INDIANAPOLIS — The Major Taylor Velodrome opened July 15, 1982 and this month will celebrate 40 years in operation.
The velodrome was constructed to host the National Sports Festival in 1985 and the Pan-Am Games in 1987. Since then, it's hosted more than 20 National Championships and Olympic Trials.
There are only about 20 velodromes left in the United States.
"To have one right here just north of downtown Indianapolis in really, really good shape for its age — an outdoor concrete track that's 40 years old, we're super lucky that it's in the condition that it's in," said Michael Kubancsek, the director of cycling operations at Marian University. "It's still usable. We train and race on it every week."
It was named after Indianapolis native and world champion cyclist Major Taylor.
"Given the history of the city as kind of a home for sports competition and being named after Major Taylor is particularly important as you know, more and more attention has been brought to him over the last number of years," Kubancsek said. "We pride ourselves on maintaining this facility, offering all the programming and events we do, everything we do for the community, but then also telling Major Taylor's story."
On Friday, the official 40th anniversary, the velodrome will host a special celebration.
"We'll do a little bit of bike racing because that's primarily what the track was built for, but we're also going to highlight that night some other things that have happened here at the velodrome over the years, like speedskating, some go-kart racing," Kubancsek said. "We'll have some special guests here and really highlight what's taken place at Major Taylor over the years, and end the night with a firework show."
The Major Taylor Velodrome will also play host to the Collegiate Track National Championships Sept. 8-10.