Running of the worlds greatest race. Quite a race. Quite a race. Eric it is not just a race. There is all kinds of community events, autographs, memorabilia sales. It is nonstop entertainment for an entire weekend. Cmon eric you know, once the race begins, i think a lot of people look at it as, you know, we just throw a big party, and now, we can get down to watching a serious race going on and see who wins, and everyone is kind of let down after the race is over, because you have to wait another 364 days. [cars speeding by] final lap, and it is a threeway shootout, less than half a mile. He wins the indy 500 eric the indianapolis 500 is the largest singleday sporting event in the world and has been for many years. The speedway attracts about 300,000 people for the race year after year. In terms of what it is, it is , it has growne into more than a race. In terms of what it is, it is family reunions, reunions with friends. It is a very traditional event that puts indianapolis in the spotlight, obviously, during the end of may, and, you know, for a lot of people, it just becomes something that is really transcendent in sports. It was founded in 1909 as a company and was built between march 1909 and basically completed in august of that year, although they found very quickly they had to make some major modifications, but it was an entrepreneurial enterprise. Founders of the company could a gentlema. , gentleman then Carl G Fisher and then there was the president of the speedway for a while, and to others were the cofounders, and the reason they built this place was they saw the potential of the automobile, and there was a lot of automobile manufacturers in indianapolis. They need a place to test those cars. The idea was to have this big test track here, where the local automakers could test their products, and then they realized, you know what . Racing them on the weekends and selling them on monday that is kind of how the idea of racing started. Well, carl fisher and his associates built this track, indianapolis was actually number two in the nation in terms of automakers in the city. Number one at that time was actually cleveland, so indianapolis had a burgeoning auto industry. These companies needed a place to test their cars, and a lot of roads were just rutted dirt paths, nothing they could really get up to speed, so this place was built, and testing began, in that regard. However, it was a guy by the name of henry ford that came up with the process, you know, of using the Assembly Line to build cars, so when henry figured that out, and the model t started being built up in detroit, it any manufacturing hub and automobile shifted from indianapolis and cleveland, you name it, to detroit. The first event of any kind, any kind of sporting or competitive event, was a balloon race. It took place in june 1909. They launched out of the infield, actually just a few feet from where we are now, and one of the balloons actually made it all of the way to tennessee and was the winner. The second was in early august 1909, and that was a motorcycle race. Raceu had a twowheeler before you have the race cars. They had a hard time with the original road surface, which was tar and crushed rock, and that did not suit motorcycles at all, and, unfortunately, that was cut short because of some accidents, and the following week, that was the first time there was automobiles racing here, and that was a little more successful. The track started to break up, however, by the third day of racing, and then, you know, that was canceled, as well, and that is when the bricks were laid down, in the fall of 1909. The car we are standing next to write now is the marmon wasp, nicknamed the wasp because of the long, yellow tail. This is the indianapolis 500 winner, really significant in global motorsports history. This was built in late 1909 and was raced at the speedway in 1910 and crashed in 1910. They rebuilt it, and a man named ray harroun took it to victory lane in 1911, and he was very smart and methodical about it. They came to race as fast as they could, and ray came to the conclusion that if he held a steady, 75mileanhour pace, he would have two fewer pitstops than anyone else and could get by with fewer tires, and he stuck by it, and won the race, so the inaugural was that, and today, it is around 185. It is amazing to look at the differences between the cars and the ones we have today. The first thing you notice is the tires are very, very thin. The firestone tires were the main staples for years. The firestones are still raised here today. The most notable part of the car, from a historic standpoint, has to be the Rearview Mirror, and that is because when all of these competitors showed up for the inaugural indianapolis 500, you had 42 cars that started the race, and every one of them had a riding mechanic except here in roun in the wasp. The idea of a riding mechanic was to be an extra set of eyes, safety for the driver, and everybody thought that ray was going to be in danger, and he , being an engineer, came up with the idea that i am going to cut out an eightinch piece of glass. I am going to frame it in metal, and i can see who is coming up behind me. Truth be told, when he was out on the bumpy, brick surface, he probably could not see anything anyway, because of the vibrations but he satisfied , everybody and was able to race in the race. And as it were, you had the first car with a Rearview Mirror anywhere in the world that also won the 500. Carl fisher, the primary founder, his first inclination was to build a fivemile, oval testing ground, and he looked at at doing it in southern indiana, and it is very hilly down there. He could not find enough level ground to build a fivemile track, so then he settled on the idea of a threemile track, and the track designer, the engineer, that he hired came to look at short shoots between the , if you will between the north , and south turns, and with that, you could put a threemile track in there, in that ground, but barely, so he told fisher, if you ever want to race cars here, and you want to put grandstands up, there is not going to be room for them, so they decided instead of three, they would have a 5 8 mile, eighth mile short shoots, adding up to 2. 5 miles, and that is where we are today. The early races were cut short for the same problems that we have on the roads today. There were potholes. [laughs] eric really, the surface started to break apart. When you are driving a car, especially 70 miles an hour, and you hit a pothole, it is not going to end very well, so there were a couple of pretty serious accidents, and that is when the call went up to cut short the races on the last day and seek out a more stable surface, and, again, that is how we came to the conclusion that bricks would be the best way to go about it. Well, the car we have now is a number 14 miller entry. This is the next generation after ray harrouns big win. This is a big racing car, particularly from 1928, it is kind of cool. You have some art deco design from the era, but what is most import about this car is it was built by a guy named harry miller, who is out of california, and he became a famous designer of engines in cars, won many indianapolis 500s over the years, and the. Another notable piece of this car is the driver of this car in 1928, was a man named louis meyer. He won the race in 1928, and then in 1933 and in 1936. When he won his third race, he became the first to win three times, but he asked for buttermilk in victory lane, and that started a tradition that is to this day, when the winner comes in today, and it has been the case since the 1950s, when the tradition was firmly established, the winner gets the wreath. The winner gets his regular milk, thankfully not buttermilk, and they take a chug of that milk, and they get money from the dairy producers. And the milk bath, all over his face. He did not waste anything there. The bottle is already gone. Eric you could say this is an example of thirdgeneration indy cars. Some people may argue with that. But you went from the the race on sunday, buy on monday kind of car in the nineteenteens to the kinds of cars around in the 1920s, you started to have the roadster era. This was driven by bill out of fresno, california. This car, when bill drove in 1952, he had the race pretty much wrapped up, and the steering failed, so he did not win in 1952. He came back, however, in 1953 and 1954. Laps trying to slow him down. Eric it was nothing special. He is coming down on the last lap. He wins. Eric not a lot different than what you saw in 1928 except much lower to the ground. The reason is a lower center of gravity, which is much better get it through the corners. They were thinking about the weight. The engine was transferred over to the side in order to better help the car get through the corners. All they had to do was turn left, so you had the engine on the left side just for better weight transfer. Same thing for the axles. It protrudes more to the right side, again, better for the cornering, so everything was done with turning left in mind. Really, again, these are thoroughbred racecars, and really, the roadster is what defined the 1950s. Bricks lasted a long time. The first asphalt was in 1939, and that was just in the corners, and then gradually over the years after that, more of the bricks were paved over with asphalt. Finally, the last strip of brick that was on the track was a couple hundred feet on the main straight away, and that was paved over in 1961. Probably the most important link tou our past that is visible every day is a yard of bricks, a 36inch strip of bricks. That is the start and finish line, the vintage 1909 bricks. They may not have originated at the starting line, but the track they are break that, as the track has been repaved over the years, and those bricks have been pulled out and saved, and when they are done with repaving, they will put in another strip of brick, but they are brick, vintage brick. We have a great example here of cars all from team penske, roger penske, the industrialist. He has been very successful, a major force in indycar racing. For 50 years now. This is team penskes first entry in indycar back in 1969. This is lola, with the chassis built in great britain. The chassis is similar to the roadsters from the 1950s, but you can see kind of a wing on the back of that, as well, so they were starting to figure out how the aerodynamics worked on these cars. And you come here, just three years later, all of a sudden, we have wings in the front and a huge wing on the back. The difference in qualifying speed for a car like this and a car like this in 1972 was about 20 miles an hour. Speeds went up tremendously, because you have wings. That werears basically the opposite of airplane wings. Indycar wings are designed to keep them on the ground, so they can go through corners much faster. What you have here is a very modern indycar. This was a chassis built by a company out of italy. Interestingly, though, these chassis were built about one mile from the truck, right here in speedway, indiana, and this car won the race in 2018 with the australian driver will power. These cars, an average lasts 225 miles per hour. , roughly. Probably the biggest difference between these cars and the cars you see back here, it is really the spaceage materials in these cars. Almost this entire car is built with carbon fiber. A lot of influence, as i say, with airplanes in this car, not only because of the wings and downforce but because of a safety standpoint. The drivers are really cocooned in the cars, to be able to hit hourall at 220 miles an and come out of a crash safely, which, nine times out of 10, is what happens. The name of the game in terms of refining these cars these days is just to improve the competition. You have very reliable engines, very safe cars, and the competition really has been better than it has in many years. This is his best chance so far. Eric theres a lot of differences in auto racing, and the stick and ball sports, if you will, like football, basketball, and baseball, but if there is one thing that holds true in all of them is the competition, the desire to win. Some kids, when they start out early in their life, they want to hit that ball, and they want to get a guaranteed contract and be a majorleague star. Theres other people that mom and dad take them racing. It is very much a family sport. Over the years that have all been involved in this sport together, but the desire is to win, just like in any other sport. This is the super bowl of auto racing, and, you know, there is only 73 people as of 2019 that have that kind of qualification, and if you have grown up around auto racing, that is a big deal. It is what has made indianapolis recognizable for many years, and, you know, fortunately, we are in a town that has really grown over the last few decades in that the indianapolis 500 is no longer the only game in town. You know, we have a lot going on, a lot of amenities, in the colts and the indiana pacers, a lot to do here, but this is still the crown jewel in terms of global recognition, you know, when it comes to sporting events. People know indianapolis because of racing, and with the healthy sport and with a healthy track, i do not think that will ever change. [car engines humming] our cities tour staff recently traveled to indianapolis. To learn about its rich history. To watch more videos from indianapolis and other stops on our tour, visit cspan. Org. citiestour. You are watching American History tv, all weekend, every weekend, on cspan3. The presidency, university of Central Arkansas Marcus Witcher explores criticism of president Foreign Policy toward the soviet union in the 1980s. He also explains how conservatives later downplay criticism