As the rubber meets the road, Indianapolis Motor Speedway gears up for a blockbuster event with the official sellout of the 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500, a racing spectacle that's revving up to welcome nearly 350,000 enthusiasts later this month—a crowd that trumps the population of any Indiana city barring Indianapolis itself, as per WTHR. But if you're thinking this sellout is an anomaly, let me steer you to 2016 when the stands were last packed to the brim for the race's centennial celebration.
Speed aficionados might still have a shot at snagging one of the fewer than 1,000 grandstand seats lingering on the market, as reported today, and although IMS President J. Douglas Boles and Penske Entertainment's Big Wheel Mark Miles are betting those seats will disappear faster than a qualifying lap by early next week, some general admission tickets remain up for grabs—allowing fans to mingle in the IMS infield until the checkered flag waves, according to IndyStar.
In an equally swift turn of events, the infamously rigid local television blackout has been kicked to the curb, in anticipation of the sellout, deciding that, if you can't make it to the actual grandstands, at least you won't have to dodge spoilers until the network replay. Doug Boles told ESPN, "We will lift the local delay in the Indianapolis market so those folks here in Indianapolis can watch the Indianapolis 500 live when its run," ensuring that both the race and Indiana Pacers fans can bask in a day of peak local sports without jostling for a view.
So if you’re planning to join the throngs of fans, or if you’re just aiming to kick back and witness "The Greatest Spectacle in Racing" from the comfort of your couch with a cold drink in hand, know that Fox Sports, the new kid on the IndyCar block, is giddily bringing the action to your screens, citing Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks's exuberance about broadcasting the event live for the first time in Central Indiana, reminiscent of cherry picking your favorite IndyCar moments but without the wait, "Fox Sports is all in on IndyCar, and this is an incredible accomplishment to celebrate with our first Indy 500 broadcast," Shanks said brimming with the same energy a kid in a candystore might have, according to a ESPN interview.
A reminder for those not keeping tally: Indianapolis Motor Speedway sits at the pole position with 232,000 grandstand seats, escalated by suite tickets and the army of race day employees, with legions of fans piling into the infield—a sum total propelling us to that 350,000 mark, Boles explained to ESPN.
