How to Camp at the Brickyard

Camping at the Brickyard can be a fun and great experience, completely unlike anything you’ve ever experienced before. Every year the campground at Indianapolis Motor Speedway changes and you never know exactly who you’ll run into or what will happen and that’s part of the experience. As someone who’s been camping at the Brickyard several times, let me show you exactly how to do it.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

1. Get there as early as possible to get a good camp spot. While you should have reserved a campsite in advance, it’s first come, first serve once you’re there. You’ll have a spot no matter what, but by getting there early you can find a spot closer to the track.
2. Arrive early in the day because you need to put up your tent. Last year we got stuck in traffic and ended up getting to the track after dark. Trust me, putting up a tent in the dark isn’t fun!
3. Bring along several large coolers, a small grill, and as much food and drinks as you’ll think you need. You’ll also want to bring quite a lot of ice, lighter fluid, and more charcoal than you think you’ll actually need. Getting out of the track to a gas station or grocery store is extremely difficult and if you do leave, you’ll be sitting in traffic for several hours.
4. Make friends with those people camping next to you and invite them over for a cold drink, provided they’re all 21 or older. By befriending the people around you, it will make it easier when you need to get some sleep and they’re still partying.
5. Pack towels, soap, baby wipes, and any bathroom stuff you need along with a lot of change. The Brickyard only has pay showers available and the lines there are usually insane, even in the middle of the night. You can use the baby wipes to keep yourself relatively clean when you can’t get to a shower.
6. Buy a few rolls of toilet paper on your way to the track. It might sound odd, but the outdoor toilets tend to run out of toilet paper by the time Sunday night runs around. This will save you time and hassle!
7. Keep your eye on all your belongings and either put them in your car at night or carry them into your tent. We made the mistake of leaving some of our stuff sitting up and got up the next day to discover that one of the “friends” we had made that weekend had left with a lot of our things.
8. Have fun and make the most of your camping experience at the Brickyard. This is the most important step! I’ve made some great friends at the Brickyard and many of us meet up every year when we’re in town.

Tips & Warnings

• Keep an eye on how much you drink and how much the other people you’re with drink. Between the heat and lack of food, it’s easy to drink too much too fast.
• If you’re a cigarette smoker make sure you bring as many cigarettes as you think you’ll need because getting to a gas station will be nearly impossible.
• Grab a mirror and make sure you keep it in your car so it doesn’t get broken. With only outdoor toilets and no mirrors around, this is the only way you can make sure you still look good.
• Just say no when it comes to drugs. There’s more drugs floating around a race track than there are at most college campuses.