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track had been asphalted, except for the famous yard of bricks, a thirty-six inch strip of the original brick raceway on the start finish line.

During this early period the engineering team of Henry Miller dominated the race, winning eleven times between 1922 and 1938. His former apprentice Fred Offenhauser then took over the mantle, winning in 1935 and with a record of twenty-seven total wins with eighteen consecutive wins between 1947 and 1964.

1977 was an historic year for the Indy 500; the first 200mph lap was recorded by Tom Sneva, Janet Guthrie became the first woman to qualify and A J Foyt became the first person to win four times. Sadly this was also the year Terry Hulman died. His wife took over the running of the company.

With cars getting ever faster the dangers to racers from debris or accidents on the track led to the introduction of the pace car on the track during the race, and the pack up rule was introduced. As cars got faster the time of the race came down and in 1988 Bobby Rahal became the first driver to complete the race in less than three hours.

In 1994 a new racing league was announced, the Indy series. The cornerstone of which is the Indy 500. The track now hosts the American formula one grand prix and NASCAR events and can be considered the home of motor racing in the United States.

As cars have got faster the race way has been continually upgraded with the track smoothing and extra safety pads and walls being introduced. New records are set nearly every year for top speeds and average speeds, for the number of wins by teams and drivers, for the audience size and for the money involved. The Indy500 is now a multi million-dollar industry, not bad for an event that started as an idea to test new cars off the public highway.

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