Submitted by IMS
Indianapolis 500 fans will watch their mailboxes after the highly anticipated blue envelopes featuring Race Day tickets were mailed Wednesday, March 11 from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office.
AJ Foyt Racing’s Caio Collet was on hand to assist with the initial mailing, which included shipments to all 50 U.S. states, the District of Columbia and 32 countries around the world as race fans eagerly await the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 24.
“It’s really impressive,” Collet said. “To connect the drivers and make them closer to the public is unique and something that only INDYCAR does.”
Collet also took time to write notes and signatures on a few envelopes, with these special messages going to ticket buyers from his native country of Brazil. In addition, 26 signed Parkside trading cards were randomly placed in envelopes as a unique surprise for ticket buyers.
It takes approximately nine weeks to package all pre-ordered tickets for mailing, from orders the day after the previous year’s race up to current orders. Hard work from employees in the Ticket Office and other Penske Entertainment Corp. departments ensures the ticketing process runs smoothly and on schedule.
A few facts and figures about this year’s initial ticket mailing:
- Number of tickets sent: More than 225,000 items (includes 173,000 Indy 500 Race Day tickets, parking, qualification and practice tickets, concert tickets, etc.)
- Number of blue envelopes sent: More than 33,000
- Number of U.S. Postal Service trays to accommodate envelopes: More than 720
- Weight of all ticket envelopes and trays in first mailing: More than 6,800 pounds
- Hours needed to fill envelopes by hand: More than 1,100 person-hours
- Number of working days to package envelopes: 44
- Number of Penske Entertainment employees who fill envelopes: 68
- Number of states distributed: 50
- Number of countries distributed: 32 (including United States)
Fans who have purchased Miller Lite Carb Day tickets will receive their blue envelopes once the concert artists have been announced.
Federal postal inspectors came to IMS with a large truck for the first mailing. Collet joined IMS and INDYCAR President J. Douglas Boles and several IMS employees in helping to load the trucks.
“This is, if not the most important day of the year, certainly one of the most important as our fans can expect their Indy 500 tickets to show up in the mail,” Boles said. “Most people want that ticket because it means so much to them.”
Receiving an eagerly awaited blue envelope in the mail is a rite of spring for thousands of fans of “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” But why are the envelopes blue?
In the 1970s, Indianapolis 500 tickets were mailed in brown envelopes with the IMS return address in the upper left corner. In the 1980s, a heavier-stock, gray-colored envelope was introduced to mail the tickets, with just the IMS Post Office box number in the upper left corner. A computerized printer also was used for the first time in the 1980s to print ticket customers’ name and address on each envelope.
When the NASCAR Cup Series was added to the IMS schedule in 1994, the Ticket Office needed a way to distinguish between the envelopes containing tickets for the Indianapolis 500 and the annual NASCAR race, especially if the Postal Service returned the envelope as non-deliverable.
So, the IMS Ticket Office decided to color-code the ticket envelopes for each event. Indianapolis 500 ticket envelopes became blue, Brickyard Weekend envelopes became purple, Sonsio Grand Prix envelopes became green, and ticket envelopes for other IMS events use a variety of colors, including red, cream, gray and yellow.
Tickets for the 110th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge on Sunday, May 24, the Sonsio Grand Prix on Saturday, May 9 and all other Month of May events are available at IMS.com/Tickets or via the IMS Ticket Office at 317-492-6700.
