NTT IndyCar Leadership announced on Friday morning that grandstand tickets will be completely sold out for the upcoming Indianapolis 500.
Just over one week out from the main event, the series confirmed earlier speculation that strong ticket sales will lead to grandstands that are 100% filled on race day.
This will be the first time there will be a sell out since 2016, when the speedway hosted an extra special 100th edition of the Indianapolis 500.
Filling the 232,000 seats at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is no easy feat. There is considerable marketing and effort that goes into drawing enough attention to make the Speedway itself the second largest city in Indiana on race day.
Due to the grandstand sellout, the local television blackout of the race has been lifted. Residents living in Indianapolis will be able to watch the race live from their homes on FOX.
The number of sold tickets announced on Friday does not even include the general admission tickets, which allow fans to fill the grassy hills inside each of the turns.
There will be approximately 20,000 fans in the trackside suites, 12,000 employees, and over 2,000 from the series that support the running of the event.
In total there will be over 350,000 people present to watch the spectacle first hand.
“The very best fans in sports have delivered in historic and fitting fashion for the incredible stars of the NTT IndyCar Series,” said IndyCar and IMS President Doug Boles
“The sheer size and scale of this crowd is going to be massive and will offer an epic backdrop for the very first Indy 500 on FOX. The 109th Running will be a full-scale, nonstop spectacle that draws the eyes of the world to Speedway, Indiana.”
The grandstand sellout marks a complete comeback from COVID, which was forced to shift to August and was run with no fans in the stands.
As of Friday there are technically still a couple hundred tickets left to sell, but they are virtually guaranteed to be spoken for within the next couple days.
The 109th running of the Indianapolis 500 takes place just over one week from now on Sunday, May 25.
Kurumsal Scriptler