Improvements coming to IMS ahead of race day

SPEEDWAY, Ind. — We’re just about two weeks away from the greatest day in racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the town and track are making improvements to give race fans an even better experience than last year.

President of IMS Doug Boles said over $50 million has gone into updating the track over the last four years.

“For us, investing in all these things is really important and Rogers really focused on making sure what we’re doing when we’re investing in the facility is making the customer experience better,” said Boles. “This is another perfect example of how we’re doing that.”

New this year: when visitors leave the campgrounds and get inside the gates, fans will be greeted with a big screen to keep them in on all the action.

“Everybody that’s sitting here, when they come out to the concessions or just want to get out of the grandstands, they didn’t have a way to continue to keep up,” said Boles. “For us, this was just replicating what we did at turn one for turn four.”

As you head through the tunnels and get inside the oval track, GA ticket holders on some of the spectator mounds can also view the race placements on 12 new screens and speakers.

“This past weekend for the Sonsio Grand Prix, it’s one of the things we heard the most from our customers was how much they loved having these video boards here,” he said.

When it’s time to pit stop for a bite to eat, people can now self-serve and check out their favorites.

“It’s basically a grab and go, so you can pick up your drinks, you’ve got chips, your snacks,” said Boles. “What makes this a little bit more unique is it’s got your hot food. So your hot dog, your bratwurst, just your staple items.”

With the exception of 2016, ticket sales are already higher than they’ve ever been.

“We have 350,000 visitors coming in and it’s important to make the community look its best,” said Grant Kleinhenz, town manager for Speedway.

The City of Speedway said one of their new additions from last year is a new building on the south end of Main Street meant to host condos, a restaurant and a design store that are all eager to open their doors for race day.

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