Parking around the Indy 500 and Brickyard 400 earns property owners hundreds on race days

The Speedway High Spark Plugs have about 670 parking spaces at their high school—which is more than there are students. In a typical year, students help park cars on Indy 500 race weekend and the money helps fund athletic programs. But in 2020, Speedway High School's Athletic Department lost $20,000 when race fans weren't allowed in the stands at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the Indy 500.

Speedway High isn't alone in turning excess parking spaces into revenue. People all over Speedway turn their driveways and front lawns into parking lots each year, eking out a parking spot for everything from motorcycles to RVs. This got me wondering: how much money do they make letting people park in their yard on race days? And how long would it take for that money to pay off an average 30-year mortgage?

Speedway High School charges $30 per car on race weekend. Most private homeowners charge anywhere between $10 and $40 for the day, depending on how close they are to the track. Since most of the lawns and driveways around Speedway are pretty small, most people aren't making $20,000 like Speedway High, but the average homeowner can usually fit 5-7 cars on their lot.

Some people plan ahead and drive their personal vehicles someplace else to make more room in garages, carports, driveways, and streets on race days.

Assuming you were among the closest homes to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and you let 7 people and two motorcycles park on your property for $40 a car and $30 for motorcycles, you could expect to make about $340 a day. 

Since many drivers go camping in the infield or spend all weekend in town, you could optimistically make $340 a day for 2 days, or $680. Not bad for a weekend's worth of work and almost always in pure cash.

It's hardly enough to pay off a mortgage, but it's a great supplement to a single month's mortgage payment.

What other creative ways to park are there in Speedway?

If you're looking for a parking space around IMS, the parking inside and around the track sells out quickly. There are far more fans—about 300,000 in total, making it the world's largest single-day sporting event (short of the multi-day Olympics, one imagines)—than spaces.

• The track's infield parking spaces and surrounding parking lots fill up fast in a first-come-first-serve race starting at 6 a.m. The IMS ticket office has more details about parking and tailgating, but needless to say: coming early is highly recommended.

• You can take a bus to the race area. IndyGo operates a special stop near 16th and Polco Street. 

• Taxis, Lyft, and Uber also operate at a special pick up and drop/off point near 10th and Polco Street.

Hundreds of people ride bikes to the Brickyard, Indy500, and other races. Bicyclists are used to the best parking anywhere they go, and the track is no different. Cyclists can park in a lot behind Daredevil Brewery on Main Street. A special escort usually will take cyclists from City Market Downtown to the lot at 9:30 a.m. Bike Indianapolis (formerly IndyCog) has more. The money funds Bike Indianapolis' efforts and advocacy for trails and events.

Other places have fundraisers for parking spaces, too:

• Speedway Junior High has about 80 parking spots. Funds raised go to the band and athletic programs.

• The Speedway Redevelopment Commission has parking spaces, often in vacant or temporarily unused lots. You can call 317-442-2639 to reserve a spot.

• Speedway Trails Association has roughly 350 spots near Winton and Crawfordsville, some along trails where there's enough grass not to block safe passage. Prices start at $50, going down to $30 depending on how far away from the gate you get. Funds go to the Trails Association.

How did so many homes get built around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway anyway?

The story of Speedway is the story of America. Before the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was home to the Indy 500 and Nascar races like the Nascar Xfinity Series and the Nascar Cup Series, it was a testing ground for cars and tires.

Indianapolis was a hub of automotive manufacturing at the start of the twentieth century, and all those automakers, tire makers, and part makers needed a safe way to test their newest products and automobiles. So, the track was built and they were off to the races.

Speedway itself has always been tied to the track. Not surprising given its name. But in 1910 and 1920, Indianapolis was a much different city. Speedway was a relatively remote landscape. Homes tracked closely to the present-day near north, east, south, and west sides. Neighborhoods like Fletcher Place, Holy Cross, and homes along North Delaware, College, and Central were the most established areas surrounding the downtown area.

That all changed after World War II. Thousands of returning soldiers buoyed by the GI bill, advancing education, prosperity, and income, plus a huge advance in federal funding for new home construction and highways meant people (primarily white people) moved outward. In Marion County, places near Lawrence, Southport, Beech Grove, and Speedway became hot new suburban markets to build a home.

All those soldiers starting families in the 50s after WWII built modest homes along places like 10th Street, Georgetown Road, and West 16th Street. They're smaller than modern suburban homes but no less perfect for people who don't need 3,000 square feet or want to worry about cleaning and maintaining so much house. 

A typical bungalow-style home in Speedway still comes with a yard, porch, most likely a basement, and quick access to places in and around Indianapolis. And a few times each spring and summer, the air fills with the sound of IndyCars and Nascar races zipping around the track at over 200 MPH.

Today we call Speedway, Beech Grove, and Lawrence "excluded cities" and "inner ring suburbs" because they exist as more suburban alternatives to places near Downtown, but are distinctly different from present-day suburbs like Fishers, Plainfield, Greenwood, and Carmel, which are "outer ring suburbs". 

Speedway, like Lawrence and Beech Grove, were large enough to maintain their own police and fire departments, City Councils, and a Mayor, as well as modest parks and road departments even after the 1970s' "Unigov" merger between Indianapolis-Marion County and many of the smaller towns that once existed separately, like Nora, Broad Ripple, Crow’s Nest, and others.

There are such stark similarities between Speedway and a place like Beech Grove, which formed, developed, and grew at roughly the same time and pace. The houses are similar in architecture, the development style is similar, they’re both working-class areas with sidewalks, parks, and amenities that speak to their eras. 

Whereas Beech Grove grew with the formation of major employers like Amtrak, Speedway has always proudly tied itself to auto racing, the Indy Motor Speedway, and later advanced manufacturing employers like Rolls Royce.

Ready to use your driveway as a parking lot for race fans?

If you're interested in a home near pit road, let's talk. May in Speedway is always the most exciting time of year, but Speedway is charming year-round with small shops, a lovely downtown Main Street, and local schools that feel like a small town because it is a small town. 

Speedway is an excellent place for people who want that small-town charm with urban amenities like public transportation, parks, trails, and—at least a few times a year—really great parking spaces near the gate to the racing capital of the world.

Call or email me to get started.