INDIANAPOLIS – Three days and one month short of the one-year anniversary of Roger Penske announcing that he had purchased Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar from the Hulman George family, he got to finally welcome fans to the speedway.

Penske, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway chairman, and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles personally welcomed fans back to Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the first time in 2020 on Thursday.

Penske and Boles celebrated the special day by opening the gates at Noon. The two then showed their appreciation by individually greeting and thanking fans for their continued support.

“Race fans are the lifeblood of what we do, and we would not be here this weekend without the loyal fans that have stood by our side,” Penske said. “We have all missed the fans this season, and I wanted to personally thank each and every one of them who waited in line to enter our beautiful facility. It made me proud to see just how excited our fans are to see IndyCar racing and how much they care about IMS.”

The opening day for the IndyCar Harvest GP presented by GMR weekend marked the first time this year that fans have been allowed in the grandstands at IMS to see on-track action due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The anticipation from dedicated race fans resulted in an early-arriving crowd that gathered in a socially distanced line outside of Indianapolis Motor Speedway Thursday morning.