The 500 is planning extra events to celebrate the 100th running of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing:
Organizers are mostly tight-lipped about specifics, promising to announce individual events one at a time. But Speedway concession stands will sell pint bottles of milk for spectators to celebrate at the same time the winner does in Victory Lane. The 500 plans weekend block parties and other celebrations throughout the month of May on Main Street in Speedway and on GeorgiaStreet downtown. And Speedway historian Donald Davidson is hitting the road to help place a 500-related event in every county.
Hulman Motorsports senior vice president Allison Melangton says the race will reach back to the ’20s and ’30s, when the Race Day program featured an annual commemorative poem. The Speedway will work with Indiana Humanities to solicit a poem for the 2016 race, with one entrant being named the race’s poet laureate for the year.