World Series. 

Support Races for the 500, Allstate 400

In 2003, the Menards Infiniti Pro Series, a "minor league" series to the IRL, made history with the first May race other than the 500, the Futaba Freedom 100, which has been moved from the final qualifying weekend to the final practice on Friday before the 500.

The Allstate 400 has no support races; since 2001, qualifying is held on Saturday afternoon and any races supporting the Allstate 400 are held at nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park, where a NASCAR Busch Series race has been held since 1982, 12 years before the first Allstate 400.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Indianapolis Motor Speedway".   More from Wikipedia at http://www.wikipedia.org/