Indianapolis Motor Speedway
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50 free Indianapolis Motor Speedway trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is older than the race that made it famous. It opened in 1909 as a proving ground for Indiana's young car industry, and more than a century later it is still the home of the Indianapolis 500 and one of the most visited places in the state. This quiz collects the fun facts about the Indianapolis Motor Speedway that fans love to trade: how the Brickyard got its nickname, who has owned the track, the rituals that surround race day, and the drivers whose wins changed the sport. It also covers the stranger chapters, from wartime service to the non-racing events that have filled the infield. The questions suit race fans, Hoosiers and anyone planning a visit or a trivia night. Every answer comes with a short explanation, so you will leave with a few stories worth retelling in the grandstand.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in June 1909, in the first event ever held there?
Gas balloons
Gas balloons lifted off two months before the oval was finished, and the winner drifted for more than a day before landing 382 miles away in Alabama.
Q 02About how many bricks were hand-laid in 1909 to pave the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the Brickyard?
3.2 million
3.2 million bricks, each weighing about 10 pounds, were set by hand over a bed of sand. All but a three-foot strip at the start-finish line now lie under asphalt.
Q 03Ray Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 without a riding mechanic by fitting his car with which device?
A rear-view mirror
A rear-view mirror did the job of the mechanic who normally watched for overtaking cars, though Harroun later said the rough track shook it so badly that it was largely useless.
Q 04What is the Indianapolis 500 winner handed to drink in Victory Lane, a custom Louis Meyer began in 1936?
Milk
A bottle of milk became the ritual after Meyer asked for buttermilk on a hot day. Drivers now say in advance whether they want whole, 2 percent or fat-free.
Q 05Which entire country could fit inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval with room to spare for Yankee Stadium?
Vatican City
Vatican City covers about 110 acres, less than half of the 253-acre oval. The track's own list of things that fit inside adds Churchill Downs and the Rose Bowl.
Q 06What do Indianapolis Motor Speedway winners do to the start-finish bricks, a custom Dale Jarrett began in 1996?
Kiss them
Winners kiss them, a ritual Jarrett and his crew began after the 1996 Brickyard 400. It crossed over to the Indianapolis 500 with Gil de Ferran in 2003.
Q 07Which food brand raced six hot-dog-shaped vehicles at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2025's Wienie 500?
Oscar Mayer
Oscar Mayer brought all six of its Wienermobiles to the oval, each one representing a different region of the United States.
Q 08Which actor, TV's Gomer Pyle, sang "Back Home Again in Indiana" before most Indianapolis 500s from 1972 to 2014?
Jim Nabors
Jim Nabors made the song his own over four decades. For his farewell in 2014 he was also invited to help give the command to start engines.
Q 09Which award carries a sculpted likeness of the face of every Indianapolis 500 winner since 1911?
Borg-Warner Trophy
The Borg-Warner Trophy is never given away: it stays at the track's museum, so since 1988 each winner has taken home a small replica nicknamed the Baby Borg.
Q 10Which multi-sport event held its 1987 opening ceremony on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's main straight?
Pan American Games
The Pan American Games opened on the front straight with thousands of performers, and the track then hosted the speed roller skating events too.
Q 11Which Indianapolis businessman, later the developer of Miami Beach, dreamed up the Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
Carl Fisher
Carl Fisher wanted a proving ground for Indiana's carmakers. He went on to champion the Lincoln Highway, the first road for cars across the whole United States.
Q 12Which World War I flying ace, later head of Eastern Air Lines, owned the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1927 to 1945?
Eddie Rickenbacker
Eddie Rickenbacker had driven in the Indianapolis 500 four times before he bought the track, and as owner he added a golf course to the infield.
Q 13Which Terre Haute heir to Clabber Girl baking powder bought the run-down Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945?
Tony Hulman
Q 21Which tire maker's safety fears left only six cars racing in the 2005 United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis?
Michelin
Michelin found its tires could not cope with the banked final turn, so its teams pulled into the pits after the formation lap and only the six Bridgestone cars started.
Q 22Which driver won the first United States Grand Prix held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, in 2000?
Michael Schumacher
Michael Schumacher won from pole in front of one of the largest crowds Formula One had ever drawn, on a new road course built inside the oval.
Q 23Which driver, raised partly in Pittsboro, Indiana, won NASCAR's first Brickyard 400 in 1994?
Jeff Gordon
Tony Hulman paid a reported $750,000 for a track overgrown with weeds after four idle wartime years, and his family went on to own it for three generations.
Q 14Which racing team owner bought the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series in a deal announced in 2019?
Roger Penske
Roger Penske, the boss of Team Penske, took over from the Indiana family that had owned the track for three generations since 1945.
Q 15What nickname is given to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway garage area, part of which burned down in 1941?
Gasoline Alley
Gasoline Alley keeps its name even though Indianapolis 500 cars gave up gasoline long ago, racing instead on alcohol fuels.
Q 16Which name is given to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway's control tower, first built in 1913?
The Pagoda
The Pagoda began as a wooden tower. The present version, finished in 2000, houses race control and the media center.
Q 17Since the first race in 1911, the Indianapolis 500 has traditionally been tied to which national holiday?
Memorial Day
Memorial Day was chosen partly because Indiana farmers had just finished haying and had a two-week break, which promised a bigger crowd.
Q 18What nickname has been given since the 1960s to the rowdy infield party zone at the Indianapolis 500?
The Snake Pit
The Snake Pit grew up in the turn one infield, where many revellers had little interest in the racing. It now hosts an electronic dance music concert on race day.
Q 19Which university's band, owner of a giant bass drum, has been the Indianapolis 500's official band since 1919?
Purdue
Purdue brings its Big Bass Drum, built in Indianapolis in 1921 and billed as the world's largest, and the drum is driven around the track before the race.
Q 20Which name is given to the final Indianapolis 500 practice session, held on the Friday before the race?
Carb Day
Carb Day is short for Carburetion Day, a name that has stuck even though no car in the race has used a carburetor since 1963.
Jeff Gordon took the lead for good late in the race when Ernie Irvan blew a tire. It was only the second Cup win of the 23-year-old's career.
Q 24Which Texan became the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 four times with his 1977 victory?
A. J. Foyt
A. J. Foyt had also won the 1964 race, the last Indianapolis 500 victory for a car with its engine in front of the driver.
Q 25Which former aerospace engineer became the first woman to qualify for the Indianapolis 500, in 1977?
Janet Guthrie
Janet Guthrie retired after 27 laps that day, but a year later she finished ninth while hiding a fractured wrist from race officials.
Q 26Which driver became the first woman to lead the Indianapolis 500 in 2005 and later finished third in 2009?
Danica Patrick
Danica Patrick led as a rookie while rivals cycled through pit stops, and her third place four years later was the best finish by a woman in the race's history.
Q 27Which driver won the 1966 Indianapolis 500 at his first attempt and later completed motorsport's Triple Crown?
Graham Hill
Graham Hill added a Le Mans victory in 1972 to his Indianapolis and Monaco wins, becoming the first driver to complete the set.
Q 28Which Scottish driver's 1965 win in a Lotus was the first Indianapolis 500 victory for a rear-engine car?
Jim Clark
Jim Clark's win ended the era of front-engine roadsters for good: every Indianapolis 500 winner since has had the engine behind the driver.
Q 29Which driver, later a Formula One world champion, won the Indianapolis 500 only once, in 1969?
Mario Andretti
Mario Andretti made 29 attempts at the race and finished the full distance just five times, a run of near misses that fans call the Andretti Curse.
Q 30Which four-time Indianapolis 500 winner is nicknamed Spider-Man for climbing the catch fence after victories?
Hélio Castroneves
Hélio Castroneves won the race as a rookie in 2001 and joined the four-time winners in 2021, twenty years after that first victory.