INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office began mailing the iconic blue envelopes containing tickets for the 110th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Wednesday. The initial shipment included more than 33,000 envelopes sent to fans in all 50 U.S. states and 32 count ries. The mailing featured more than 225,000 individual items, including 173,000 race day tickets for the event scheduled for May 24. The shipment also contained parking passes, qualification and practice tickets, and concert passes for May at the speedway. The process began the day after the 2025 race. It took 68 Penske Entertainment employees about 44 working days to prepare the tickets. Workers spent more than 1,100 person-hours filling the envelopes by hand to ensure the process remained on schedule. The logistics of the initial mailing required more than 720 U.S. Postal Service trays. Federal postal inspectors arrived at the speedway with a large truck to transport the shipment, which weighed more than 6,800 pounds. AJ Foyt Racing driver Caio Collet assisted staff with the mailing on Wednesday. Collet, a native of Brazil, wrote personal notes and signatures on envelopes designated for fans in his home country. He also helped place 26 signed Parkside trading cards into random envelopes as a surprise for ticket buyers. Collet spoke about the significance of the tradition while helping load the delivery trucks. “It’s really impressive,” Collet said. “To connect the drivers and make them closer to the public is unique and something that only INDYCAR does.” Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar President J. Douglas Boles participated in the mailing process. He said in a statement in a news release issued Wednesday, “This is, if not the most important day of the year, certainly one of the most important as our fans can expect their Indy 500 tickets to show up in the mail. Most people want that ticket because it means so much to them.” The use of the specific blue color for the envelopes dates back to 1994. During the 1970s, the speedway mailed tickets in brown envelopes. In the 1980s, the office switched to a heavier gray stock and began using computerized printers for customer addresses. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Ticket Office established a color-coding system in 1994 to distinguish between different racing events following the addition of the NASCAR Cup Series to the schedule. Under this system, Indianapolis 500 envelopes are blue, Brickyard Weekend envelopes are purple, and Sonsio Grand Prix envelopes are green. Other events at the track use red, cream, gray or yellow packaging. Fans who have purchased Miller Lite Carb Day tickets will receive their blue envelopes after the concert artists for the event are announced. Tickets for the race and other May events at the track remain available through the ticket office. This story was formatted for WISHTV.com using AI-assisted tools. Our editorial team reviews and edits all content published to ensure it meets our journalistic standards for accuracy and fairness. ...read more read less