Here's What 108 Years of Indianapolis Motor Speedway Repaving Looks Like

quote:

---

Before the Indianapolis Motor Speedway became the Brickyard, the famed racetrack's surface was made of of a combination of creek gravel, limestone, taroid, and an array of various stones, and the resulting roadway crumbled like a stale cookie during the track's inaugural auto race, in August 1909. When all was said and done, five fatalities were recorded. By the end of the year, track owner Carl G. Fisher had the track repaved in bricks. And after a year of fatality-free racing, the track held its first ever 500-mile race.

Indy's brick surface survived until 1961, at which point the track was repaved again, only this time in asphalt. It wouldn't be the last time the track would be resurfaced, either; new asphalt has been poured onto the speedway on several occasions since.

Still, underneath each new layer sit the bricks that gave the track its famous nickname, and Doug Boles, president of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, has tweeted out an image of a recent core sample taken from the track—a standard part of track maintenance—that reveals the dynamic nature of the 2.5-mile oval over the course of its 108-year history.

---