IMS hard at work turning track around between races this weekend

SPEEDWAY, Ind. – It’s a busy week in the racing capital of the world, with USAC Sprint Car Races, NASCAR Xfinity’s Pennzoil 250 and NASCAR’s Brickyard 400 just days apart from one another.

At the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, cars are on track nearly 140 days a year, so workers are constantly preparing for the next event.

Right now, around 3,000 people are at IMS prepping for USAC and NASCAR this weekend.

“It’s our second largest event of the year, so it’s a big deal, and takes a lot of people,” said Tyrone Garrison, vice president of facilities for Penske Entertainment.

In the midway, pop-up vendors are stocking the shelves and shining up the cars on display.

“We’re bringing in the merch trucks, you know, the TV guys are all setting up and getting all their things set up for the production over the weekend,” Garrison said.

Over at the dirt track, the sprint cars are already fueling up for their race. It’s a rare occurrence for both tracks to be used within such a quick turnaround.

“Anything that comes off that dirt track is completely clear, so that when the Xfinity teams and the cup teams are out there on the oval, it’s clean and ready to go,” he said.

To flip the oval from INDYCAR to NASCAR is more complex than one may think.

“Their paint scheme is different on pit lane than any other series that comes here,” Garrison said. “We’ll do a final walk through this afternoon, literally walk every inch of the track, look at every piece, make sure that we’re up to, you know, NASCAR standards.”

Last-minute changes will take place overnight.

Once the gates close each evening, cleaning crews will take four to five hours making their way through section by section.

“When that first guest walks through the gate the next day, it looks like nobody was here the day before,” he said.

Everything kicks off with the USAC sprint car races, followed by NASCAR Xfinity’s Pennzoil 250 on Saturday, and then the Brickyard 400 on Sunday.