First competition at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a balloon race

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The first competition at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway was a gas balloon endurance race and not a ground race on the track.

That competition started on June 5, 1909, when a handful of balloons took to the sky to see who could fly the longest distance.

“It was a hot-air balloon race, which is a little bit of an oddity today but back then it was a hot ticket,” said Luke Edwards, manager of digital content for IMS. “So, they staged all the balloons here, and this was the start of the balloon race, and they traveled across different states.”

John Berry, a balloon pilot, and his aide, Paul McCullough, won the endurance race after flying for 35 hours. The balloon race helped IMS become the iconic racing venue it is.

“The first competition ever held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway wasn’t actually held on the track’s surface,” Edwards said. “It was before the track was completed in an effort to get some spectators out here, build the hype about IMS, and regain some revenue from the capital they had spent here constructing the track.”

It was a few more months before cars took to the track in 1909. A motorcycle race officially christened IMS on Aug. 14.

“It was on a pavement that wasn’t brick yet. So, they originally made it out of crushed rock and sprayed it down with tar to hold it together,” Edwards said. “The first event was a little treacherous for the motorcycles that had very thin tires.”

A series of car races happened shortly after. On Aug. 19, 1909, the first automobile race started the over century-long history of IMS.

“The first automobile races, the heaviness of the automobiles kind of broke up that surface,” Edwards said. “So, by 1910, they actually paved it with 3.2 million bricks to make it smoother.”

The rest is history as drivers prepare to compete in the 108th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.