INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The new episode of Behind the Bricks takes viewers to a spot that is strictly off-limits for most of us: the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum. The signature attraction just inside the 16th Street track entrance is closed for a massive renovation.

To quench some of the curiosity about what’s happening behind closed doors, IMS President Doug Boles takes us on a tour, guided in part by Mandi Bender, the museum’s vice president of operations.

“It’s going great,” Bender told said in a visit with WISH-TV’s Daybreak. “I think this is a great opportunity for us to showcase that. It’s not just putting some paint on the walls and sprucing things up, it’s a full renovation.”

In the podcast, we learn that a familiar sight above the historic cars is going away. Even though architects in many home and office renovations try to add natural light to old spaces, it’s exactly the opposite at the museum. It turns out the large skylight over the museum’s main showplace may have been doing more harm than good.

“For our artifacts, for our collection, natural light is a killer, really,” Bender explained. “So we have a giant hole in the roof right now, but we’re starting to add in steel.”

Bender says interior demolition, the “gutting” phase, is essentially done and construction has begun. The fundraising is still underway, too.

“Yes, we’re building the plane while we’re flying it and paying for it,” she acknowledged. “We announced our capital campaign at $89-million this past June. And we are still fundraising to this day. We’ve got some great donors, some great partners, but that’s still always something that we’re looking for.”

If any uncertainties about the project remain, Bender does not hedge when talking about the timeline, saying firmly that the revamped museum will definitely re-open in April 2025.

Behind the Bricks is available through the All Indiana Podcast Network and all of the IMS social media channels.