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Indianapolis is most noted for the largest single-day sporting event in the world: the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race which is held at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the largest stadium in the world.
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 (4 km) 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, although there remains a yard of bricks at the start/finish line.
The first 500-Mile Race (804.67 km), held in 1911, was won by driver Ray Harroun driving a Marmon Wasp. (Marmon, incidentally, was an Indianapolis manufacturer.) The "500" is currently part of the Indy Racing League series.
The Speedway also hosts the NASCAR stock car series' largest attended race, the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard, still generally referred to by its former name of the "Brickyard 400" (currently scheduled in August), and the Formula One United States Grand Prix (moved between 2005 and 2006 from mid-June to the July 4th weekend). Smaller series host races at nearby Indianapolis Raceway Park, which is also the site of the annual "Nationals," the most prestigious drag-racing meet of the year for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).
As measured by the number of fans in attendance (more than 257,000 permanent seats, not including infield), the Indianapolis 500 is the largest annual single-day sporting event in the world.
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