SPEEDWAY, Ind. — The month of May is all about speed, but at the Dallara IndyCar Factory in Speedway, it's also all about precision.
That's because Dallara is the official chassis supplier of IndyCar, opening a new factory in Speedway in 2012.
"So what we have here is the safety cell, or the monocoque as we call it," design engineer Dominic Coffey said. "It is a composite structure with aluminum bulkheads meant to protect the driver in heavy impact."
Dallara's chassis are in all 33 cars hitting the track at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 107th Running of the Indianapolis 500.
"Racing is a definitely a team sport," Coffey said. "Not just the driver and the team, but everybody that goes into making all the handmade parts to build these fantastic cars."
Coffey estimates thousands of people touch any given IndyCar before it is race-ready.
"Between the people that design the parts, the people who manufacture the parts, and all the team people, you're probably well into the hundreds, if not over that," Coffey said.
All of Dallara's parts must pass a quality inspection before making their way to teams at IMS, according to Coffey.
Marketing communications associate Khalek Sengsone took 13News on a tour of the quality control testing.
"Some of our parts, they are ready to be shipped out," Sengsone said. "They have completed the whole production process and approved through quality control."
Then, thousands of parts are stored in an on-site warehouse. In fact, there are so many parts that not even Dallara team members know how many parts there are.
"No, I don't," motorsports sales and support supervisor Lauren Mcintyre-Brooks said.
To put it into perspective, Mcintyre-Brooks said a new IndyCar has about 1,300 Dallara line items, plus all the parts that make up those items.
"We do have to have them stocked," Mcintyre-Brooks said.
Dallara is also equipped with two of its own iRacing Simulators, in addition to much more massive state-of-the-art technology.
The videogame-like simulation takes drivers around the world without leaving the Racing Capital of the World.
It also proves just how hard it can be to land in Victory Circle on race day.
This year's Indianapolis 500 marks 25 years since Dallara's first Indy 500 win. The Italian company also celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2022.
At Dallara, employees from around the world make the majority of its parts by hand.
"It can be a very personal thing for people to make these cars," Coffey said.
While the long days and early mornings ramp up during the month of May, Coffey said race day at IMS makes it all worth it.
"You'll be forever in the history books as a winner of the Indy 500," Coffey said, "and it's great that we can be associated with that."