Indianapolis Motor Speedway Tickets

Another popular and colorful area of Indianapolis 500 collecting is tickets. It is believed there is a ticket for every event* held at the Speedway (excluding, match races, economy runs, test sessions etc.) from the very first balloon race held in June of 1909 through today.

To clarify any confusion between a "Ticket" and a "Return Check", below are examples of return checks from 1921, 1953 & 1978. A return check IS NOT A TICKET. Return checks were given out when you left a stand or bleacher and were to be returned upon re-entering the stand or bleacher. Although an example prior to 1921 hasn’t been found, more than *likely they were printed. Return checks were used through 1978.

To clarify an "unused, full or complete" ticket has all portions intact - nothing has been torn off. Unused tickets, prior to 2016 (see below) are generally harder to find.

Although bar codes first appeared in 2004, it would be a decade before scanning them in became common. The special 2016 100th running plastic ticket (which has no perforations) signaled the end to tickets being torn as the 2017 ticket (which is paper) also has no perforations which means all tickets from 2016 forward are considered unused as there is nothing to be torn.

A ticket "stub" has portions torn off and is considered a used ticket.

The majority of tickets seen from 1909 through 1941 will be used tickets or stubs and all measurements are taken from the stub or used ticket unless noted.

It is believed from 1909 through 1946, that in order to sit in a Grandstand seat, one needed two tickets: an Admittance Ticket and a Grandstand Ticket. The unused 1915 and 1946 tickets below clearly state they are not good for gate admission which implies one needed an admittance ticket for entry to the grounds as well as the Grandstand Ticket.

For admittance to the grounds, one needed only to purchase a Field Gate Entrance Ticket or a general admission ticket as seen below.

However, there are exceptions to confuse things such as the combined admission and stand ticket for the July 1st, 1910 Auto Races Ticket below which was good for admission and Grandstands B and C only.

Prior to 1947, a grandstand ticket was not good for admission to the grounds so one had to buy a general admission ticket to do so. That changed in1947 with the Admission To Grounds stub added to the left side of the ticket (as seen on the unused 1948 and 1994 tickets below) which made the need to buy a general admission ticket unnecessary. Why it took the Speedway nearly 40 years to put all of this on one ticket is a mystery.

* This information is to the best of our knowledge. If anyone has more information, please contact: NI500CC@NI500CC.COM