By Curt Cavin
The Indianapolis Star

INDIANAPOLIS - Indiana National Bank asked Tony Hulman to share Indianapolis 500 attendance figures when he borrowed an estimated $700,000 to purchase Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1945.

Rather than give the bank the figures, Hulman paid off the loan.

Hulman died in 1977, but his secret has lived on. No one connected with the Speedway has confirmed the actual size of any race-day crowd, and the limited number of people who know show no indication of breaking Hulman's unwritten rule.

But rules are made to be broken.

A six-month inspection of each grandstand by the Indianapolis Star resulted in a count of 257,325 permanent seats. It is believed to be the only formal count of the seats in the facility's modern era.

Estimates had been left to journalists, many of whom have admitted to being influenced by the vastness of the Speedway and the enthusiasm surrounding the 500. Some have guessed as many as 500,000 fans on race day.

"If you had to drive through all that (prerace traffic congestion), it's not hard to believe they had that many people," said Gary Long, a Lafayette, Ind., native who has attended the 500 46 times, including 22 as the motor sports reporter for the Miami Herald. "I've ridiculously guessed too much just like everyone else, but I was never out of the mainstream."

Steve Herman has covered the 500 for most of his 34 years with the Associated Press' Indianapolis bureau. "Someone would pull a number out of the air - like 400,000 - and that seemed to be good," he said. "(Speedway officials) admit to 250,000 seats, and after that it's just a guess with all the people standing in the grass, or whatever."

Including security personnel, food and beverage sellers, gift shop staff, journalists and Indy Racing League employees and drivers, the estimated number of people who could be on site Sunday if the race sells out comes to 267,925.

How did the inflated numbers begin? Steve Hannagan was an early showman for IMS, a public relations specialist skilled in the art of grandstanding, and was known for estimating the attendance of the still-young and blossoming 500 as early as 1920.

"There's 85,000 people here," he once said. "It's got to be the biggest crowd we've ever had."

People haven't stopped talking about - or exaggerating - the 500's attendance since. Long regarded as the largest single-day sporting event crowd in the world, Speedway brass never discouraged the ridiculously high estimates because each increase heightened the mystique.

In 1950, the Indianapolis Star estimated 130,000 people. As grandstands were built over the next 10 years, the figure jumped to 200,000. By 1970, the estimate was 250,000. In 1980, the number grew to 350,000, with 100,000 of those supposedly in the infield.

The drivers who circle the track 200 times on race day have some of the best looks at the crowd. But not even they can tell how many people are in the stands.

"You can't tell me there's not 200,000 at least, maybe 300,000 or more," two-time starter Tony Kanaan said. "Every time I've looked at the place on a race day, it's been packed. It looks like one big grandstand."

Said former driver Michael Andretti: "I'd say 240,000 actually sitting there and another 100,000 in the infield. But there's probably more than that, and I'm probably way off base. It's so hard to tell unless you go to every seat and count them."

How it was done

Indianapolis Star reporter Curt Cavin, who has covered every Indy 500 since 1988, counted every seat at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway himself, making repeated trips to IMS when the facility was open to the public or media. The number of seats on the mounds in the backstretch and second and third turns was estimated by determining the amount of space needed for a person to sit in a lawn chair.

Schedule for the 88th Indianapolis 500

6 a.m. - Speedway gates open

11:31 a.m. - Driver introductions

11:58 a.m. - Pace laps

Noon - Race start

Indianapolis 500 Lineup

Sunday; Race May 30

At Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis

(Car numbers in parentheses; r-rookie)

Row 1

1. (15) Buddy Rice, G Force-Honda, 222.024 mph.

2. (26) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 221.524.

3. (27) Dario Franchitti, Dallara-Honda, 221.471.

Row 2

4. (36) Bruno Junqueira, G Force-Honda, 221.379.

5. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 221.200.

6. (5) Adrian Fernandez, G Force-Honda, 220.999.

Row 3

7. (17) Vitor Meira, G Force-Honda, 220.958.

8. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Toyota, 220.882.

9. (55) r-Kosuke Matsuura, G Force-Honda, 220.740.

Row 4

10. (4) Tomas Scheckter, Dallara-Chevrolet, 220.417.

11. (6) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Toyota, 220.180.

12. (16) Roger Yasukawa, G Force-Honda, 220.030.

Row 5

13. (1) Scott Dixon, G Force-Toyota, 219.319.

14. (2) r-Mark Taylor, Dallara-Chevrolet, 219.282.

15. (10) r-Darren Manning, G Force-Toyota, 219.271.

Row 6

16. (52) r-Ed Carpenter, Dallara-Chevrolet, 218.590.

17. (20) Al Unser Jr., Dallara-Chevrolet, 217.966.

18. (70) Robby Gordon, Dallara-Chevrolet, 216.522.

Row 7

19. (39) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Toyota, 215.771.

20. (8) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Toyota, 215.635.

21. (14) A.J. Foyt IV, Dallara-Toyota, 214.256.

Row 8

22. (41) r-Larry Foyt, G Force-Toyota, 213.277.

23. (7) Bryan Herta, Dallara-Honda, 219.871.

24. (51) Alex Barron, Dallara-Chevrolet, 218.836.

Row 9

25. (24) Felipe Giaffone, Dallara-Chevrolet, 216.259.

26. (12) Tora Takagi, Dallara-Toyota, 214.364.

27. (13) Greg Ray, G Force-Honda, 216.641.

Row 10

28. (91) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Chevrolet, 215.110.

29. (21) r-Jeff Simmons, Dallara-Toyota, 214.783.

30. (33) Richie Hearn, G Force-Toyota, 213.715.

Row 11

31. (98) r-PJ Jones, Dallara-Chevrolet, 213.355.

32. (25) r-Marty Roth, Dallara-Toyota, 211.974.

33. (18) Robby McGehee, Dallara-Chevrolet, 211.631.

Field Average-217.821 mph. (Record 228.648 mph., 2002)