SPEEDWAY, Ind. — It’s full speed ahead for the town of Speedway now with less than two weeks until the start of the Indy 500, Sunday, May 28th.
While the community really comes to life around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the month of May, perhaps nowhere is livelier than the Dallara IndyCar Factory along Main Street.
The Dallara IndyCar Factory has its’ hands in nearly everything IndyCar whether you’re watching the sport on your screen or in the stands around the world chances are in some shape or form if it’s IndyCar, it was once in the building according to Co-Owner of the IndyCar Experience Scott Jasek.
“Either through engineering or through parts manufacturing… it has come through this building,” Jasek said. “You go okay, why in this building would you have an engine shop right? Well, the two-seater IndyCars – we have six of them – and each car has about five engines in rotation. So, we have 30 engines because every 2,000 -2,500 miles we take the engine out and rebuild it and put the new engine, the rebuilt engine back in.”
The IndyCar experience occupies half of the massive building on the corner of N Main St & Gilman while their partner, Gian Paolo Dallara, the Italian Race Car Manufacturer occupies the other and business is booming!
We also paint racecars, we build and rebuild engines, we build IndyCars outside of the wall and do everything related to racing,” Jasek said. “We’ve been giving rides around the speedway at high rates of speed, 180mph, with famous drivers like Mario Andretti, Davey Hamilton and many other drivers, so we’re most known for the two-seat IndyCar.”
Jasek and his team quickly realized that by building and offering experiences like this, racing enthusiasts would flock to the facility. And they certainly have. Pre-pandemic, the Dallara IndyCar Factory hosted 200 events a year.
“We’re building back up, we’re over 100 events this year,” Jasek said. “The month of May just becomes a blur to us.”
If that blur sounds like something you’d like to buy into you can take on of their ‘Hoosier Hot-Wheels’ for a spin on the track at the IMS inside the two-seat IndyCar they’ve become known for at the Dallara IndyCar Factory. But you’ve got to act fast!
“We have about 10 dates that we sell to the public,” Jasek said. “The process is going to our website, you can select the date that you’d like to take the ride and you register. They do fill up pretty quick!”
The Dallara IndyCar Factory currently employs roughly 150 full time staff members, during the month of May that number rises to nearly 300 factoring in part time employees.
