Indianapolis Sports and Concert Events

Indianapolis

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the census of 2000, its population is 791,926, also making it Indiana's most populous city. It is the county seat of Marion County. Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana. As of the census of 2000, its population is 791,926, also making it Indiana's most populous city. It is the county seat of Marion County. ndianapolis is the home of the Indianapolis Indians, a minor league baseball team in the International League, the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association, the Indiana Fever of the Women's National Basketball Association, the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League, and the Indiana Firebirds of the Arena Football League. In addition, the headquarters of the NCAA is in Indianapolis. The city has been referred to as "The Amateur Sports Capital of the World". In 1987 Indianapolis played host to the Pan American Games. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, is the site of the Indianapolis 500, an open-wheel automobile race held each Memorial Day weekend on the 2.5-mile oval track. The track is often referred to as "the Brickyard," as it was paved with 3.2 million bricks shortly after its initial construction in 1909. Today the track is paved in asphalt, yet there remains a yard of bricks at the start/finish line. The first 500-Mile Race, held in 1911, was won by driver Ray Harroun driving a Marmon Wasp. (Marmon, incidentally, was an Indianapolis manufacturer.) The 84th running took place in 2000. The "500" is currently part of the Indy Racing League series. The Speedway also hosts the NASCAR Brickyard 400 stock car race (currently scheduled in August) and the Formula 1 U.S. Grand Prix (recently moved from September to June). As measured by the number of fans in attendance (estimated at close to 300,000), the Indianapolis 500 and the Brickyard 400 are the two largest annual single-day sporting events in the world. Indianapolis is the home of Butler University, the University of Indianapolis, Marian College, and Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis. The last was originally an urban conglomeration of branch campuses of the two major state universities, Indiana University in Bloomington and Purdue University in West Lafayette. A merged campus created downtown in 1969 at the site of the IU School of Medicine has continuously grown, with a student body today of about 28,000, the third-largest campus in the state.