There's a secret in the Motor Speedway Museum's basement. They're letting people in on it.

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It’s not much to see at first.

Shadows line the garage-like room. It’s an eerie feeling after riding a fairly compact elevator to the bottom floor of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum.

When the fluorescents come on, any eye would be magnetized to the beloved, fiery red 1964 Ferrari 250LM parked behind a crisp, silver 1954 Mercedes-Benz W196 with that famous three-point emblem adorned on the hood.

Those two classic racers at the front of the room are among the most valuable in the world. If you know cars, you would be impressed. If you don’t, you would still be moved by such finery.

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At any given time about 140 vehicles live in the bowels of the museum, encompassing more than 120 years of innovative automotive engineering.

What’s inside is a secret, and they want to keep it that way.

But there’s trust between Indy’s automotive museum and its visitors – lovers of racing and the inner workings of its mechanisms alike – so they started tours in 2021.

“If you are at all a car enthusiast from a history standpoint or even a racing standpoint it really allows you to see the collection that we have up close," said Kara Kovert Pray, vice president of marketing and communications for the museum.

Mental pictures will have to do, as photos and video are not permitted.

Those who walk the collection can get close enough to the cars to see their faces on the buffed surfaces.

Rows of IndyCars, pace cars, Formula 1 cars, Duesenbergs and a 126-year-old motocycle fill the space, among others.

And there’s a vintage Ford convertible – a favorite of many. (Just don’t tell our early auto manufacturing rivals in Detroit.)

The museum opened more than 65 years ago, and its newer building within the oval came a decade later.

For decades, highlights of the 200-plus vehicle collection would emerge for public display, like in the airport or other museums. A select few ride on the track ahead of the race, a facet of yearly events. Soon, one of the vintage race cars will make its way around the track.

On a recent morning, Tom Drake tucked himself into a corner and painted a Firestone rubber tire circa at least the 1970s belonging to Mario Andretti’s 1972 VPJ.

Drake, one of the museum’s restoration crew, used gold acrylic paint to embolden the tire’s logo. Then he polished the car’s rims.

Drake’s job is to see things that others wouldn't notice.

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It’s all part of the detailing process to maintain as close to original looks as possible with whatever gets them there.

“If you don't know where it is, you have to make it and we have the facilities to do that and the people,” Drake said.

Those efforts along with running the engines and taking care of what makes the cars move, help keep up the traditions, Luke Edwards, vehicle and exhibits specialist, said.

“It’s healthy for the cars to run," Edwards said, "it keeps them alive.”

Contact IndyStar's general assignment reporter Rachel Fradette at rfradette@gannett.com or follow her on Twitter: @Rachel_Fradette.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indy 500: The well-kept secret in the Motor Speedway Museum basement