INSIGHT: How IMS pulled off the biggest sporting event of the post-pandemic era

The 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 featured an estimated crowd of 135,000 to watch Helio Castroneves capture a remarkable record-tying fourth victory.

But, how?

How was IMS able to pull off the biggest sporting event since the start of the pandemic?

When COVID-19 brought everything to a standstill in early March of 2020, the sporting world held out hope the stoppage would be brief and fans would be able to return in a matter of a few months. To that end, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced on March 26 it was moving The Greatest Spectacle in Racing moved from its traditional Memorial Day weekend to August 23. Despite the change, IMS was forced to run the Indy 500 without any fans in attendance, leaving the sound of 33 engines to echo off of metal bleachers normally occupied by a boisterous crowd of roughly 300,000.

“August was really difficult last year, because in March, when we made the decision to move the race from May to August, we really believed that by the time we got to August, the pandemic would be gone and we'd be able to manage our way through it,” IMS President Doug Boles tells RACER. “At that point in time, nobody knew how long it'd go. People sort of believed that in summer things would get much better anyway, so we felt pretty good about the August date. As we got closer and closer, we got to a point where we thought we'd have everybody. Then it was 50 percent. Then it just got to the point where we couldn't have fans. That was challenging for everybody.”

Boles’s heartbreak was shared by Roger Penske, who had just finalized the purchase of IMS and IndyCar back in January of that year.

“It was challenging for a lot of us because we so badly wanted to put on an Indy 500 for Roger with people (in attendance),” Boles says. “He's obviously been to a bunch of Indy 500s, won the race, but he'd never seen it from this side of the fence where you're actually putting the event on and seeing the smiles on people's faces. So that was really, really challenging. We had a little bright moment then in October, when we were able to have fans here for the doubleheader that we had – the Harvest classic. At that point in time, I think we really believed, 'OK, this is good. We've gotten through August. We've gotten through October. We're going to be fine for May in 2021.' And then as we got into late January and early February, we started realizing that things were going to be a challenge.”

Despite the race date being moved back three months, the dramatic finish to last year's 500 played out in front of empty stands. Cantrell/Motorsport Images

It indeed was a challenge as various government regulations and guidelines were in a state of constant flux. Finally, on April 21, just 40 days prior to the May 30 race, it was confirmed this year’s Indy 500 would be open to fans at 40 percent capacity.

“That's why we really delayed making any announcement, because we wanted to give ourselves every opportunity we could to host as many fans as possible here,” Boles says. “When we ended up making the decision at the end of April and the announcement we'd have 40 percent, that was bittersweet also because we wanted to have more people. But at the same time we felt like, 'OK, at least we got people. It's still a good crowd, and it's sort of the bridge from zero to hopefully 300,00- plus in 2022.’”

To put into perspective what Boles and the rest of his staff at IMS accomplished this past weekend, here’s the rundown of other events, date and attendance:

* The Super Bowl (February 7, 2021) - 24,385

* The Daytona 500 (February 14, 2021) - 30,000* estimated.

* The Kentucky Derby (May 1, 2021) - 51,838

* The Indianapolis 500 (May 30, 2021) - 135,000

“We credited everybody for their tickets going from 2019 to 2020, and then 2020 to 2021,” Boles says. “Our turnaround time really became a problem beginning in January when we realized that things might change, and then in February, when it seemed more and more like it was. The challenge for us really became at that point in time (was), every day that went by in the late winter, early spring that we didn't announce what we were going to do, was one less day that our team could put together an event. So really, we planned this year's Indy 500 in about five weeks when normally we're taking nine or 10 months. That was a big challenge in our ticketing team.

“Even before we made the announcement, we were going through every kind of different scenario: 75 percent, 50 percent, 25 percent. What kind of spacing would we have to have? A whole variety of things to try and think through how it could look, so by the time we made the announcement, we'd have a jump on it. Our ticket team has really worked nonstop since June of last year when they started going through all these different scenarios leading in August. So that's the biggest challenge.

“The facilities team… while it's been really hard on the facilities team, not having people here has allowed them to get a lot of things done that we couldn't normally get done. So as you look around the facility, it looks just as good as it looked in the 10 years that I've been here. A lot of that is Roger's investment, but a lot of that is the fact that we've just been able to keep working, instead of keep working, stop, put on an event, then fix things and keep working. So that maybe is the second-biggest benefit of the COVID situation. The biggest benefit of COVID was the opportunity to host a doubleheader here between NASCAR and IndyCar in the summer. Again, we thought we had fans there, and didn't.

“I'm really excited that it's continuing and now sort of a tripleheader with Xfinity as well (on August 13-15), but fans will get to see that. That's one of the things the industry has talked about for a long time, and just haven't been able to figure it out. Also, I really thought Eddie Gossage (Texas Motor Speedway president) was going to get it at Texas (last June), which was a bummer to me. So the idea that we get to have that doubleheader here, Cup and IndyCar, same track, same weekend, that's the thing I'm most excited about from the pandemic. The silver lining.”

There were members from the IMS staff at the Kentucky Derby and Super Bowl to take in different ideas and best practices on what could aid the process of hosting fans. Boles made the trek to Daytona to get a firsthand look at things. However, with so many sporting entities in and around Indianapolis, there was also an opportunity for the community to come together.

“One of the neat things that happened in the last year in Indianapolis is all of the sports organizations had a Friday call together, so it's the Pacers, it's the Colts, our minor league baseball team - the Indians, the Speedway, the Sports Corporation, which runs all of our amateur sporting events here,” Boles says. “We just exchanged information, struggles we were having, things that worked really well. That's the cool thing about this community, frankly, is that we just support each other so much. But there were so many learnings that we were getting.

“When the NBA started playing and the Pacers could share what was going on there, when the NFL started having fans back and the Colts were sharing some things, that helped us all. The other thing that it did for our organizations is, it gave us an opportunity to realize that we weren't alone. We had a whole bunch of these other folks that are putting on events that work together. It was just interesting to see how not just racing, but the entertainment industry, communicated with each other on how can we get better, because we all want to get ourselves to a point that we can have fans again.”

Boles says that the 2021 Indy 500 helped to create frameworks for other major sporting franchises to reopen their gates again. Cantrell/Motorsport Images

One small example of those talks led to IMS going cashless this year, which allowed for quicker transitions. There were reverse ATMs set up around the 2.5-mile superspeedway, so those with cash were able to load a card and use it within the facility.

Although a normal year the Speedway would have 200 lanes open to help with the flow of fans walking in, there were still 120 lanes open on race day to help limit any potential backup issues and inconvenience for guests.

Boles believes the regulations around how the track monitored incoming fans to enforce COVID protocols will not be permanent. However, he does see the benefits that technology can provide to them.

“I think the things that'll be permanent out of this aren't going to be how we monitor fans, whether they have a temperature, or are they vaccinated, those kinds of things,” Boles says. “I do think that we will learn how to use some of our technology more, and make technology better.

“We're such a big facility, it's harder for us to implement, but some of the things we're experimenting with behind the scenes right now (are) cameras that allow you to say, 'Hey, this concession stand line is really long,' so we can start messaging the folks, 'Hey, there's another concession stand 50 feet down this direction. Go to that one.'

“We're really using digital technology right now to understand who's coming in the gates, meaning numbers of people, not individuals. How are they coming in? Where are they coming in? So we can make sure that the lanes are open, so you're not standing in line for a long time with a bunch of people around you that you don't know. Beyond that, I don't know. Obviously, the mask thing is something that we're doing here right now because our Marion County health order requires us to do that (until June 7 for fully-vaccinated people), but that's not something I think is going to continue.”

While the dream for Boles was to watch 300,000 of his closest friends chant “Helio, Helio, Helio” as the 46-year-old Brazilian race winner climbed the fence on Sunday, he takes pride in having provided a pivotal role as the sports world tries to find its way back to normalcy.

“I really expected to be 300,000-plus for this year,” Boles said. “It would be really easy to be disappointed, but I've tried to keep my head up and say, 'It's good to get fans here.' When we made the announcement, the number of people who reached out that run other sporting organizations around the country to say, 'This is awesome. We want you to be successful because this is a huge number. It's a really great catalyst to getting us going in the right direction.'

“When I started hearing that, that was when it hit me that this is a great thing. We have an opportunity to have a whole bunch of people here, an event that a lot of people are paying attention to. If we do it right, we can help continue that progression, so that hopefully by August, when we have our tripleheader here, we don't have these restrictions. Then by next year, we're certainly beyond it. (Limited capacity is) certainly not what we'd wanted, but we decided we're going to embrace this and we're going to do the best we can at it, and hopefully, this is just that next step to get the entire world back together.”