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Indianapolis is the 500.
A.J. Foyt once said, “If it wasn’t for the Indianapolis 500, none of you would’ve ever heard of me.” The same might be said of Indianapolis.
Despite a brief scare this week, Indianapolis 500 fans who’ve grown used to obtaining placards to park in private businesses typically blocked off due to race day traffic patterns have no reason to worry about their parking plans for next year’s edition of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
Wednesday evening, fans who had already purchased a parking spot for the sizable lot at the southwest corner of 16th Street and Olin Avenue, owned and operated by private company Turn 2 Indy and not the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, began receiving letters, refunds, or both regarding their reserved parking spots for the 2025 Indy 500. In the letter, a copy of which X user Bryan Friedrich posted to the social media platform, Turn 2 Indy told its customers that the “Indy 500 traffic committee” had decided not to issue traffic placards that had been necessary to gain access to areas otherwise cordoned off by roadblocks on race day morning.
After 35 years of parking dozens of cars and RVs in its lot, Turn 2 Indy thought it would not be able to host fans — some of whom had made parking there part of their longtime race day morning plans.
It appears, however, the owners and operators of the lot had a miscommunication with Speedway city officials and members of the police department, according to IMS president Doug Boles.
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After the issue was brought to Boles’ attention Thursday evening, he says he spoke with the Speedway Police chief — the city’s police force issues the placards each year that allowed holders to drive past barriers that otherwise blocked certain streets and access to some private businesses — and was told there had been no such decision and there is no Indy 500 traffic committee. There is a ‘law enforcement committee’ made up of local, city and state law enforcement officials that IMS works with to form traffic plans and patterns for race day.
Boles also said he spoke with the parking lot owners, Friday, who said they would be reaching back out to customers to communicate that parking abilities had been reinstated so those who’d grown used to parking there could ensure their spots would be secured and paid for for next May after refunds had been issued.
According to Boles, two-thirds of the nearly 350,000 Indy 500 race day fans park on property somewhere that IMS doesn’t own — whether it’s a side street, private business, private lot or a homeowner’s front lawn. Despite this week’s confusion, there’s no plans to hinder or scale back those capabilities, he said.
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