TRACKS: Indianapolis Motor Speedway Adds Five More Video Screens

Posted By Terry Callahan
Motorsports Editor, The Auto Channel

INDIANAPOLIS - The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has signed a multimillion-dollar agreement with Daktronics, Inc., to add five large-screen video displays on the west side of the 2.5-mile oval’s main straightaway, Speedway officials announced today.

The state-of-the-art Daktronics ProStarÒ screens will allow fans seated on the east side of the main straightaway - in the Tower Terrace grandstands, Tower Suites and Gasoline Alley Suites - to watch racing action from every corner of the Speedway’s famous oval and road course.

The screens, which represent the third and final phase of a three-year video screen installation project at the Speedway, will be installed in time for the 85th Indianapolis 500 on May 27. Additional advertising equipment also is being installed.

“With this latest video screen installation we will have completed another phase of a landmark project that adds a great deal of entertainment value for our fans,” said Tony George, president and chief executive officer of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “For the first time, almost every person sitting in a permanent seat at the Speedway can keep abreast of action as it happens all around the track. We are proud of the investments we have made in this facility to increase fan comfort and entertainment.”

The video screen project began in 1999 with the installation of seven ProStarÒ units in the oval’s four turns and along the backstretch. Six more screens were added in 2000 on the eastside of the main straightaway. With the addition of screens on the main straight’s west side, there will be 18 screens in the historic facility.

The project represents the largest permanent installation of video screens at a sports facility in the world.

Text Provided By Paul Kelly

Editors Note: To view hundreds of hot racing photos and art, visit The Racing Photo Museum and the Visions of Speed Art Gallery.