Construction on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway began in 1908. When the track was under construction, the four partners (Carl Fisher, James Allison, Arthur Newby, and Frank Wheeler) made the decision that crushed stone would work well and it was significantly cheaper than the alternatives of either brick or concrete.

The track opened to great fanfare in August 1909. Fisher, ever the promoter, had Bob Burman and Indianapolis Morning Star reporter Marie Chomal using the pen name of Betty Blythe, take a spin around the track where speeds reached an unheard of 70 miles per hour. Her impressions were printed in the paper which said, in part, “Don’t get the notion that riding in a racer is anything like gentle dalliance in a touring car. First you hold on and guess if you will land on the biggest pile of rocks. You turn up a disgusted nose at the oil that rains from the machine and wraps you in a cloud of dust. You try to find another foothold for the foot that you are sure the red-hot engine is burning to a cinder.”

He also had Barney Oldfield, the speed king of that era, who broke the two-minute barrier for the 2 ½ mile track oval.

On opening day, visitors walked through the main gate to a row of tents where automobile manufacturers proudly displayed their cars. The one creating the most buzz was the Overland Automobile exhibit which featured a gold-plated car to be awarded to the driver with the fastest mile obtained over the weekend with each driver having two attempts. Festivities began with the Indianapolis Military Band entered the track at 11:30 a.m. and played until the first race. There were multiple races of various lengths (10 miles, 50 miles, etc) with the cars being grouped together by engine size. The day promised to be grand.

Turns out, the decision to make the track of crushed stone was a big mistake. During the preliminary races, the track began breaking apart and in the featured 250-mile Prest-O-Lite race, the breaking up of the track accelerated. The crushed stone just wasn’t able to handle the heavy racers, particularly in the corners.

On lap 58, Wilfred Bourque tried to sneak a glance at a racer which was getting ready to pass causing him to swerve slightly and hit a pothole. Losing control, the car darted into a ditch and then flipped end-over-end. Both Bourque and his riding mechanic were killed in the accident. Despite the accident, the race continued and was won by Bob Burman. American Automobile Association officials were concerned about the condition of the track and the ditch which ran on the outside of the track. They considered canceling the remaining two days of racing but after Fisher promised to fix the issues, they relented.

The second day of racing came off without the track having additional issues. The third day was a totally different story. In the featured 300-mile Wheeler-Schebler Trophy Race, the track once again started to crumble. On lap 45, Herbert Lytle hit a rut, lost control of his racer and ended up in the infield in a pile of dirt. Neither he nor his riding mechanic were injured. At 175 miles, Charlie Merz blew a right front tire causing his car to spin out of control. It sailed through the air for over 100 feet, ripped through five fence posts, and hit the crowd standing at the fence. Eventually the car bounced on its tires, flipped upside down and came to a rest on the other side of the creek. Merz was able to crawl out from underneath, but his riding mechanic and two spectators were killed.

Still the race continued. After Bruce Keene hit a hole rounding a corner, his car spun out of control and careened toward the pedestrian bridge hitting one support. While catastrophe was averted, AAA officials stopped the race. Rumors circulated in Indianapolis that there would be no more racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

With a significant investment in the track, the partners decided to rebuild the track with either brick or concrete. Before making a decision, they had several hundred yards of bricks laid on the Speedway surface. National driver Johnny Aiken ran several tests over the bricks. To further test the bricks’ durability, his car was anchored by a rope to a post in front of the car and another behind. Aiken then ran it at full throttle. Satisfied that the bricks were durable and believing that greater speeds could be obtained, the owners decided to brick the Speedway. Each of the 3.2 million bricks weighed 10 pounds and were nine inches long and four inches wide. Reconstruction of the track was completed the week before Christmas.

Rather than wait until warmer weather, the track reopened on a bitterly cold day. It was nine degrees when Indiana Governor Thomas Marshall laid a gold brick in place. Four motorcyclists braved the temperature for one trip around the track. Next, three racers, wrapped in special face masks and fur lined gloves tried to set speed records as a small crowd of 500 watched. Lewis Strang set a one-mile record of 111.86 miles per hour and a five-mile record of 91.813 miles per hour.

Today, “The Brickyard” has a yard of the original bricks at the start/finish line which the drivers and their crews kiss after winning the race.