Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Eclipse at the Racetrack

For this once in a lifetime experience, IMS hosted an eclipse event at their famous Indy 500 racetrack. For the event, we manufactured over 100,000 custom IMS eclipse glasses making it "one of the largest watch parties...….ever"!

Event Recap

More than 50,000 guests from all 50 states and 34 countries around the world flocked to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, April 8 to stare at the greatest spectacle in the sky during the Total Solar Eclipse Event presented by Purdue University.

Guests arrived early for a full day of exhibits, experiments, panel-led discussions, demonstrations, photo opportunities and, of course, the big show – the once-in-a-lifetime total solar eclipse that included breathtaking totality from 3:06-3:09 p.m. ET. More than 80 percent of the guests were first-time visitors to the Racing Capital of the World.

INDYCAR drivers also participated in an autograph session with fans, and three-time Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge pole winner Ed Carpenter turned demonstration laps of the famous 2.5-mile oval at IMS in his No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet before the oval opened for fans to view totality.

All fans were provided with custom eclipse glasses "The Greatest Spectacles" made by American Paper Optics.

The IMS Total Solar Eclipse Event presented by Purdue University was designated one of several official broadcast sites for NASA TV’s coverage of the astronomical phenomenon. The huge crowd and the fact Indianapolis was in the direct path of totality also attracted a throng of local, national and global news coverage from the Speedway.

Media outlets covering the event live from IMS included NBC (“TODAY” and “NBC Nightly News”), CBS, ABC, CNN, FOX News and NewsNation.