MARK MILES ’76 was named CEO of Hulman & Company—owner of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) and IndyCar—to make changes.
“I want to get it to the level of its former glory and beyond,” the self-proclaimed “challenge hunter” told WM only weeks before he started at Hulman in 2012.
But how do you find new audiences for the Indianapolis 500, its series and venue, while still appealing to lifelong race fans of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing?”
During three years with Miles at the helm IMS has reclaimed the month of May with a family-friendly road race and made a $90 million investment in the facility.
Attendance is up and TV ratings for the series are improving.
“I think we’re making real progress in the place being more like we know and we want it to be,” the Indianapolis native told a Ball Theater audience during the IndyCar and the Liberal Arts discussion sponsored by The Bachelor in April. “It is going to be an extraordinary 100th running. I’ll come back and eat this microphone if it isn’t sold out, and that hasn’t happened since 1995.”
So how does Miles balance changes with what needs to be preserved?
“There’s an alchemy to it,” Miles said. “You think about what is fundamentally the tradition that this place represents, and what’s just habit.
“We’ve done some things differently. We’ve tweaked qualifying, and we’ve added music—there will be more than 100,000 tickets sold separately for music events during race weekend. That’s what’s new.”
The traditions?
“The parade laps, the flyover, the songs that are sung, the celebrities who are there, and then those cars line up…. When May comes this place lights up just like spring.”
—STEVE CHARLES
Editor’s Note: There will be no microphone eating for Miles. The 100th running of the Indy 500 was sold out with more than 300,000 fans attending, allowing the TV blackout in central Indiana to be lifted for the first time in 65 years.