It’s May. And I can only begin to tell you how awesome that is. I mean, you live here, right? Everyone in Indianapolis knows that the Indy 500 isn’t only a race, it’s part of who we are.
But as excited as we are at IMS about all the stuff that’s going on right this very second, what we’re really geeked about at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) is 2016 and the 100th running of the Indy 500. So geeked that we’re already planning for it. But we’ll get back to that in a second.
First, I want to tell about this Saturday (May 10, 2014), the inaugural Indianapolis Grand Prix. We’re strong believers here at the IMS that if you can just get someone through the gates that they’ll be hooked.
Last year I brought an out-of-town friend, a snowboarding hipster, and he ended up loving the 500 so much that this year he’s coming back and bringing four of his friends with him. But I digress.
We’re confident in the experience, and we aim to please. But we also get it: the scale of the 500 precedes us, and sometimes it’s the thought attending the world’s largest single day sporting event that holds people back.
So, we want to invite you back, or maybe for the first time. Come out for the Grand Prix. Parking will be easier. The crowds will be lighter. You can keep your dinner plans downtown. Imagine all the IndyCar fun, a road course through the inside of the oval, and more on the scale of a festival.
We’re hoping to get more people to the track to the alter ego of the Indy 500, the Verizon IndyCar Series and how they zig zag, start and stop and burn rubber on the road course.. These drivers are machines, often times people joke about racing drivers not being athletes, but little do most people know, pound-for-pound Tony Kanaan is the strongest athlete training with St.Vincent Sports Performance. I just never get tired of telling people about that.
Okay, now back to 2016. A few months ago we started collecting personal stories about the 500 and the track and we’ll continue to do so leading up to the 100th running. From the drivers to the die-hard race fans to the stay-at-home radio listeners, every memory is part of our collective story that expresses what the IMS means to Indianapolis and the world. We All Have a Story, and we’d love to hear yours.
We’d also love for you to be an active part of the growing energy around the 500—energy that we’re hoping will rival that of a Super Bowl. Sure, there’s the challenge of hosting the event in the same place every year, but we’ve see it work for the Calgary Stampede, Coachella, Mardi Gras and SXSW.
All humility aside, the 500 is a big deal—and we want everyone in Indianapolis to be a part of it, to be swept up in the excitement. Every city and every person benefits from energy like that.
At the end of the day, yes, I want you to buy a ticket to the Indy 500. I’m a marketing guy, which means it’s my job to want that. But I cannot in a more authentic way tell you that I want you to want that ticket.
Jarrod Krisiloff
Senior Marketing Director
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
