The RACER Guest Mailbag with IMS President Doug Boles

Yesterday at 08:00 AM

Is there anyone in the world who loves their job more than Indianapolis Motor Speedway President J. Douglas Boles? (It’s a rhetorical question — the answer is clearly no!)

Since taking over the stewardship of the track in 2013, Boles has juggled the considerable day to day responsibilities of overseeing one of the world’s most famous and historic sporting venues with the unofficial role of being IMS’s biggest cheerleader — someone who recognizes that the Speedway’s biggest asset is its fans. When we invited him to take questions from RACER.com readers, he was immediately on board.

The invitation for questions drew such a massive response that Boles would have been required to subcontract out his day job in order to have the time to answer them all, but we’re hugely appreciative for the time he took to answer the submissions that he could.

As the Speedway prepares to open its doors to the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship this weekend, please enjoy this opportunity to hear about all things IMS direct from the source.

Over to Doug:

Q: Can you explain the price increase in all the Vista deck seats, since those seats have failed to see the upgrades the other high-end seats have over the years?

David

DOUG BOLES: You are correct, we did make changes in the Penthouse seats (across all Penthouses – Paddock, A, B, & E) as part of Project 100 prior to the 2016 Indianapolis 500. Those locations received new seats and some of those locations (all but E Penthouse) received access to new elevators.

For the 2015 Indianapolis 500 (as part of Project 100) the NW Vista and the SW Vista both received the new large video boards for better viewing. We also upgraded the video boards visible to customers in NE Vista and SE Vista.

Since Roger Penske purchased the Speedway, we have invested in new back of grandstand video boards for customers in Turn 4 (the vast majority are NW Vista customers) and Turn 1, as well as new asphalt, restroom renovations and concession stand improvements.

With the exception of E and B Penthouses, the Vista Deck seats (the two rows above each Vista) are the most popular seats at the Speedway and the demand for those seats is significant. As we continue to look at places we can upgrade, the Vistas in general (not just the deck seats) are areas where we are looking at investing in a future year. As for pricing, it has increased on an every-other-year basis for all seats across the venue. While we do increase prices to meet rising costs and keep pace with industry standards, we work hard to keep those increases minimal and continue to provide excellent value to our customers. Compared to many other bucket-list events, the Indy 500 remains a more affordable experience.

Q: Has there been any thoughts or consideration to the ticket holders about being able leave their Indy 500 tickets to family members in their will?

Robert

DB: This is a great question, and one that became one of the first things I addressed when I became president in 2013. Historically, IMS did not allow the transfer of tickets from one family member to another as a general practice. And, while I understood the reasoning (if IMS did allow it, it would make it virtually impossible for someone who was hoping to graduate up to certain locations if they could just be passed along), I was bothered by the inability of family to continue to enjoy the Indianapolis 500 in the locations where they typically attended once the account holder passed or decided to no longer purchase tickets.

I believed we should always allow family transfers (because the seats transferred have the family ties and memories that make them special to that family) and we changed that policy to allow family members to transfer tickets from another family member's account in most instances. As part of any transfer under this policy, we did implement a one-time transfer fee.

We do not, however, transfer the seniority of one family member to another. Our main goal in these transfers is to allow family members to retain the seats that they likely sat in with their family member – and we can do that without transferring seniority. This allows a family to keep the tradition of attending the Indy 500 going and do it in the seats they expect. If we transferred seniority from one account to another, it would unfairly disadvantage our customers who also have longtime seniority in their individual accounts limiting their ability to request and receive changes or upgrades when options become available.

I hope this helps you understand our process and why we believe it is the fairest way to treat all of our customers while, at the same time, allowing families to keep the seats that have traditionally been in the family.
Thanks for this question.

Q: What changes are coming to the Lap Sponsorship Program in 2025 and beyond? IMS staff have not taken payment for the program for 2025, itself indicating a price increase, but staff also say other changes are coming. Please share the plans with existing lap sponsors as soon as possible so that constituency can consider the investment moving forward.

Also, in years past, Silver Badge holders have gotten the privilege of attending the pre-500 Saturday public drivers meeting from the pit lane. Legends Day is fairly boring as is, and watching the drivers arrive and depart from the meeting up close constitutes one of the day's highlights. This year, yellow shirts prevented Silver Badge holders from accessing pit lane.

Kenneth

DB: We are working on Lap Sponsorship program changes and adjustments and our hope is that we will be able to roll them out in late September. We will likely continue to offer the single-lap sponsorships, as well as adding additional opportunities on each lap. We are also looking at other similar sponsorship opportunities.

And, yes, there will likely be a price increase. As you probably know, the price to sponsor a lap is less than the value of the benefits received (especially the Silver Badge access). However, we also want to keep the value high for those participating in this program that dates back nearly a century!

I was unaware that Silver Badge holders were not allowed to access pit lane during this past year's drivers meeting and I will follow up with our team to understand the reasoning behind the change and will advocate that Silver Badge holders receive that access again.

Thanks for the input and thanks for being a Lap Sponsor!