Speedway landmark closing | wthr.com
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Speedway - A motel that has been a landmark in Speedway for 45 years will be torn down.
Joie Chitwood, president and COO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, announced Monday that the Brickyard Crossing Inn will close immediately and will be razed in a few months.
The 96-room motel was built in 1963 on the eastern edge of the IMS grounds.
"To bring the motel up to the standards and quality of what guests expect at the Speedway would require significant capital expenditures," Chitwood said. "After reviewing the alternatives, we have decided to discontinue its operation."
Like the Speedway, the Brickyard Crossing Inn has famous history. Besides being the home for several Indianapolis 500 drivers and owners during the month of May, scenes from Paul Newman's movie "Winning" were filmed in rooms of the motel.
"Got to remember, at that time when it was built, there wasn't such thing as a race driver having a fancy, multi-million dollar van to live in when they were at the race track, so a lot of them stayed there," former Speedway public address announcer Tom Carnegie. He also had a room at the hotel, staying down the hall from stars like Newman and race winners A.J. Foyt and Mario Andretti.
NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon celebrated his victory in the inaugural Allstate 400 at the Brickyard Crossing Inn in 1994 by eating a pizza in his room at the motel.
Carnegie said was saddened by the news of the motel's closing.
"Oh, there went my good times for years," he said. "I started crying. What a wonderful place."
Officials say the motel became outdated and needs many repairs to meet today's standards.
"The market or the hotel has not been good, except during race events. So it's a matter of needing a lot of money to invest in it and also of declining patronageover the years," said Fred Nation, IMS executive VP of communications.
Plans are being made for the demolition of the motel buildings after the first of the year. Use of the space after the removal of the motel has not been determined, Chitwood said.
For Carnegie, the memories of the Inn will always live on.
"That was more fun than you can possibly imagine. To have a room at the IMS motel in the month of May, that was everybody's dream," he said. "And I had it."
The closure of the motel will not affect the main building of Brickyard Crossing, which is home to a public restaurant, the Flag Room pub, conference space and the Brickyard Crossing Golf Course Golf Shop. All will continue operation, though fifteen people will lose their jobs because of the closure.
