I know that the guys on here have a wealth of information and are usually willing to share. 

For Christmas this year my girlfriend got us tickets to the Indy 500.  Starting Friday May 24, we are camping at a site a little over an hour from the Speedway.  We have heard many stories about parking for the race. 

I would like to:

1. Have some idea of what time we need to leave on race day
2. Whether we should pursue tickets in a Speedway lot, or chance parking at someone's private parking
3. What we should expect to pay. 

We did try to join a group from the Speedway, but right away those people were insulted about us asking the same question as hundreds of other people have asked in the past. 

I would appreciate any sincere advice from you guys. 

Thank you!

Tom

I stayed on N. Auburn for years. You could see the Pagoda from my late friends deck. 2023 will be our last year there but I think they were charging $40 to park there last year.  Good safe neighborhood. My wife and I parked cars for the guy across the street earlier that weekend while he was away for an hour.  He let us keep what we made.

The saying on Race Day there is, "If you leave at 9am you'll miss the start."

I cannot comment much on any parking lots as we always arrive on Thursday and leave on Monday morning. The whole neighborhood where we stayed was gridlock for a couple hours after the race every year. I will say it's a breeze getting out one day after the race lol.

Go to www.trackforum.com  and set up a screen name. It is an Indy-centric message board.  Ask any questions you have there. I've been on there over 20 years and everyone is happy to share knowledge.

We are staying at Brown County State Park, which on a normal day is supposed to be a little over an hour away from Speedway.  Our seats are in the North East Vista Turn 3.

2 years ago was our first visit.  Stayed about 30 minutes away on a normal day.  Left arond 630AM and took at least 3 hours in traffic to get there & park.  We had purchased parking on the grounds.  What I noticed nearing the track that prices range from about $25 to a $100.  The closer you get to the track, the more it costs.  Not sure shat advice to give there.  Depends how far you want to walk.  

Thanks, Katman!  Our Campground is about an hour away on an average day.  This is the part that scares me.  I was hoping that after all of these years, that they had the parking down to a science.  I guess for the seasoned veterans it's nothing, but as I stated before I'm used to PA NJ NY short track dirt racing.

Just north of Indy is Anderson In., Saturday night they run the "Lil 500". 33 non wing sprint cars on a high bank 1/4 mile asphalt track for 500 laps. Not a bad seat in the house and ya gotta see it to believe it.

I went to the Cup races in 94 & 95 and they had busses that left from the Hoosier dome.  A lot of parking there and right to the speedway.  We were fortunate enough to be on the Goodwrench dealer deal, so our busses were police escorted in .  That deal is lonnnnng gone!

It was over 40 years ago, but Kevin's post above reminded me of how we used to get to and from the track on race day. (Did it throughout the 70's, and well into the 80's.)

My father and I would park downtown (right across from the main bus station) and they had all of the city buses dedicated to running closed off routes back and forth to the speedway (about a 20 minute ride if I remember correctly.)  We would get to the downtown parking lot probably 3 - 4 hours before the start of the race, and then board a bus that would drop us off right near the first turn of the speedway.  If we arrived early enought to get on a bus, it was really stress free because not everyone was trying to get from downtown to the track at the same moment, so it was kind of a slow build.  That was the easy part.

The tougher part is when everyone (a few hundred thousand!) are all trying to leave right around the same time, right at the end of the race.  The line for buses then was huge, especially if your seats were not near where the buses were picking up (again, back then it was right near turn 1), as those seated closer to the departure point would be able to get in line for the buses ahead of those of us who had farther walks.

I don't know if there is 2024 version of city buses running from downtown to and from the speedway, but I do remember it was reasonably priced and we at least had the confidence that we'd get to the track... and to then not have to worry about finding a parking spot once we got out there.  If it still exists (buses from downtown), it might be worth looking into, but as everyone has agreed in their earlier post, being a lot earlier for things rather than a little late, will pay dividends as far as getting to the track and enjoying the event.

If you are fortunate enough to get to the track early, there's also a lot of pagentry (sp?) and stuff to watch/enjoy before the race... Plus it's a great day for people watching as you'll see it all and then some when 400,000 people all show up for a race....

Hey Joe,  It sounds like you and your Dad had a good plan for going in when you went.  I agree that on the way out could be an issue.  We are sitting in the third turn, so we would probably be #280,000 in line to get the bus after the race. 

Sounds like you did have a great deal there with the Goodwrench bunch...escorted in!!  Did you ever attend the Indy 500, or just the Brickyard? 

Thanks Gene!  I have heard and read about the Little 500.  It does sound pretty ambitious for us to attend.  Probably if we were staying in between the two tracks I would have loved to take that in as well.

Thanks again Kevin!  We really do appreciate your expertise.  We may go to Bloomington Friday night if all goes well.  Then take it easy Saturday, figuring in that Sunday will be a long day for sure.  Right now, I feel that we can't leave too early on race day, maybe setting a goal of 5am.  Also thanks for your number, it's in my phone.

I went twice to the brickyard and twice for the F1. The F1 we stayed in a camper across from the track so I can't tell you about the transportation. I could never make the 500 because I usually race it Wall Stadium and Memorial Day weekend was a big race weekend. I definitely want to go to the 500, but actually the TV coverage is so good because all the pagentry stuff they show up close, you cannot see unless you were sitting on the front straightaway.   It's not a great site lines track. 

I agree, as far as viewing it is better on today's TV.  It is a bucket list thing for me because of the "experience".  This will probably be my one and only time there.  I may try to stop back again to see the museum sometime, but not during race week.  I also have the Chili Bowl on my radar to try at least one time.  Thanks, Tom

I understand the curator of the museum is the grand daughter of Joe Julian, owner of Julians Towing in Sayreville. Joe past away this January.