Race Day shuttle service available; Streaming video from IMS online
Roundtrip Race Day bus shuttle service is available for the 96th Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 27 at four convenient locations, including three in downtown Indianapolis and one at Indianapolis International Airport.
Tickets are $25 per person for one-way or round-trip service. Tickets can be ordered in advance at indy500parking.com or indysportsparking.com . They also can be purchased on Race Day at each location, with credit card, debit card and cash accepted.
Service will be provided by the SODREL Companies, the Free Enterprise System and Star of America Motor Coach, in partnership with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Fans will be served with air-conditioned shuttles and handicapped-accessible vehicles on all routes.
Service to the track will start at 8 a.m. at all four locations, with continuous shuttles until noon. Return service will take place for three hours after the end of the race, with all shuttles leaving from the staging area at the parking lot on the southeast corner of 16th Street and Polco Street in Speedway.
Shuttle details:
Pink Route
•Location: 1220 S. West St., Indianapolis (Corner of West and Morris Streets).
•Parking: $5 per car, cash only.
Black Route
•Location: IUPUI Lot 73 and 92, Downtown Campus, Corner of Michigan and California Streets in Indianapolis, with access from Michigan Street.
•Parking: $5 per car, cash only.
Purple Route
•Location: Hampton Inn Downtown, 105 S. Meridian St., Indianapolis (across from Circle Centre Mall and Hard Rock Café)
•Parking: None
Blue Route
•Location: Ground Transportation Lobby, Zone 1 at the airport. Get tickets inside at Star of America booth.
•Parking: $10 per car, airport garage. Fans must show race ticket stub to cashier upon exit to receive this special rate.
***
Streaming video available: Live streaming video of Indianapolis 500 on-track activity will be available throughout the Month of May at www.indycar.com and www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com when ABC or NBC Sports Network is not broadcasting live from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
All press conferences from the Economaki Press Conference Room at the IMS Media Center - including after each practice day and after each successful qualifying attempt on Pole Day and Bump Day - also will be streamed.
***
Celebration of Automobiles Dinner tickets available: Tickets for the general public are available for the Indianapolis 500 Celebration of Automobiles Awards Dinner on Saturday evening, May 12 at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown.
One of the highlights of the dinner will be a lively question-and-answer session between legendary Indianapolis 500 team owner Roger Penske, Indianapolis 500-winning drivers Rick Mears, Tom Sneva and Bobby Unser, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway Historian Donald Davidson.
The dinner starts with cocktails at 6:30 p.m. Tickets for the dinner are $125 per person. Mail checks payable to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to Peggy Swalls, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, P.O. Box 24152, Speedway, IN 46224 or call Swalls at (317) 492-6706. All tickets will be held for pick-up. Attire is country club casual.
During the elegant dinner, a team of expert judges will reveal its choices for several new awards, including the prestigious Road & Track Trophy, the Media Choice Award and the People's Choice Award. First-place awards and other special trophies also will be presented.
***
IMS acquires Vel's Parnelli collection for Museum: The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Foundation has acquired numerous assets from the Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing Collection, including a number of famous racing cars, for permanent display by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
Parnelli Jones is synonymous with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. He won the 1963 Indianapolis 500 and in 1970 and 1971 was the winning co-entrant, along with his longtime friend and business partner, Vel Miletich. Jones also was the first to officially lap the fabled IMS oval faster than 150 mph, in 1962.
Throughout much of the first half of the 1970s, the so-called "Super Team" of Mario Andretti, Al Unser and Joe Leonard ruled supreme in both the Indianapolis 500 and the United States Auto Club (USAC)-sanctioned National Championship series, with Unser and Andretti also being virtually unbeatable during that period in the USAC National Dirt Car series.
Among the famous Indianapolis 500 and other cars recently acquired from the Collection and on display at the Museum are Jim Clark's 1964 Lotus/Ford, the 1968 Lotus "wedge" turbine-powered car, the "Johnny Lightning" P.J. Colt/Ford in which Al Unser won the 1970 and 1971 Indianapolis 500, the 1972 Parnelli/Offy, the 1974-75 Parnelli-Ford DFV driven by Andretti in Formula One and more.
Jones will sign autographs and meet fans from 11 a.m.-1 p.m. on American Family Insurance 500 Festival Community Day Wednesday, May 23 in the Vel's Parnelli Jones Racing Collection room at the IMS Hall of Fame Museum. Besides admission to the track for Community Day, separate admission to the Museum is required for the autograph session.
***
2012 Indianapolis 500 tickets: Tickets are on sale for the 96th Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on Sunday, May 27, 2012 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Race Day ticket prices start at just $30. Fans can buy tickets online at imstix.com, by calling the IMS ticket office at (317) 492-6700, or (800) 822-INDY outside the Indianapolis area, or by visiting the ticket office at the IMS Administration Building at the corner of Georgetown Road and 16th Street between 8 a.m.-5 p.m. (ET) Monday-Friday.
Children 12 and under will be receive free general admission to any IMS event in 2012 when accompanied by an adult general admission ticket holder.
Tickets for groups of 20 or more also are on sale. Contact the IMS Group Sales Department at (866) 221-8775 for more information.
