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Indy 500 Reduces Number Of Spectators To 25 Percent

Indy 500 Reduces Number Of Spectators To 25 Percent
Lauren Chapman
Indy 500 Reduces Number Of Spectators To 25 Percent

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced Tuesday fan attendance will be further limited to the Indy 500.

Last month, IMS officials announced the race would reduce the number of spectators to 50 percent. Now, only 25 percent will be allowed to watch the event at the track.

While no official numbers are released for each year's attendance, estimates suggest more than 50,000 people would still being able to attend the race.

“We want to demonstrate that even under current circumstances, people can gather with carefully planned procedures in place so we don’t have to go back to shutting down our country and our community,” said Penske Entertainment Corp. President and CEO Mark Miles in a media release. 

For those that do come to the race, several precautionary measures are planned including spreading out attendees more, requiring face masks, and temperature checks at the gates.

With the additional fan limitations, no announcement has yet been made if the broadcast blackout in the Indianapolis area will be lifted for this year’s race.

Contact reporter Samantha at  shorton@wfyi.org or follow her on Twitter at @SamHorton5.

Samantha Horton is the All Things Considered newscaster and a reporter at WFYI. She is a graduate from University of Evansville with a bachelor’s degree in international studies, political science and communication where she also swam all four years. Samantha has worked as a reporter at WNIN in Evansville, Side Effects Public Media, Indiana Public Broadcasting and the Kansas News Service. In 2022 she was one of two fellows with the NPR Midwest Newsroom and Missouri Independent investigating elevated blood lead levels in children.
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