Indianapolis 500 press pagoda pin

Description:	For many years, the Indianapolis 500 radio network broadcast booth and the timing and scoring crews were housed in a Japanese-style Pagoda. Newspaper reporters needed a special badge to enter the Pagoda. From the Pagoda, reporters watched the race then hurried back to the office to write their story for the next day’s newspaper. This badge is from the 11th Indy 500 race in 1923. Can you hear the roar of the engines? Feel the wind as the cars whip around the curve just in front of your eyes? Cars have been racing in the Indianapolis 500 since 1911. In 1994 NASCAR added the Brickyard 400. United States Grand Prix Formula One cars began in 2000. Carl Fisher, along with 3 business partners, built a motor parkway in Speedway, Indiana in 1909 to test automobiles. Central Indiana was quickly becoming a dominant force in automobile manufacturing with dozens of companies like Marmon, Cole, Stutz and Duesenberg using the facility to test cars. Out of this competitive spirit, automobile racing exhibitions began in 1910. A year later in 1911, the first Indianapolis 500 was held on Memorial Day. Spectators came by train from as far away as Chicago, Cleveland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and even New York! Forty cars participated with average speeds of at least 75 miles per hour. Ray Harroun won in a single seat yellow automobile nicked named the Marmon Wasp which was a modified version of the Marmon passenger car.
Source:	http://www.digitalindy.org/cdm/ref/collection/tcm/id/920
Collection:	The Children's Museum of Indianapolis
Rights:	https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/;
Copyright:	Creative Commons (CC By-SA 3.0);
Subjects:	Indianapolis Motor Speedway (Indianapolis, Ind.) Indianapolis Speedway Race Sports journalism--United States

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