Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the first Indy 500 innovations

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909 as a purpose-built racing facility and hosted the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911. In that 1911 race driver Ray Harroun used a rear-view mirror on his Marmon Wasp, a development often cited as an early automotive innovation in racing. The track was originally paved with about 3.2 million bricks, earning it the nickname 'The Brickyard.'