May 20--It's the Indianapolis 500 weekend, and you know what that means: museums! There are two highly relevant exhibits that make a road trip to Indiana's largest city worth considering, beyond the race itself. The first is the Hall of Fame Museum, literally inside the Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. My 14-year-old son and I visited recently and thoroughly enjoyed the collection of past Indy-winning cars, plus some classics from the early days of automaking.
In a timeline, you could watch the average speed of race winners climb through the years.
Open daily at the Speedway, 4790 W. 16th St., Indianapolis; $5-$8 at http://www.indianapolismotorspeedway.com
Across town, the Indianapolis Museum of Art has put up a special exhibit devoted to cars. Up through late August, "Dream Cars: Innovative Design, Visionary Ideas" looks to be spectacular, an exploration, in artwork and actual vehicles, of concept cars and how they drive automobile styling.
Through Aug. 23 at 4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis; $10-$18 at http://www.imamuseum.org
sajohnson@tribpub.com
