AIA Indiana and Patterson Horth gathered AIA Indiana members and sponsors at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on a sunny Friday in May for ‘A Day at IMS’.

On the speedway’s first day hosting in-person events in nearly two years, keynote speaker and voice of the Indy 500 Paul Page shared stories from his decades in racing and answered questions from audience members recalling some of his fondest memories.

Craig Healey, Senior Account Executive at Bluewater Technologies, also gave a presentation at the event illustrating Bluewater’s recent partnership with IMS and Roger Penske to implement custom LED structures throughout the speedway. As part of the project, Bluewater created an 18-foot-tall, 100-foot-wide LED screen that stretches across the bottom level of the Pagoda.

“You are officially the first audience to have access to the plaza and see these new displays,” Healey said.

Before the renovation, the Pagoda’s bottom level was flanked by two 14-foot-tall, 20-foot-wide LED displays which Roger Penske wanted taken down and repurposed in other areas of the track. Healey said Penske ultimately chose Bluewater to replace the existing displays with a brand-new LED board that runs the length of the building.

Healey said BlueWater approached the IMS project like any other – with the goal of enhancing the fan experience by asking themselves what technology is necessary to tell the story fans want told.

“Anything gets stale if you don’t have the right content,” Healey said. “Keep it fresh. Technology is only as sustainable as the content that’s being viewed on it.”

Technology installed inside the Pagoda board allows for numerous configurations, giving IMS the ability to display marketing, track live race updates, exhibit race analytics, and more – all at the same time. Healey said the Pagoda LED board is just now getting noticed as spectators return to the track, but thousands of race fans will soon see these upgraded LED screens throughout the speedway for the first time since their installation.

Following Healey and Page’s presentations, vaccinated attendees also got the chance to visit the garages and check out some behind the scenes action at the track.

Brian Detty, Director of Private Sector Business Development at Patterson Horth, described ‘A Day at IMS’ as the perfect opportunity for Indiana’s AEC industry to reconvene in person post-COVID.

“AIA is a special group of people,” Detty said. “Patterson Horth supporting this event is a way for us to give back to the industry.”

To some, AIA Indiana’s May program felt even more significant as it took place on the speedway’s first day hosting events since 2019.

“This is the first day the track is having events in two years,” Detty said. “At some point, we as a membership needed to get back together and, perhaps this event at the track is the best way to do it.”