Speedway President Doug Boles and the official 2026 Indy 500 Pace Car visit South Bend to kick off the racing season

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The 2026 Indy 500 is a little over a month away - and as the big race draws closer, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has partnered with Tire Rack to kick off the racing season.

Tonight Tire Rack in South Bend hosted the first Indy 500 Porch Party, part of a statewide tour to thank Hoosiers for all of their support over the past 110 years at the Brickyard. Available for photo-ops were the legendary Borg-Warner Trophy, the traditional winner's bottle of milk, and the official 2026 Indy 500 Pace Car. 

The pace car is a gas-electric hybrid Chevy Corvette with a top speed of 185 mph and was on display so visitors to the Porch Party were able to get their picture taken with it and the official race trophy. All the race fans attending were also treated to a goody bag filled with decorations for their own "Porch Party."

Also in attendance was Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles, who told us that it's important for them to get out and around the state before the race because "the majority of race fans are Hoosiers!"

"Over 100,000 of our 350,000 people that come to the Indy 500 live in Indiana. And so, for a long period of time, we just welcomed you and said, hey, thanks for coming. And about 10 years ago, we started going out and said, look, we got to get out in the state. And thank folks in the state for doing that. Because it is, it really is the fans that make the Indy 500 what it is." said Boles

He continued "For me, what I love to do in these is just interact with fans and just hear their story of how they first were exposed to the Indianapolis 500 maybe their first race there, what makes them so passionate about the Indy 500."