1909

THE YARD OF BRICKS AT THE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

Although the practice dates to the mid-1990s, it seems that racers have been “kissing the bricks” in Indianapolis forever. The tradition started after NASCAR’s Dale Jarrett and his crew chief, Todd Parrott, lowered themselves to their knees, turned their caps around, and did just that after winning the Brickyard 400 in 1996. They were saying thanks—both for the victory and for the history that is paved into every turn of the 2.5-mile oval that is the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Every Brickyard winner since has followed suit, and starting a few years later, so have winners of the Indianapolis 500, who pucker up after drinking the traditional glass of milk on the same track. Sometimes drivers kiss the bricks alone; usually, it’s a moment for team and family, too.

The 9.5-pound bricks themselves date back to the earliest days of American motor sports. Carl Fisher, a successful bicycle salesman,¹ was transitioning to the auto business. He envisioned Indianapolis as “the world’s greatest center of horseless carriage manufacturing.” But it would need a track for testing. “What could be more logical than building the world’s greatest racetrack right here?”²

Fisher missed on the first part of the prediction; Detroit, not Indianapolis, became the horseless-carriage hub. But the Speedway is still the world’s largest sports venue, seating more than 257,000 people. And Fisher himself helped to pave the United States, by promoting the first cross-country road suitable for cars, the New York to San Francisco Lincoln Highway,³ as well as the Chicago to Miami Dixie Highway.

The first track on the site opened in August 1909, but its tar-gravel-oil surface was unforgiving to vehicles and deadly to their drivers, who couldn’t keep the cars steady on the slippery track. Several competitors and spectators died in the first few days of racing, and the American Automobile Association said it would boycott the Speedway unless a safer surface was installed. Brick, which was durable and offered better traction, was a natural choice. It took 3.2 million bricks to cover the original track, over a base of sand. The track reopened in December, and by the time the first Indianapolis 500 took place, it was already referred to as the Brickyard. Over time, asphalt replaced the brick, first on the turns, and then on the rest of the track. Except, that is, for the three-foot strip at the start/finish line shown in the picture opposite, known as the “Yard of Bricks.”⁴