Race fans tuning in to watch the Indianapolis 500 this week will be greeted with a familiar sight: the fabled Yard of Bricks.
The 36-inch strip of bricks, extending entirely across the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track, is one of the most iconic start/finish lines in American racing. Moreover, it's a vestigial reminder not only of the track's former surface, but also the source of its Brickyard nickname.
The moniker has become so closely tied to the raceway that even NASCAR — which has only one event at the track per year — has adopted it in its own races. The series held the former Brickyard 400 from 1994 through 2020 before renaming it the Brickyard 200 in 2021.
Regardless, there is a history behind the IMS's nickname, one worth exploring ahead of this week's Indianapolis 500. Here's everything you need to know about the Brickyard nickname, the history of the track and the kissing of the bricks tradition:
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Why is Indianapolis Motor Speedway called the Brickyard?
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway is called the Brickyard because its track formerly was paved entirely in bricks from 1909 through the mid-1930s.
But according to History.com, bricks weren't the original surface at IMS. Carl Fisher, the race promoter behind the IMS's construction, deviated from a conventional concrete surface when the track was being built. He instead opted for "a sticky amalgam of gravel, limestone, tar and 220,000 gallons of asphaltum oil."
The track surface turned IMS's debut race on Aug. 13, 1909 into a disaster: It ruined drivers' tires, and workers were forced to sand it down over several days before the event could continue. Even after they were finished "improving" the track, drivers and their teams were covered with dirt, oil and tar flung up from the rapidly disintegrating surface.
Worse yet, driver Wilford Bacuque and his mechanic were killed when their car flipped over and bounced into a fence post. Three more people died when Charlier Merz shredded his tire and flew into the stands. Fisher — under threat of boycott from AAA — was forced to suspend all races to repave the track.
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Why do IndyCar, NASCAR winners kiss the Yard of Bricks?
One of the better-known traditions at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway occurs only after the race has concluded: The winning driver and their teams will take to the track, kneel down and kiss the Yard of Bricks.
Though the track is associated more with IndyCar, the practice actually began in 1996 when NASCAR champion Dale Jarrett, crew chief Todd Parrott and their team celebrated his victory at the Brickyard 400:
Every year since, the winners of IndyCar's Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR's Brickyard 400 have kissed the bricks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway: a fitting tribute to its unique history as one of America's iconic racetracks.
