2025 Indianapolis 500 sold out – Indianapolis News | Indiana Weather | Indiana Traffic

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — For just the second time in its history, the Indianapolis 500 is a sellout. Well, almost.

Doug Boles, president of the NTT IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway, announced Friday that a sellout is “imminent” and he expects the remaining grandstand tickets to be sold by the end of the day.

The first — and until now, only — grandstand sellout was in 2016 for the 100th running.

“The sheer size and scale of this crowd is going to be massive,” Boles said. “The 109th Running will be a full-scale, nonstop spectacle that draws the eyes of the world to Speedway, Indiana.”

Boles says the track will continue to sell general admission tickets until supplies run out.

Tickets have been in high demand all spring, with less than 10,000 grandstand seats available at the end of April. Brian Kaltenmark, senior marketing director for IMS, said May 1 that sales were up 4% year-over-year.

With packed grandstands and space for 100,000 fans in the infield, race day attendance could hit 350,000 — more than enough for the “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” to continue its reign as the largest single-day sporting event in the world.

A sellout doesn’t just mean more people at the track — it means the race will be shown live on TVs across central Indiana for just the fourth time in 75 years.

The speedway implemented a local TV blackout in 1951 after two years of live broadcasts, believing the race would draw bigger crowds if people could not stay home and watch it. Officials promised to lift the local TV embargo if the race ever sold out — and both of those things happened in 2016. The blackout was lifted again in 2020, when the race was held in August due to the coronavirus pandemic, and a third time last year following a four-hour rain delay.

The “Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is still 9 days away, but plenty of fans will be at the track on Friday for “Fast Friday.” In the final practice session before qualifications, cars will receive a turbocharger boost to reach the speeds they will run during qualifying on Saturday and Sunday.

Practice is scheduled to run from noon to 6 p.m. The qualification draw is set for 6:15 p.m. in Pagoda Plaza.

The 109th Running of the Indianapolis 500 is scheduled for Sunday, May 25. Join WISH-TV’s Daybreak starting at 5 a.m. for live coverage from IMS.