Parallel to that, Speedway president Carl G. Fisher was in an ongoing feud with the local hoteliers, and at the same time was under a false impression that fans thought that 500 miles was too long of a race.

After a lackluster reception, the decision was quickly reversed, and the Memorial Day classic was to revert to 500 miles for 1917.

[1] The 1917 Indianapolis 500 was scheduled, however, Speedway management understood that the race may be cancelled on account of the United States entering the war.

For 1916, the AAA Contest Board established and recognized an official points-paying National Championship of drivers.

In an effort to bolster the 1916 season, it was decided to add a second race meet at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

The event was seen by Carl Fisher as an opportunity for the Speedway to generate gate revenue, particularly if the 1917 Indianapolis 500 were to be cancelled, which it ultimately was.

The race was scheduled for Saturday September 9, which also conveniently fell after the close of the Indiana State Fair.

Ralph DePalma, the 1915 "500" winner had skipped the 1916 race due to a dispute with management over appearance fees.

DePalma and the track reconciled, and he submitted an entry, but since he blew his Mercedes engine at Cincinnati, it was unclear for a few days which car he would drive.

Later in the week, DePalma was named to the Peugeot team owned by the Speedway, taking over the car of Charlie Merz.

Hometown driver Johnny Aitken, the 1916 Indianapolis 500 pole-sitter, and winner on Monday at Cincinnati, entered the event as the favorite.

Despite round the clock work, the team would be unable to rebuild the engine and Christiaens was forced to sit out all three races.

Other cars taking practice laps were Dave Lewis, Josef Christiaens, and George Buzane.

Eddie Rickenbacker and Tommy Milton decided only to race the 100-mile event, while Johnny Aitken and Ralph DePalma were among those who elected to attempt all three.

The Indiana State Fair closed on Friday, which the Speedway hoped would help bolster the Saturday crowd at the track.

On Friday, Speedway general manager Theodore E. "Pop" Myers announced that the start time for Saturday would be pushed back from 1:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.

[11] On Saturday morning, a final practice session and a band contest was held to entertain early-arriving spectators.

Driver Jack Gable was unable to arrive from Chicago to drive the Burman Special, which left as few as 14 cars ready to race in the garage area.

[12][13] The competition for the day began with an 8-lap, 20-mile race at about 2 p.m. A mostly disappointing crowd of only 10,000-12,000 spectators arrived on a sunny, pleasant afternoon A total of ten cars lined up for a posted $1,000 prize purse.

Two cars, Ralph DePalma and Art Klein, dropped out after 7 laps with dirty spark plugs.

Eddie Rickenbacker, who sat out the first two races, started deeper in the field, but was running second as quickly as lap 4.

Rickenbacker and his riding mechanic George Henderson were narrowly avoided by four other cars, but emerged uninjured.

Over the final few laps, with Rickenbacker now out, the race between DePalma, Henderson, and Toft became a battle to see who would finish in the money.

All three cars moved up one spot when they completed more laps than Rickenbacker, and Toft beat Henderson to the line to finish 6th by 2.65 seconds.

Rounding out the cash prizes were polesitter George Buzane (4th) with $1000, Dave Lewis (5th) with $600, Omar Toft (6th) with $400, and Pete Henderson (7th) with $300.

Later in the year, Aitken was credited as co-winner of the American Grand Prize race, but died in 1918 of bronchopneumonia from the Influenza pandemic of 1918.

The track was offered as a landing strip and maintenance/refueling station for military aircraft traveling between Wilbur Wright Field and Chanute Air Force Base.

During the 2018 and 2019 NASCAR Cup Series seasons, the Brickyard 400 was scheduled for the weekend where the Harvest Auto Racing Classic was conducted.

On July 26, 2019, the SRO Motorsports Group announced that the Speedway will host a new road course event scheduled in October, the Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis 8 Hour, along with the entire GT World Challenge America including TCR, GT3, and GT4 specification races.

It was announced by the Stephane Ratel Organisation that the 8 Hours of Indianapolis will return in 2021, but the INDYCAR race will move to the NASCAR weekend in mid-August.