The 2020 Indianapolis 500 ran on August 23, three months late, with no fans in the grandstands. A Bronze Badge that year couldn’t get you into Gasoline Alley or anywhere else at the Speedway.
People called and asked for one anyway. Speedway president Doug Boles told WRTV in Indianapolis that fans phoned in with the same request: “Hey I need to keep my collection.”
Nobody on those calls wanted access. They had badges from the years before, and they didn’t want a hole in the row. That phone call explains most of what you need to know about why race fans keep things.
A pass that turned into a collection
The Speedway has issued metal badges since 1938. The Bronze and Silver Badges started in 1947, but they weren’t sold to the general public until the early 1990s.
The Bronze Badge gets you through the gate and into the garage area on open days during the month of May. The Silver Badge adds pit lane. In 2023 the Bronze sold for $150 before April and $160 after, and the Silver was $500.
Every year’s badge has a different design. The 2019 badge marked 50 years since Mario Andretti won the 500. The 2022 badge showed Helio Castroneves climbing the fence after his fourth win, the first time a driver who was still racing appeared on one. In 2023 it was the Pagoda with a flyover overhead.
So the badge does two jobs. In May it’s a credential. After that it’s a dated piece of metal with a picture of that year on it. The Speedway’s credentials office says a lot of fans renew for next year on the day after the race.
Why the row matters more than any one badge
One badge is a souvenir. Ten in a row on a hat brim tells people how long you’ve been coming, and nobody has to ask. Miss a year and the gap shows.
That’s what the 2020 callers were protecting. The badge itself bought them nothing that year. The streak was the point.
It’s also why the design has to change. If every badge looked the same, you’d own a stack of duplicates. Because each one carries its own year and its own picture, the row reads like a timeline of the races you were part of.
Your track can do the small version
Most racing doesn’t happen at Indianapolis. It happens on Saturday nights at quarter-mile ovals and dirt tracks, and in fan clubs and race teams that never get on TV. Every one of them has a season worth remembering and a champion at the end of it.
A season pin is the cheapest way to turn that into something people keep. Pick a shape and size and stick with it. Then change two things each year: the year, and one detail from that season. It could be the champion’s car number, or the night the feature took four restarts to finish.
Hand one to every season ticket holder or crew member on opening night, and sell the rest at the souvenir stand. After three or four seasons, your regulars will start to care about their row. A few of them will come asking about the years they missed, and that’s how you know it’s working.
Making a pin that lasts the season
For this kind of pin, custom soft enamel pins are the usual choice. The color sits slightly below raised metal lines, so the design has some texture to it, and it holds up fine on a cap for a full season. About an inch across is enough. Keep the lettering to the track name and the year, because small text is the first thing to fill in.
You don’t need a big run. MZIHO makes them from 25 pieces per design, so a small track or a five-person crew can afford a year of its own. Plan on about six weeks before opening night. You approve a digital proof first, and production starts only after that.
Use your own name, not the series logo
The Speedway can put its own marks on its badge. You can’t put a series or team logo on yours without permission, and a reputable pin maker will turn that design down.
You don’t lose much. Your track’s name, its length, the town it sits in, and the year are what make the pin yours. A series logo would only make it look like something from the merchandise trailer.
Somewhere in Indiana, there’s a cap with a 2020 Bronze Badge pinned between 2019 and 2021. It never got anyone through a gate. It’s on the cap because the row would look wrong without it.
