IMS celebrating Indy 500 fans' return 'back home again' with special TV ad, '100 Days Out' party

In 100 days, Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials anticipate that track owner Roger Penske will finally be able to welcome a "no capacity restrictions" crowd to the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. To celebrate the momentous event, the track is centering its campaign leading up to the May 29 race on a sacred part of race day history: the annual singing of 'Back Home Again (In Indiana)' made famous by Jim Nabors and continued today by Jim Cornelison.

The first piece of that campaign will be unveiled Friday night during NBC's Winter Olympics broadcast. It will be a 60-second ad featuring video clips of IMS and the Indianapolis community, a voiceover from two-time 500-winning co-owner David Letterman, a cameo from the race's newest four-time winning driver Helio Castroneves and the first-known recording of the famous pre-race song by James Melton in 1947, joined by the voices of Nabors and Cornelison.

"This all started back when we were getting ready for 2021, and we'd hoped that COVID would be behind us and we'd be hosting 300,000-plus people, and we thought that would be a great time to talk about being 'back home again'," IMS president Doug Boles told IndyStar. "But then when it couldn't be everybody, we knew we couldn't do that. Now that we feel confident we can have everybody back, we feel like it's a really good fit and an opportunity to talk about the tradition of coming to the Indy 500 and why that's so special."

Barring unforeseen changes in trends around the COVID-19 pandemic, Boles said he expects IMS to be able to host as many fans as want to come, up to the roughly 350,000-spectator capacity, on race day, with the return of several of May staples such as Carb Day concerts and the Snake Pit. At the moment, he said ticket sales are trending better than for every 500 in the past decade-plus, outside of the sellout 100th running in 2016. Though he called it a "stretch goal," he wouldn't rule out the possibility of IMS having to cease ticket sales as they did mid-May in 2016.

More Indianapolis 500 coverage:

• Here's where the Indy 500 field stands, as five partners jockey for final entries

• The Snake Pit is back! Concert lineup announced for 2022

• Castroneves flashes historic '4' on 2022 Indianapolis 500 ticket

• Power energized to get back to 'normalcy', kick off May as Rev 2022 honorary chair

At the moment, he said 95% of fans who built up ticket credits from being unable to attend either or both of the previous two 500s, when fans weren't allowed at all in 2020 and only 135,000 were last May, have used their credits. Those who haven't will have three years to take advantage of them before they expire.

"One of our goals from 2016 to 2017 was to keep 50% of the lift (in ticket sales) we saw from 2015 to 2016, and we did that," he said. "And for the 2022 race, we're day-over-day in a better spot than then. Can we sell it out? That's a tall order, but it wouldn't surprise me if we did.

"I just know how desperately (Penske Entertainment Corp. president and CEO) Mark Miles and I want to have a normal Indy 500 for Roger. He's been an amazing steward through a really difficult period of time, sort of like Tony Hulman was on the backside of World War II. I think a lot of people would have easily thrown their hands up and said, 'Just close the place until the world's back to normal.' I want him to be able to experience it in the way we all have."

Indianapolis Motor Speedway changes

Those who attend on-track action in May will notice a new one-story multi-purpose building in Turn 3 dubbed the BMW M Driving Experience Center. During May and other IMS race weekends, the 8,700 square-foot space can be used as an additional hospitality venue with a viewing deck. Outside that, the building will be leased by BMW on a multi-year deal for the auto manufacturer to host BMW Performance Driving School classes for clients to experience a high-performance vehicle on the IMS road course.

IMS is also revamping the Gate 9 entrance and exit area and renovating the ticket booths, among other things, though Boles doubted those updates would be done for this year's race due to weather and supply chain issues. He does expect the significant facelift taking place on the underside of the Tower Terrace Suites to be finished in the coming months, though, along with an additional investment and upgrade to the infield care center.

"I think for our fans, everything will feel eerily similar to how (the race) felt back in 2019," Boles said. "I do think we probably rely even more now on communicating with our customer via social media and email because of not being able to interact with them in-person for so long. We do have a few things like creating 'grab-and-go' concessions to help make the experience at the Speedway even better."

Friday evening, IMS is hosting a sold-out crowd for its annual 100 Days Out Party from 7-10 p.m. with driver appearances, photo opportunities and a viewing of the extended version of the 'Back Home Again' ad. Those at home Friday night watching NBC affiliates in Indiana should look for the ad on-air between 8-9 p.m.

Email IndyStar motor sports reporter Nathan Brown at nlbrown@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter: @By_NathanBrown.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy 500: IMS to release 'Back Home Again' ad during Winter Olympics