As a young kid, SHS alum Jason Vansickle always had a passion for cars and their history. Growing up in a car-loving family, Vansickle was driven to learn more about them. He has been to the Indianapolis 500 race multiple times but never pursued anything deeper relating to it until college.
In 2011, Vansickle, seeking an opportunity to work as a college student, emailed the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS). He was then hired as a tour guide, and since then has worked his way up to becoming the Vice President of Curation and Education at the IMS museum.
Vansickle graduated from SHS in 2009, and here’s what he has to share about working in this position after many years:
Have you always been into racing?
I was into automobiles growing up. My father and grandfather were into hot rods and muscle cars, so I kind of grew up around that era.
Not so much racing, but I really enjoyed the history behind the cars, the company and the people that founded the companies and all that.
With the Indianapolis Motor Speedway being such an important entity for automotive development, it was natural to be attracted to the history of this place. So I started to learn about the background and history of the Speedway and from there, kind of set off.
What does your position entail?
I am a Vice President of Curation and Education, so I oversee a couple different areas. I oversee the collection as a whole, so the vehicle and non-vehicle collection … I oversee the exhibition development, for our rotating temporary exhibitions, we put those on in house … I oversee the education department too … We’re developing an education program from really nothing (from) before we closed (for renovation). I am really proud of that and excited because we are bringing a lot more kids and young adults into the museum. We are giving them more hands-on learning opportunities about the Speedway.
What does the education program look like?
The education program touches a lot of different points of the museum from labels that you read. We have an exhibition development team that includes the education entities. So we want to make sure that we’re telling the stories in a way that’s accessible for many different people. Whether you are die-hard Indy500 fan or this is your first time coming in, you’ll still get the idea of what that story is. Now, there’s other areas too from after-
hour events that we put together. We’re looking to help people interact with the space, interact with the objects and interact with the program. We’re looking to pile up some summer camps this year for middle school kids so they can not only learn about the steam components that you see in racing but also careers. There’s a career path to be part of a race team, not just a driver. Whether it’s engineers, mechanics, advertising (or) marketing, all that is inside a race team. We are working with Project Lead the Way to pile up camps, and we’ll
do a couple this summer. We’ll reevaluate and then look how we can expand it for 2026.
You mentioned how you got a part-time job at first. Before that, did you come to the race a lot? What made you want to take that job?
My first 500 race was in 2001. I was 10 (and) fell in love with it, everything about it from the pageantry of the pre-race all the way to the race itself. So that really kind of sparked it. Obviously, there was an interest in the history that I did kind of on my own. I have been to the 500 before 2011 a few times, I think 2006 and 2008. I sent an email to the museum. I thought this would be a fun place when I am not in class to go work. That ended up working out just after the 2011 race. From there, I’ve been here. I am very fortunate to be able to be here and obviously progress and be part of this renovation too.
What were the biggest renovations? What did it include?
It was a complete total clean slate if you will. It was a $64 million renovation. That was our budget that we had to fundraise … We closed in November of 2023. We had to move everything out of the place to completely renovate it. It took about 18 months. There’s not a square inch of this building that really has not been touched and redesigned. If you walked in October 2023 and walked in here today, if you didn’t see the front of the building, you’d think you’re in a completely different area. It’s that big of a change … Without changing the building itself, we added nearly 30,000 square feet of new display areas.
Who did you work with for this renovation?
We worked with two partners. JRA out of Cincinnati was our interpretation partner. We worked closely on what we wanted, the stories we wanted to tell (and) the experiences that we wanted people to experience, whether it be in the RaceX presentation, starting line, qualifying zone (or) things like that. They, along with us, helped to develop that. Then we had a construction partner, Shiel Sexton, which is a local company that also was a big partner for us. They worked well with us to put this together.
What was your high school self like?
I think I was somewhat of a normal kid in a way. I mean, I liked automobiles. I liked passenger cars. That was kind of my hobby through my father (and)
grandfather. I really learned a lot from them. (I) played hockey down at the South Stars for a little bit. Taught myself how to play hockey pretty late in life when I was a freshman. So that was fun. I remember going to football and all the other stuff Southport has to offer. It was a fun time being at Southport.
When you were a high schooler, did you expect to have this kind of position?
No, I never (did)., Like I said, I’m very fortunate. I never thought that sending an email in 2011 to work as a tour guide would end up (here), whether it’s this position or even the renovation. We worked a long time, nearly over 10 years, to get to this position at some capacity.
How did the reopening go?
Opening was pretty special. It’s one of those things where people are so passionate about the Speedway. We have so many fans from all over the world … die-hard fans that love the 500, love the IMS. I think the renovations were tough on a lot of people … Tradition is really big here and people always talk about going to the museum while they are here during the month of May. And, obviously, last May they missed that cause we were closed for renovations. So when it came to the reopening, it was really great to see because we were able to reinvite people back, reinvite the supporters who donated to the campaign (and) had some stake in funding this project. I think they didn’t expect how much of a change this would be. In some cases, they were pretty startled and pleasantly surprised when they walked through here. But overall we had very very great reviews (and) positive comments. People were enjoying the new museum.
What’s your favorite part about working for this job?
I think my favorite part of this position (is that) I’m a steward of history. I’m a steward of nearly 116 years of history at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Being able to tell that story, being able to preserve the objects for future generations (and) being able to be a major part of the renovations so that we can continue to tell the story to future generations, those are things that I am the most proud of.
Do you have any advice for the students at SHS?
You want to prepare yourself as best you can whatever that is. In my case it was going to school, college. It was going on a limb, if you will. In my case, it was an email that kind of started this trek. I never knew I would be in this position. But I think you have to be prepared. Passion helps. I’m very passionate about what I do. So whether it’s a skill trade, after school, additional education or something that you kind of take a leap on, you need to be prepared and try to go for it.
