Podcast Ep. 148: How Speedway, Indiana, Became the Racing Capital of the World and Home of the Indy 500

This is Nick Sturgeon, and you’re listening to This is Purdue.  

Hi. I’m Kate Young. And you’re listening to This is Purdue, the official podcast for Purdue University. As a Purdue alum and Indiana native, I know firsthand about the family of students and professors who are in it together, persistently pursuing and relentlessly rethinking. Who are the next game-changers, difference-makers, ceiling-breakers, innovators? Who are these Boilermakers? Join me as we feature students, faculty, and alumni taking small steps towards their giant leaps and inspiring others to do the same.  

Our community there just absolutely supports the track. Our identity as well as IMS is woven together. We love Indy. It’s our capital city, but we take pride in being Speedway, Indiana.  

In this episode of This is Purdue, we’re talking to Nick Sturgeon. Nick is a proud Purdue alum and served as the 2025 president of the Speedway Town Council, where he led initiatives to drive economic growth and tourism, including recruiting motorsports manufacturing giants like Dallara’s US headquarters. He’s now a town council member and continues to lead the preparations to host the greatest spectacle in racing each year.  

Nick is sharing his expert insights into what it takes to present the world’s largest single-day sporting event each May before that green flag drops, Purdue’s historic role in the race, plus Speedway’s upcoming centennial celebration, which also coincides with America’s 250th this year.  

With the 110th Indy 500 just around the corner on May 24, we’re excited to talk all things racing with Nick. Plus, we’re diving into how the town of Speedway is continuing to revitalize its local economy and tourism in this episode. So stay tuned for a list of hotspots, coffee shops, restaurants, bars, even go-kart entertainment, right on Speedway’s Main Street that you’ll definitely want to check out.  

And one last surprise for our listeners. I’m joined by another co-host this episode, Purdue University Deputy Spokesperson Trevor Peters. If you’ve ever been to a Boilermaker football game, you’ve probably seen Trevor front and center emceeing those games.  

And of course, it wouldn’t be our annual Indy 500-themed episode if we didn’t ask Nick his predictions on who he thinks will take home the Borg-Warner trophy this year, and Trevor weighs in with his winner as well. So drivers, start your engines. Here’s our conversation with Nick.  

[ENGINE REVVING]  

Nick, thank you so much for joining us on This is Purdue, our official university podcast. You’re a proud Purdue alum. You’re going back again for your doctorate. And you’re a Speedway, Indiana resident. You’ve been living there for almost 20 years now. So we’re going to dig into the Indy 500 and how Boilermakers help shape that and how they’re involved in that.  

And I’m also joined by a very special person today, my Purdue colleague, Trevor Peters. Second time having a co-host this season. I’m so excited.  

Yeah, as they say, what, long-time listener, first time on the podcast. So thrilled to be here. And this will be my last year with my 20th Indy 500 in the Northeast Vista in turn 3. So very pleased to join you and to chat with Nick a little bit.  

A fitting episode for you to join us for. So, Nick, it’s no secret that Speedway Indiana, which is home to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, is the racing capital of the world. But as a longtime resident of this town, how does the famous Indy 500 come to life every May?  

I’ve been in Speedway for about 20 years– actually, officially 19, but 20 next year. It’s always been, throughout the year, activity going. I live there– so kids, sports, all that. But really, as we’re in April 1, things start gearing up, and the energy just starts building and building and building. And it’s really something that it’s hard to explain unless you’ve been there to experience it.  

But the energy is just palpable. You can feel it. There’s nothing else like it in the world, and it feeds into that greatest spectacle in racing. It all comes together, and it’s just great. Again, really hard to explain and put in words and just like, you’ve got to go. You’ve got to be there to experience it.  

How does the town prepare for the race?  

Yeah, really, preparation starts right after the race. We look at what went well, what didn’t go well, figure out how we need to make those adjustments. We’ve been doing it so long. We’re coming into the town’s 100th centennial anniversary this year. So we’ve got a lot of experience with these races.  

So a little bit of it is old hat. We know what to expect, and we just do it, and we do it well. It’s getting the infrastructure ready. It’s making sure we have manpower and resources. It’s collaborating with the City of Indianapolis, the State of Indiana, federal partners to make sure everything’s in lockstep and that when it comes to the 500, we’re ready even prior to the green flag dropping.  

So many Boilermakers have been part of the spectacle over the years, yourself included. But from the All-American Marching Band to the engineers and the garages, how have you seen Boilermakers transform the Indy 500?  

Purdue’s a staple of the race. My daughters were in the Speedway Marching Band, and so they were there behind the Purdue Marching Band, leading the Borg-Warner trophy up to the start-finish line. I mean, that is a major staple and part of the Indianapolis 500 and the racing tradition. So that’s a huge piece.  

I love seeing the Purdue logo just being predominantly displayed through the broadcast and just all the Purdue alums that live in town, that work for IMS, that support the race. It’s an awesome thing to know that it’s happening and that Purdue’s such a predominant part of the Indianapolis 500.  

You talked about the town celebrating 100 years this year. What are some things that racegoers can do outside of just going to the Indy 500?  

May is our time to shine. We’ve got so much. Our downtown Main Street area is thriving. We did a huge redevelopment in about 2010 and just really to help support and give race fans and visitors something else to do besides just go to the racetrack. From the town council perspective, we want people to stay and visit and spend their money in Speedway and help our small businesses and other businesses out while they’re there.  

Main Street is kind of our crown jewel outside of IMS, but we also have other businesses along Crawfordsville Road that goes out towards the west side of town in Founders Square. So we’ve got a lot of activities there.  

And I hate to leave out some of the names, but Charlie Brown’s Pancake, if you’ve not been there, it’s a quick-serve dining place. The pancakes are phenomenal. Every racing legend that has come through and raced at IMS has eaten there.  

We’ve got Brozinni’s Pizza, which is traditional New York-style pizza; SIK’s, Speedway Indoor Karting; and all the way up through Barbecue and Bourbon, for those that like barbecue and maybe some adult beverages can stop there; Dawson’s, an early staple to Main Street from a restaurant perspective; to Fundaes to now Speedway City Garage, which is a new coffee shop that– Founders Ground and another, Pax Verum, have actually– they just did their grand opening. So there’s just so much from the north end to the south end of Main Street to do that we hope people will check out when they come in for the race.  

Daredevil and Quaff On. I’ve spent a few dollars on Main Street.  

And honestly, Daredevils Pizza is probably– it’s one of my favorite pizzas in town.  

You mentioned Main Street, but what are some of the other factors of Speedway that make it an ideal place to host an event like the Indianapolis 500?  

Speedway grew up alongside the track. We came a little bit later than the track’s founding in 1909. We were founded in 1926, but our community there just absolutely supports the track. Our identity as well as IMS is woven together. Our schools are some of the top in the state and the county, and we’re consistently ranked number one in public high schools within Marion County.  

Our parks department, our street, our police and fire, all of that give us our identity separate from the City of Indianapolis, which is great. We love Indy. It’s our capital city. But we take pride in being Speedway, Indiana.  

What are some of the ways that the race impacts tourism and just the overall economy?  

There was a study done not too long ago that the Indianapolis 500, IMS generates close to a billion or over a billion dollars to the state of Indiana from an economic development. We get 350-plus thousand people that come and visit Speedway, Indiana, go watch the race, for the single-largest-day sporting event in the country. That is huge for not only the town but the city and the state and the country. So it’s just huge part from what we, as the state, have been doing for a long time to drive the economy and get people to move and live and stay in Indiana.  

We focus a lot on one month of the year, clearly. I mean, you start with running down Main Street for the mini-marathon all the way to the victory banquet, and there’s a lot going on in that month. The 11 other months of the year, still, clearly, things happening. What else can folks expect from June until April in Speedway?  

Our parks department does a lot of stuff. We do a farmers market in one of our– we’ve got two public parks, one on the north side, Meadowood, then Leonard Park. Meadowood on the north side, there’s a concert series. There’s a farmers market. There’s a music and arts fest that go– sports, youth camps that happen during the summertime.  

Other events– the Run 317 race that happens, which has been voted the best of their series that they do around Indianapolis, which now the course goes through IMS on Georgetown, which is great experience. It’s another aspect of racing that happens.  

Our shops and events– last year, our communication director put on Movies on Main. We opened up what we called a little pocket park where– got an inflatable movie screen, and they were playing movies. From the town perspective, but also for the businesses, we want people to come obviously for May, but for the rest of the 11 months of the year.  

What does the connection to Purdue’s motorsports engineering program, the only accredited undergrad motorsports engineering program in the country, mean to you as a Boilermaker alum?  

I was there for the ribbon-cutting. And when I was asked if I wanted to be, it was like, yes. I mean, I couldn’t respond fast enough. I love– again, I love seeing the Purdue logo on Main Street on the Dallara building and have that there. I just love it.  

I mean, it’s just great to see and that we’re able to bring some of that Boilermaker pride to Speedway, Indiana.  

Yeah. What future opportunities do you think there could be between Purdue and Speedway and Dallara and all that?  

There’s some things I don’t think I can share at this point, not knowing how all the things– but I know that there are efforts to expand the Purdue motorsports program in Speedway to further strengthen that partnership and collaboration between Purdue and Dallara, which Dallara’s been a main staple to Speedway as far as one of the first big businesses to have their headquarters on our Main Street.  

We featured a Purdue alum, and he was a Dallara engineer last year on This is Purdue. And he was just so excited to be working at Dallara, so excited for his experience within the motorsports program. So that was really special for us.  

Well, the town council has also played a big role in bringing and maintaining a lot of automotive companies in Speedway– Allison Transmission, OMR North America. Walk us through how much of a benefit that is for Purdue students and for future motorsports engineering folks that can have those kind of companies based in their backyard.  

As you mentioned, being the only accredited undergraduate program in the country with the track in IndyCar being right there and Dallara and OMR– Junco Racing has their headquarters there. Foyt Racing has their headquarters there– those students I’m kind of envious of because they have an opportunity that no other student has to be in such proximity, again, to those companies. Allison, I forgot to mention, it’s right there.  

I mean, they’re within walking distance of those companies. I don’t think there’s, in any other program in any other school, will have the students to have the same opportunity as those to be in such proximity and be able to say, hey, we’re in such a unique location.  

So changing gears to your background– pun intended there. Do you see what I did there? You received your master’s degree in cyber forensics in 2015 from Purdue, and now you’re pursuing your PhD as well– super exciting. And how did this background in cybersecurity kind of shape your role within the Speedway Town Council?  

I spent 10 years with the State of Indiana, eight as an Indiana State trooper, which really first got me my exposure to Purdue and the cyber forensics program. Going through the master’s program, getting that highly technical knowledge and expertise opened up my opportunity to then work for the State of Indiana, the Office of Technology, and running a cybersecurity program, which was also located here on campus.  

So I was able to work and hire Purdue students in our security operations center. And then from there, it’s just been able to get me into leadership opportunities in the private sector that I knew I could leverage when it came to running for town council and to lead the– or help lead the town of Speedway.  

What sparked your interest in getting into public service?  

Going actually back to when I was a kid, my uncle was a chief of police of a small town in North Central Kentucky. So that really first got me wanting and influenced me wanting to be in law enforcement. From there I was like, oh, yeah, FBI would be cool.  

But as life happened, opportunity to apply for the 67th recruit class for the Indiana State Police happened. I was selected out of over 6,000 applicants. As my life changed and family and other priorities shifted, I left the department, went to again the Office of Technology opportunities in the private sector– happened in 2017. And over from there until when I ran in 2023, I needed to get back into the public service.  

And I was asked to run. Some folks in town felt like there needed to be some new blood on the town council. And seeing an opportunity to step up and lead, my state police instincts kicked in and said, you’ve got to step up when there’s an opportunity for leadership.  

So then, as a former state trooper, did you ever participate in any Indy 500s in the past?  

Actually, every year on the department, except for when I was in the academy, I participated in some shape or form. My first year in 2008, I worked an intersection at Crawfordsville and Lyndhurst, which is a busy intersection, both north and south, east and west traffic.  

But then when I got promoted in 2009 into our IT section, I got detailed to the inside of the track. I got spoiled, let me tell you. Being on the start-finish line for the opening ceremonies, being kind of in the mix, it kind of spoiled me a little bit. But now it’s nice. I get to sit in the Southwest Vista with my wife and my father-in-law, and my daughter occasionally when she wants to come in, and we get to watch the race in turn 1.  

Nice. I’m always so appreciative of law enforcement on race day because you got a lot to deal with.  

It’s a long day. I know for the state police, they get there around 5 o’clock in the morning, and they do not leave until traffic clears out. So it’s a long 14 to 18 hour day, depending.  

What advice do you have for current or future Boilermakers who are interested in getting involved in the town of Speedway or maybe getting involved with the race someday?  

First of all, come. Experience it. I mean, like I said at the start of the show, it’s really hard to describe. But once you go, it’s like, man. I get goosebumps just thinking about the start of the race and everything that goes along with it.  

We’ve got volunteer opportunities with the town, with our parks boards. We’ve got service organizations that help out around the month of May. And then outside of the month of May, IMS, they need people to work the track. There’s opportunities to work for the track during the month– also, the 500 Princess that the 500 Festival does. And I know Boilermakers have participated in being princesses– and the mini-marathon, to volunteer for that. So there’s just a lot of opportunities both with the town government itself, service organizations, or other businesses to be in the mix of the Indy 500.  

So this is a big year– 110th running, America 250, celebrating 250th birthday of our country, and of course on Memorial Day weekend every year. How is the town of Speedway going to blend all of these together and make a great weekend?  

We’re in our centennial anniversary as well. It’s all kind of blend in, which makes it a once in a lifetime opportunity. We, as the town, are blending those celebrations into everything that we’re doing. We’ve got a centennial planning committee that’s been working for probably three years now on planning different activities within the month of May.  

And then as we get into the summer months, it’s just special. I know the State of the Town Address, Doug Boles was mentioning that they’re already close to selling out, and they probably have already sold out by now.  

So we’re going to have huge crowds again and all of the activities that are traditionally accompanying the 500, as well as Rocking on Main– I can’t forget to mention that. My communications director will get mad at me– on Carb Day. It’s a nice continuation of Carb Day to get everybody together. Our businesses can highlight their unique things that they do. It’s just going to be a bigger celebration with all of the 250 and the 100. It’s going to be special this year.  

OK, Nick, This is Purdue annual tradition, five years running, we ask our month of May guests about their race day predictions. So as a local Indy 500 expert, who do you think will come out on top this year? Who do you think the winner will be?  

This is tough. I’ve been thinking about this one for a little bit. Helio’s going to be back in the field, hopefully qualify. So there’s the chance for five. Could you imagine based on the 110, the 250, that Helio gets his fifth win? I’ve been an Helio fan for a long time, so I’d love for him to get his win.  

I also like Pato O’Ward. He’s come close a couple times. Last year’s race, he was really close and just wasn’t able to get it. And Alex Palou pulled off the win. And then there’s Conor Daly– I mean, an Indianapolis native, want to root for him. It’s tough. I would love to see Helio get his fifth. I think if the stars are aligned with everything else, I would love to see him to get his fifth win.  

I think you named the top three fan favorites.  

Yeah.  

That’s who I’m hoping too.  

Trevor, as a guest of the pod, we’re turning the question to you.  

Pato O’Ward.  

OK.  

I have watched him race now for several years, and poor guy’s come up close several times. And I think, he keeps saying, one of these he’s gonna do it. I think it could be this year. We’ll see.  

Those are our predictions. All right, you heard it.  

Do you get a prediction? Do you get one?  

I don’t know enough.  

You refrain?  

I hope it’s any of the people that you all named.  

Fair enough. Well, looking at the future, when you think of Speedway’s impact the next 100 years, what excites you for the Speedway future?  

Our future is bright. With Roger Penske and what he’s done for the track over the last almost six years now– I can’t believe it’s been that long since he’s had stewardship of the Indy 500 and IMS. We are going to continue to build on our racing tradition and innovation with what it means not only to the town of Speedway but to the state. We’re going to continue to build on that racing and automotive history that we have and just continue to make sure that when people come in for the race that they have those extra activities that they can do.  

And from the town perspective, we’re going to continue to invest in our schools and infrastructure, our public safety. We’ve got a lot of activities that we normally do throughout the years. But this year, with it being our centennial, there’s going to be a car show themed throughout the eras of the early 1900s to now.  

We’ll have a unveiling of a time capsule that we’re going to be doing. I think we may be putting in a new time capsule. Come in and see what we’re about. Come visit. It’s busy during the month of May– so maybe if you really want to get the full experience outside the other 11 months. It’s a nice small-town-feel within the bigger city of Indianapolis.  

And now, what, a year since the renovation of the museum, and the roundabout on the north side of Main Street’s getting upgraded too.  

Yeah, we’ll be doing that ribbon-cutting here probably the beginning of the month with Al, Sr. His foundation has donated a lot of money to make that happen. And the metal engravings that will have some prominent features I think is going to be a nice cherry on the top, if you will, on the north side of Main Street– lots of going on, trying to make sure we can have the town there in a hundred years from now, when I’m sure long and gone. [LAUGHS]  

Well, we’re going to wrap up with some rapid-fire questions. Anything that pops into your mind, that’s how we’re going to answer these. OK, if you were a tourist attending the Indy 500, how would you spend your day at Speedway?  

I would start at Charlie Brown’s and then go to Barbecue and Bourbon, get some lunch there. Maybe for those sweet tooths, I would head over to either Parlor Donuts, which just opened up– the maple bacon donuts, great– or go over to Fundaes to get some ice cream.  

And then definitely get there for Carb Day– the party atmosphere, get to see the cars run some practice, the pit stop challenge, the concert, so you get that. And then stay for the weekend. Visit our other restaurants, and then get ready to be there for the green flag.  

Camping the Coke Lot, by chance?  

Yeah.  

Hidden gems of Speedway that we haven’t touched today.  

I think the new one there is the City Garage with Founders Ground. They moved from their location at 14th and Main to the north side. It is a phenomenal piece. Borage is another nice restaurant. Their Cinnamon roll is really good. If you can’t tell–  

I’ve heard of that place.  

It’s at 16th in Lyndhurst. I got a bit of a sweet tooth.  

We can’t tell.  

So their cinnamon rolls are so good. But yeah, those are a couple of hidden gems.  

What about your personal, most memorable Indy 500 finish?  

There for the first eight or nine of them, I was with the state police, so I really didn’t get to see them. I think seeing TK win was probably the most memorable one. Getting his first win was great. I wish he was still racing. I know he’s still involved and helping out with the race team, but seeing Tony Kanaan get his first win was pretty memorable.  

My first 500 when I was a kid was watching Sam Hornish, Jr., take over for and win the race over Marco Andretti and then JR Hildebrand and Dan Wheldon win the race.  

Oh, wow.  

Incredible finishes.  

Wow.  

Can’t top it. For first-time racegoers, what’s your advice?  

Be prepared. Have fun, but be safe. Bring some water, especially if it’s a hotter day. Yeah, just be prepared. There’s 350-plus thousand people that come in. It takes a little bit of time. We see those first-timers just don’t know what to expect. It can be a little bit overwhelming, but just embrace it. Just take it all in, what you can, and get in a little bit early. But don’t expect to leave right after the race is over.  

I don’t know how close you live to the track, but do you park cars in your front yard?  

My yard is not big enough to do that. And I actually live less than a quarter of a mile from gate 1, so it’s an easy walk.  

You’re walking, right?  

I was going to ask you how much money you made on race day because–  

I walked by some of these folks. And like, goodness, they’re packed in there.  

Yeah, and even when we bought our house in 2009, there wasn’t a lot of homes available. So when they did come up, you got what you could. And we’ve been in that house since ’09, and just not a lot of room to park. We’ve got friends from out of town will say, hey, can we park? So we can get one or two that we normally just allow friends to park either in the front or the back. But there are people that pay their mortgages from race day alone.  

Wow.  

Yeah.  

What’s your favorite race day tradition?  

The cannon, just hearing that at 6 o’clock, go off. And then just from there, it’s just the energy. This year for us is going to be a little bit different because my daughters are no longer in band, so I don’t have to get up as early to get them to the high school. But yeah, it’s that, I think, just getting up and hearing the cannon go off. And of course, when I was a trooper, I loved being in there and just seeing all the people come in and enjoying themselves and getting the race going.  

And what’s something that most racegoers don’t do, but they should do?  

Plan accordingly, again, because it takes about three and a half hours, two and a half to three and a half hours, to get out. So just plan to be after the race a little bit longer and continue and have fun. And the neighborhoods are great. There’s kids that are selling lemonade and waters, and so just there’s opportunities to continue that excitement of the race after it goes.  

I love it. Well, Nick, it was a pleasure. Thank you for joining us. Trevor, thank you for joining us as well.  

Yeah, thank you for having me.  

Awesome. Thank you.  

(SINGING) How I long for my Indiana home.  

Drivers, start your engines.  

[CHEERING]  

This year’s 110th running of the Indianapolis 500, presented by Gainbridge, is on Sunday, May 24. We can’t thank Nick enough for joining us. If you want to watch our full video interview with him in our Podcast Studio, check out our YouTube page, youtube.com/@thisispurdue, and click that Subscribe button while you’re there. Plus, be sure to follow This is Purdue on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.  

This is Purdue is hosted and written by me, Kate Young. And special thanks to my co-host on this episode, Trevor Peters. Our podcast videographer for this episode was led by Thad Boone in collaboration with Jon Garcia, Alli Chaney, and Ryan Delaney.  

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