What’s Bigger: Indy Motor Speedway or Star Wars?

Since we are a bunch of stuck up, half-witted, scruffy-looking nerf-herders, it seems only appropriate that we conclude this already slightly absurd string of articles about the size of Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the only way we really know how: using equally absurd Star Wars references.

So, in the narrow overlap that occurs in the Venn diagram of MotoGP factoids and outright nerdiness, we ask you to ponder which is bigger: the IMS oval or the Star Wars universe’s iconic spaceship, the Imperial Star Destroyer?Not the local bulk cruisers mind you, I’m talking about the big Corellian ships now.

With both the IMS circuit and Star Destroyer measuring a mile long (1,600 meters), the ship that chased Princess Leia around the galaxy would probably break some of the grandstands at IMS, but it would just barely fit by a Wookie’s hair lengthwise within the track.

A giant triangle in silhouette though, the 1,015 meter beam of the Star Destroyer is what helps the nerds overcome the petrol heads, as the oval spans “only” half a mile, 800 meters, in width. That puts one of the “wings” of the Star Destroyer well into the IMS golf course…and we’re ok with that.

With nearly 62,000 fans here at IMS on race day though, Indy’s probably pretty secure with its self, as an Imperial-class Star Destroyer only holds a crew of half that amount, and of course the garbage smashers on the IMS Pagoda’s detention level haven’t been shutdown.