WEST LAFAYETTE — Out of the hundreds of racetracks in the U.S., only two have racing surfaces, including original bricks from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
One, of course, is IMS, where the start/finish line features the legendary “Yard of Bricks” — the only portion of the brick-covered track installed in 1909 that remains part of the current racing surface. These bricks hold such a special place in racing lore that winning drivers traditionally bend down to kiss them after a successful run at “The Brickyard.”
The other is the Purdue Grand Prix track, thanks to a generous donation by Doug Boles, president of IMS and IndyCar, and three Boilermaker alumni who facilitated the brick donation and installation last fall.
“How cool is that, to be the only other track to have the original Culver brick in it?” asks Al Wurster (BS building construction technology ’85), a Grand Prix alum who first approached Boles with the idea three years ago. “The rich history of the Motor Speedway and what that brings to Purdue is pretty cool.”
Luckily, Boles was receptive to Wurster’s pitch, agreeing to donate some of the track’s few remaining original bricks to form the start/finish line at the Grand Prix track. Boles plans to attend a ceremony on Wednesday, March 12, where representatives of the Purdue Grand Prix Foundation will install the final IMS brick in the row.
Although they are no longer visible except along the Yard of Bricks, most of the original 1909 bricks are still in place on the IMS track. They’re buried under several layers of newer racing surfaces from when the track was paved with asphalt in 1961 and resurfaced numerous times since then.
The bricks now at Purdue came from the small stash IMS keeps in storage, adding a powerful new link between the Grand Prix track and its big brother in Indianapolis.
Information: Trevor Peters, peter237@purdue.edu.
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