Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park

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Template:Short description Template:Distinguish Template:Infobox motorsport venue

Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park (formerly Indianapolis Raceway Park, O'Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis, and Lucas Oil Raceway) is an auto racing facility in Brownsburg, Indiana, United States, about Template:Cvt northwest of downtown Indianapolis. It includes a Template:Cvt oval track, a Template:Cvt road course (which has fallen into disrepair and is no longer used), and a Template:Cvt drag strip which is among the premier drag racing venues in the world. The complex receives about 500,000 visitors annually.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

History

File:Lucas Oil raceway shield.png
The track was known as Lucas Oil Raceway from 2011 to 2021

In 1958, 15 Indianapolis-area businessmen and racing professionals led by Tom Binford, Frank Dickie, Rodger Ward, and Howard Fieber invested $5,000 each to fund the development of a Template:Convert farm tract into a recreational sporting complex that would focus on auto racing. The original intention was to create a 15-turn, Template:Convert road course, but as an insurance measure against economic problems, the investment group decided to incorporate a quarter-mile drag strip into the long straightaway of the road course design. Constructed with assistance from the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), the drag strip was the first to be completed, with the facility's first event held on the strip in the fall of 1960. The facility was called Indianapolis Raceway Park. A year later, a Template:Convert paved oval was completed to finish off the track capabilities of the complex. The oval track was used as-is until an overall track renovation was completed in 1988 in order to increase speed on the track.

The premier feature of Lucas Oil Raceway is a Template:Convert long drag strip. The single NHRA event held at the facility is the oldest and most prestigious of the series. The NHRA U.S. Nationals, held every year during the Labor Day weekend, is the only event on the NHRA schedule with final eliminations scheduled on a Monday. An all-star style race, called the Traxxas Nitro Shootout, is held for the two nitro divisions (Top Fuel on Saturday and Funny Car on Sunday). The winners in each division win $100,000 US, while the race itself has the largest purse of any NHRA sanctioned event at over $250,000 US. The drag strip has held the event every year since 1961, when the race was moved from Detroit.

Sprint and midget races are held on the oval, along with other events suited to a shorter track. Raceway Park traditionally stages an extensive program on the Saturday nights of major races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. On Memorial Day weekend, the venue hosts a USAC Silver Crown, Sprint Car and Midget Car event, serving as something of an unofficial preliminary event to the Indianapolis 500. It was previously held on Saturday Night under the name Night before the 500, and is currently held on Friday night as the Carb Night Classic. Similarly, the NASCAR Nationwide Series Kroger 200 was given a "Night before the 400" status; a Truck Series race was added to the weekend in 1995. When Formula One raced at IMS, midget, sprint, and stock car races were held at ORP in the "Night Before F1" meets, including the 2002 and 2003 USGP races that featured a twin 25-lap midget format, with a full inversion, and the winner winning $50,000 if they could win both features.

The 15-turn road course was used by the Indianapolis area Sports Car Club of America road racing events. The initial Indianapolis Raceway Park road race was an SCCA event held in 1961. In 1965, rookie driver Mario Andretti won his first Indy car race on the road course, in an event that was historic in that it was the first time in modern history that American Indy cars raced on a road circuit. For the next six years, the road course hosted the Hoosier Grand Prix, a round of the USAC National Championship Series, the same series that included the Indianapolis 500, as well as the USAC Stock Car series, including the Yankee 300. Notably, in the 1969 movie Winning, Paul Newman's character, Frank Capua, competes in a USAC Stock Car event on the road course.

The track in 2008

After an insurance investigation of the pit out opening for the road course, which is located along the left lane wall of the drag strip, the insurance carrier demanded the pit out be closed off with a permanent concrete wall. This effectively meant closing the road course for competition purposes, as there is no other area on the current track layout suitable to relocate a viable pit lane. However, club racing and private testing used a section of track that runs parallel to the backstretch of the oval (Turns 6–8) as a makeshift pit, although enough section of the return road for the drag strip could also be used if realigned.Template:Citation needed The last SCCA club road race was held in 2007. The road course surface is in disrepair and very bumpy, and would need improvement to be of use again. There are plans to redesign and renovate the road course, but track officials say it is a long-term goal.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 2012, it was announced that the NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Lucas Oil Raceway would move to Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the Indiana 250 to replace the Kroger 200, and that it would be joined by Rolex Sports Car Series and Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge races under the banner "Super Weekend at the Brickyard". The Camping World Truck Series event was replaced with a new event at Eldora Speedway. As a result, the ARCA Racing Series became the lone national stock car racing series to sanction a race at the track, running its own 200-lap event.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> NASCAR announced in September 2021 that the Truck Series would return to Lucas Oil Raceway in 2022 as the first playoff race, marking the return by NASCAR after an eleven-year absence.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> On December 8, 2021, the track announced the track's renaming to Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Records

As of May 2024, the fastest lap records at Indianapolis Raceway Park are listed as:

Qualifying Records

.686-mile oval

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Race lap records

As of August 2023, the fastest official race lap records at Indianapolis Raceway Park for different classes are listed as:

Category Time Driver Vehicle Date
Oval: 1.104 km (1960–present)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

USF Pro 2000 citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Braden Eves Tatuus IP-22 25 May 2024
U.S. F2000 citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Bryan Sellers Van Diemen DP08 25 May 2002
ARCA Racing Series citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Jesse Love Toyota Camry 11 August 2023
NASCAR Truck citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

John Hunter Nemechek Toyota Tundra 29 July 2022
Road Course: 4.023 km (1968–present)<ref name='irp_scca_trackrecords'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

WSC citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Eliseo Salazar Ferrari 333 SP 10 July 1994
Formula Atlantic 1:24.529<ref name='irp_scca_trackrecords' /> Larry Connor Ralt RT41 1 July 2000
Can-Am 1:25.880<ref name='irp_scca_trackrecords' /> Jerry Hansen Lola T333 1 May 1980
C Sports Racer 1:27.130<ref name='irp_scca_trackrecords' /> Tony Coniewski Swift Viking 4 July 2004
IMSA GTS citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Irv Hoerr Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme 10 July 1994
Formula Continental 1:29.771<ref name='irp_scca_trackrecords' /> Jeff Shafer Nemesis 1 July 1997
IMSA GTO 1:32.515<ref name="indianapolis_1994" /> Joe Pezza Ford Mustang 10 July 1994
D Sports Racing 1:32.651<ref name='irp_scca_trackrecords' /> Alvin Beasley Sr. Beasley Decker 1 July 1992
Formula Ford 1:33.575<ref name='irp_scca_trackrecords' /> Mark Davison Swift DB1 1 July 1999
IMSA GTU 1:34.479<ref name="indianapolis_1994" /> Jim Pace Nissan 240SX 10 July 1994
Group 4 citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Peter Gregg Porsche Carrera RSR 14 October 1973
Formula Junior citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Jim Hall Lotus 18 29 July 1962
Sports car citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Augie Pabst Scarab Mk. II 25 June 1961

Drag strip records

Category E.T. Speed Driver Event Ref
Top Fuel 3.640 Brittany Force 2022 Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation CitationClass=web

}}</ref>

Template:Convert Brittany Force 2025 Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals
Funny Car 3.799 Matt Hagan 2017 Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals
Template:Convert Matt Hagan 2017 Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals
Pro Stock 6.491 Greg Anderson 2025 Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals
Template:Convert Erica Enders 2025 Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals
Pro Stock Motorcycle 6.739 Gaige Herrera 2025 Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals
Template:Convert Matt Smith 2022 Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals

Track configurations

  • Drag Strip
    Drag Strip
  • Oval
    Oval
  • Road Course
    Road Course

Major events

Current
Former

References

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Template:Sister project

Template:NHRA dragstrips Template:Superstar Racing Experience Template:NASCAR Xfinity Series racetracks Template:NASCAR Truck Series racetracks Template:ARCA tracks Template:ARCA Menards Series (East / West) racetracks Template:NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour racetracks Template:USAC tracks Template:IMSA GT circuits Template:USAC Silver Crown race venues Template:USAC National Sprint Car Series race venues Template:USAC Stock Car racetracks Template:CRA Super Series racetracks Template:Pro Mazda Championship race venues Template:USF2000 National Championship race venues Template:ASA National Tour racetracks Template:CARS Pro Cup racetracks Template:Global Rallycross tracks Template:Indy 500 Template:Lucas Oil

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