Cosmic Spectacle: Eclipse Steals the Spotlight at IMS!

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Over 50,000 attendees from all 50 states and 34 nations around the globe gathered at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Monday, April 8 to witness the remarkable spectacle in the sky during the Total Solar Eclipse Event sponsored by Purdue University.

This marked the first occasion in 819 years that a solar eclipse could be observed in Indianapolis and the only total solar eclipse that will take place in the United States until August 2044.

Visitors arrived early for a full day of exhibits, experiments, panel discussions, demonstrations, photo opportunities, and of course, the highlight – the extraordinary total solar eclipse featuring stunning totality from 3:06-3:09 p.m. ET. More than 80 percent of attendees were first-time guests of the Racing Capital of the World.

Included among the attendees were members of Indiana’s congressional delegation, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, as well as Mark and Rick Armstrong, the sons of Purdue alumnus and first man to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong.

Drivers from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES also engaged in an autograph session with fans, while three-time Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge pole winner Ed Carpenter conducted demonstration laps around the legendary 2.5-mile oval at IMS in his No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet prior to the oval opening for fans to witness the totality.

Among the 33 nations represented by fans at IMS were Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Canada, Czech Republic, Dominican Republic, England, France, Germany, Greenland, Japan, Lithuania, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Philippines, Poland, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, and Switzerland. All attendees were given special eclipse viewing glasses – “The Greatest Spectacles,” a light-hearted reference to the nickname of the Indianapolis 500, “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.”

The IMS Total Solar Eclipse Event sponsored by Purdue University was designated as one of several official broadcast locations for NASA TV’s coverage of the celestial event. The vast crowd and the fact that Indianapolis lay in the direct path of totality also drew extensive local, national, and international news coverage from the Speedway.

Media organizations broadcasting the event live from IMS included NBC (“TODAY” and “NBC Nightly News”), CBS, ABC, CNN, FOX News, and NewsNation.