INDIANAPOLIS — Indy 500 weekend in downtown Indianapolis is always a busy one. The center of the Circle City is an easy drive from the greatest spectacle in racing.
When you add on the Pacers playing in the Eastern Conference Finals, you're looking at very few places to stay downtown.
"There will quite literally be hundreds of thousands of visitors and residents in the city this weekend celebrating Indianapolis,” said Clare Clark with Visit Indy.
Right now, Clark said they're expecting a sellout this weekend for hotel rooms inside of the I-465 loop. That means, unless you're working or playing for the Boston Celtics, it's going to be hard for anyone from New England to get a hotel close to Gainbridge Fieldhouse.
The weekend ahead is the best kind of Hoosier sandwich. The Indiana Pacers play the Celtics in Game 3 on Saturday and Game 4 on Monday, and both contests will be held at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. Wedged in the middle of those two games is the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday.
”The fact that we have two nationally broadcasted games, plus the broadcast of the Indy 500 that goes to almost 300 million households across the world," Clark said, "it's just something you can't beat."
Fans across the Circle City are feeling the booze of the impending an racers and Pacers weekend.
”Pacers are unbeatable, Indy is unstoppable, downtown is unbelievable," said Charlie Walker. "It's electric everywhere you go."
Walker was one of hundreds participating in the 7th annual HandleBar Hot Lap on Monument Circle Tuesday. It pit more than 30 Indy businesses in a peddle pub race against each other around Monument Circle.
”At the beginning, there is a little bit of resistance, and then you get going so fast the pedals are moving faster than your feet," said Ryan Cline, another Hot Lap participant.
The race started with Indy 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay waving the green flag and sending the first Hot Lap off and running. Hunter-Reay said there is nothing like Indy in the month of May.
"I mean, I've been to a lot of the biggest sporting events in the world," Hunter-Reay said. "And to see a community come together like this for Indy and the whole month of May, it's just tradition. It’s so cool."
The Pacers are adding to an already exciting few weeks at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for these drivers.
”I love it," Hunter-Reay said. "You see so much Pacers support at the speedway, and it's just cool to see Indy buzzing like that."
The city hasn't seen this much racers and Pacers excitement since the last time the Pacers made it to the Eastern Conference Finals in 2014.
Who won the Indy 500 that year? None other than Ryan Hunter-Reay.
”Things are kind of falling together," he said. "Hopefully the Pacers pull it through and we get another win."