Never before seen history at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (WISH) — Prior to the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum has marked down record attendance with fans soaking in Indy 500 folklore.
IMS Museum President Joe Hale highlights new installations to the museum to News 8’s Marcus Bailey.
“We’ve got three new exhibitions that have just opened already this year. We have three more exhibitions planned to open,” said Hale.
The spectacle and history of the race still amazes Hale when he comes into work.
“I feel like I’ve got a ‘pinch-me job’, I really do, and and we’re making history every year. Our job is to preserve the history of the epic drama of the 500. That’s really what we’re trying to do with all the exhibitions that we have here.”
However, the gem of the museum may just be the newly opened basement collection that has its own unique mystique to it.
News 8’s Cody Adams interviewed Luke Edwards, Manager of Digital Content for the IMS Museum, for an exclusive look at what is beneath the museum.
“You were only allowed to come down here if you are an employee and needed to or if you knew somebody, you had a connection. It was always a secret to the outside world as to what was behind those closed doors. Until now. There are over 100 cars at any one time down here.” said Edwards.
Fans can only see what the basement collection highlights by going in person, as phones and cameras are prohibited. There’s a certain level of sacredness that surrounds the collection.
“Being around all that history is an eerie feeling. It’s almost hard to believe the basement collection has been there the entire time when you walk through it. You just get this sense of the history. It almost feels like you’re walking among the ghosts of the speedway. Seeing the cars up close and personal transports you to a time when those ghosts were alive. You can swear that you almost hear that the car is running, and what they sounded like back in the day on the track.” said Edwards.