NEW YORK — Four annual motorsports races, several related special events and promotional partnership tie-ins are among what Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials are planning for its 2008-11 centennial era.
“We had been planning on having four racing weekends,” said IMS President and Chief Operating Officer Joie Chitwood during the eighth annual Motorsports Marketing Forum at the Barclay InterContinential Nov. 28. “There’s the Indianapolis 500, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard and the first Red Bull Indianapolis GP. There are a number of special events that we’re working on that will relate to the history and heritage of the speedway.”
Chitwood said that the speedway is looking at special endurance, airplane and balloon races on its 846 acres.
 There are several promotional campaigns with IMS’s marketing partners in store and coordination with the town of Speedway’s redevelopment plans for the intersection of West 16th Street with Georgetown and Crawfordsville roads.
IMS is to celebrate its 1909 opening and first races, its 1911 first running of the Indianapolis 500 and the 100th running in 2016. Its first official act is to unveil centennial era logos prior to May 25’s 92nd running.
“We have different logos for each of our events every year,” Chitwood said before an audience of about 200 in the InterContinential’s Astor Room. “In 2008, there will be a revision of our flying-wheel logo. We are talking with Allstate, Coca-Cola and our other marketing partners about promotion.”
Chitwood said that having the motorcycle, airplane and balloon competitions, plus a hinted endurance race are indicitive of IMS’s criteria for selecting its centennial events.
“We’re bringing up our history and heritage and how it applies to the 21st century,” Chitwood said. “The intent is to show the speedway’s relevance as an icon in motorsports, the automotive industry and American culture. I’ve been working on this for a year and the difficulty is to determine which stories to tell and which events will be special.”
Chitwood added that he viewed the F-1 USGP, and its absence from 2008, as “on a hiatus.” “It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out for 2008,” Chitwood said. “We’re talking about 2009. I think F-1 has a home here at Indianapolis.”
Chitwood grants that plans for celebrating the 100th running in 2016 is somewhat tentative. The focus is on 2011 and its winner.
“What driver would not like to win that 100th race,” asked Chitwood. “We’re holding events that would set the standard for our 150th and 200th anniversaries.”