Indianapolis Motor Speedway Digs Up 108-Year-Old Brick During Renovations

Indianapolis Motor Speedway workers have literally uncovered a piece of history.

IMS president Douglas Boles posted a picture Friday, revealing that maintenance crews had dug up one of the 3.2 million bricks that originally comprised the track surface.

Boles said that workers were tasked with taking core samples from the facility, and the brick at the base of the core in his post was almost exactly 108 years old.

IMS gave Fernando Alonso a brick, which now resides in his museum, to commemorate his first Indianapolis 500, though even that isn’t as history-laden as the sample in Boles’ post.

The core, as NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski pointed out, literally depicts how much IMS has changed over time: from the clay of the original “Brickyard,” to the dense asphalt of the modern track.

Given that — apart from the composition of the track surface — IMS’s oval has remained nearly unchanged for more than 100 years, we’re not surprised Trevor Bayne said he’d “never been more upset” than when he missed out on victory in the Brickyard 400.

Thumbnail photo via Brian Spurlock/USA TODAY Sports Images