U.S. Postal Service Commemorates the Indianapolis 500 Centennial
3/8/2011
Featuring stylized artwork by John Mattos, this new stamp depicts Ray Harroun driving #32, the Marmon “Wasp.”
With the issuance of the "Indianapolis 500" stamp,
the
U.S. Postal Service commemorates the centennial of the automobile
race held since 1911 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, IN.
Since the first race in 1911, the Indy 500 has become an
American tradition and is billed as “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”
Today it is one of the most significant auto races in the world.
Featuring stylized artwork by John Mattos, this stamp depicts Ray Harroun
driving #32, the Marmon “Wasp,” the customized yellow-and-black car in
which Harroun won the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
The 44-cent Indianapolis 500 stamp is being issued as a
Forever stamp. Forever stamps are always equal in value to the current
First-Class Mail one-ounce rate.
Did You Know...
The Marmon “Wasp” was also featured on a 17.5-cent stamp in
the Transportation series in 1987.
Speedway Background
In 1909, an investment team led by entrepreneur and
automobile dealer Carl Graham Fisher purchased 320 acres of farmland
outside Indianapolis, Indiana, with the intention of creating a speedway
for both racing competitions and private testing. After a series of
motorcycle and automotive races at the new speedway, Fisher decided to
focus on a single event, an ambitious 500-mile race to be held on
Memorial Day.
On May 30, 1911, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway hosted the first
Indianapolis 500. Around 80,000 spectators watched Ray Harroun beat 39
other drivers with a time of 6 hours, 42 minutes, and 8 seconds in a car
manufactured by the Indianapolis-based Marmon Motor Car Company and
nicknamed the “Wasp” for its yellow paint and long, aerodynamic tail.
Harroun, who designed the car, included his own invention, the rearview
mirror.
In 1927, the founders sold the Speedway to a group led by World War I flying
ace and fellow entrepreneur Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker. In the decades that
followed, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway contended with the financial
hardships of the Great Depression, and World War II forced the closing of
the track.
In 1945, Rickenbacker sold the dilapidated speedway to Terre Haute,
IN, entrepreneur Tony Hulman. Beginning with the 500 on Memorial Day
weekend of 1946, Hulman revived the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and
oversaw the Indianapolis 500 until his death in 1977. Today, the speedway
remains in the Hulman family.
From the 500 Festival Parade in downtown Indianapolis to the release of
the multicolored balloons and the singing of “Back Home Again in Indiana”
on the day of the race, many traditions now surround the Indianapolis
500.
The Borg-Warner Trophy, awarded since 1936, includes small
bas-relief likenesses of all previous winners. The Indy 500 victory
ceremony famously includes the winner drinking a bottle of cold milk, a
tradition that dates to 1936, when driver Louis Meyer drank buttermilk
after winning for the third time. The tradition was made permanent in
1956.
The Indy 500 also enjoys a prominent place in American culture, having
been the subject of movies and television shows and, more recently, video
games. In 2002, the Indiana state quarter also depicted an Indy-style
car, the sort of open-wheeled car–a car with its wheels outside rather
than below its body — long associated with the Indy 500.