Indianapolis Audio Tours

Indianapolis became the racing capital of the world almost by accident. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway opened in 1909 on a bed of crushed limestone, which immediately broke apart and killed several drivers. The owners paved it in brick. The first Indy 500 was run in 1911 and Ray Harroun won it at an average speed of 74.6 mph, which tells you how long this tradition goes. The 2.5-mile oval still has a strip of original bricks at the start-finish line that drivers kiss after winning. Nearly 300,000 people attend on race day, making it the largest single-day sporting event on earth.

The city planned itself around a monument rather than a river or a rail hub.

Monument Circle sits at the geometric center of the 1821 street grid, and the Soldiers and Sailors Monument at its center has a small observation deck reached by an interior staircase, with views down the radiating diagonal avenues. The canal downtown is a remnant of the 1830s ambitions to connect Indianapolis to the national water network, which failed economically but left a pleasant waterway that was restored in the 1990s and now runs past the Indiana State Museum and the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art.