Reimagined and reopened museum at Indianapolis Motor Speedway aims to be more than just a museum

INDIANAPOLIS — Rick Mears spent some time recently walking through the reimagined, rebuilt and recently reopened museum at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, which houses some of the cars and artifacts from his long and distinguished career in motorsports.

It was on the new lower level, though, which had been used as storage and off limits to guests, where the four-time Indy 500 winner had to pause. The only other drivers to win that many times are A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Helio Castroneves, and together one of the smallest clubs in auto racing had an entire wing dedicated just to them.

''It's unbelievable. It really is,'' Mears said. ''First of all, I never dreamed of being included in a list like that to begin with, period, and to be there with all the four winners and the way it's done up, and watch videos of all four races and be involved with it — it brings back a lot of memories, to begin with. But it's just an honor to be a part of it.''

The museum, tucked inside the 2.5-mile oval between Turns 1 and 2, closed for nearly 18 months as it underwent its first major renovation in four decades, and the product of the $60.5 million project was revealed to the public on April 2.

With the Indianapolis 500 on deck this weekend, thousands of fans are expected to flood through the seven permanent galleries, three rotating galleries and roughly 40,000 square feet of new space that houses new immersive and dynamic experiences.

''We wanted the museum to be more than just a gallery,'' said museum president Joe Hale, who spearheaded the fundraising and construction effort. ''We wanted this to be a space that people can come back to over and over again.''

The old museum was primarily of a large, cavernous space that allowed guests to meander through cabinets full of fire suits, trophies and other relics, which told the story of a speedway that not only has hosted the Indy 500 since 1911 but also NASCAR races, motorcycle races, the Red Bull Air Race and even gas-filled balloon competitions.

Of course, there are still extensive spaces showcasing artifacts from more than a century of racing at the speedway, and dozens of cars from the museum's vast collection are on display. But the rebirthed museum represents more than that, from cutting-edge interactive technology to STEM spaces that can be used for school field trips and summer camps.

It begins by taking visitors on a guided tour through a recreation of the garage area, known as Gasoline Alley, as it has looked over the years. There are the old, wooden stalls from the early 1900s, antiquated spaces used by Foyt and Mario Andretti in the ‘60s and '70s, and more modern spaces that teams have used to prepare their cars for this weekend.

Then, visitors flood into the ''Starting Line Experience." There, replicas of the cars making up the front row of the Indy 500 sit as if they are on the starting grid. Video boards running along the walls and ceiling make guests feel as though they are right there on race day, preparing to take part in "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.''

Eventually, visitors spill into three levels of gallery spaces: the new mezzanine dedicated to non-vehicle artifacts, including the fire suit of reigning IndyCar champ Alex Palou; the main level, featuring numerous cars and a wing dedicated to IndyCar and Indianapolis Motor Speedway owner Roger Penske and his accomplishments in racing; and the lower level, where the four-time winners are celebrated and a rotating gallery includes cars from Chip Ganassi Racing.

Last month, the museum used proceeds from the sale of 11 vehicles unrelated to Indianapolis Motor Speedway — including a rare Mercedes W 196 R — to help purchase 14 cars from the Ganassi team, including five Indy 500 winners.

''I was very pleased that for many years, our Indy-winning cars have been in our race shop, sitting up there on the wall,'' Ganassi said. ''Forty-seven people a year would see them up there, and it was kind of a, ‘Hey, that's our Indy winners up there on the wall.' But the fact of the matter is it dawned on me one day that they should be among other Indy winners.''

Now they are on display for thousands of visitors every day.

There was still money left over from the sale of the museum's other cars, though, and that will provide a sizeable boost to its endowment. The plan eventually is to build a separate preservation shop near the track to not only work on its 200-plus cars, most of which are running, but also display more of them along with some of the other 55,000 items in the collection.

''It's really a special place,'' Ganassi said. ''I would encourage you to go see it. It's going to take this — I think it's going to add a lot to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It's going to add a lot to the race. It's going to add a lot to the community.''

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