Verizon IndyCar Series teams are just days away from testing on the reconfigured road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis, set for May 10, serves as a new opening for the month of May, leading directly into the first day of opening practice for the 98th running of the Indy 500.

Seen as a bit of an experiment, the GP of Indy hasn’t been received as a positive change by every segment within the sport, but with months of construction work coming to an end, IMS president Doug Boles told RACER he expects IndyCar fans to be surprised by the wholesale changes to the infield road course.

“The closer we get, the more excited I get about it,” he said. “To watch all of the work and effort that’s gone into basically rebuilding the entire racetrack that’s inside the oval, there’s not a piece of it that hasn’t been rebuilt or reconstructed. And watching Kevin Forbes and the facilities guys and a whole bunch of others, really trying to work through this has been fascinating.

“We got all the asphalt done by Christmas. So the racecourse was done, and we thought we could do all permanent curbing in the winter and get the concrete work – have the temperatures that you have to have for the asphalt—but it got so cold basically right after the new year and the snow was a problem and the ground froze so solid that we literally couldn’t start cutting the earth for curbs until the first week in March.

“And then [last Thursday] the last piece of concrete at Turn 10, the right-hander to take cars back out toward Turn 2, we just finished laying the last piece of concrete that needed to go there. The curb was in but this was an area that needed the concrete at the driver’s right, at the curb. So we were less than a week from the test and we finally had concrete done. The weather pushed our timelines out, but everyone’s rallied together to make it happen.”

Wednesday’s test on the road course will see the 2.4-mile, 14-turn layout run in simplified form, and once the day is done, Boles says IMS will put the finishing touches on the circuit.

“If you drive around the facility today it was like driving around the Midwest when people are harvesting hay,” he said. “It looks like hay bales are everywhere with all the sod that was rolled up that we were trying to put down and get ready to go. We’re going to be ready, but we’re going to use every last minute to get there before the test on Wednesday. And then between the test and the race we’ll do all the cosmetic stuff, get the curbs painted and a bunch of the other stuff that we won’t be able to get done before Wednesday.”

Viewing enhancements have complemented the changes to the road course, which will be pressed into service two more times this year (MotoGP and the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship). If the Indy 500 is better known as an event best viewed from a grandstand seat, the GP of Indy and other IMS road course races have also been tailored for fans to watch from the infield.

“We have strategically opened certain sections of the grandstands for this event to be able to provide a good experience, and you’re going to see multiple corners and some great passing zones,” added Boles. “And then we strategically left closed grandstands that if you didn’t know and you came thinking it was like the Indy 500 and you sat in a grandstand, for example, in a paddock in the middle of the front stretch, the experience is not going to be nearly as good as if you were looking from somewhere in the Northwest Vista or even in the South Vista, where you’re seated in the braking zone.

Like other road course venues, walking from corner to corner to see the Indy cars and support series from every angle is encouraged, according to Boles, and could be the perfect way to watch the 82-lap race, which kicks off with a standing start.

“Personally, where I think the best view is going to come is going to be the person that says, ‘I’m going to go to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I’m going to buy a General Admission ticket and I’m going to move from mound to mound,'” he said. “We’ve constructed the exit of road course Turn 2, which is inside the oval Turn 4, a brand-new spectator mound that’s tall and wide and you can see the Turn 1 braking zone and the elevation change when the cars go down and come back up to Turn 2. So you’ll see Turn 2 through Turn 3.

“And now on the backside of that mound, you see the exit of Turn 4 and the chicane at 5 and 6 and watch as they go down into Turn 7. And then the mounds that used to be on the north end of Hulman, straight in between 3 and 4, we’ve relocated, because the way the track is configured now, and made them taller and bigger. The mound at Turn 7, which is at the south end of Hulman, is also taller and bigger.

“I’d pack my cooler with some Miller Lite and whatever sandwiches I need and I would go from corner to corner and hang out and check out the spectator mounds, because the opportunity to see the cars at different stages of acceleration and braking and cornering is going to be really cool. And that’s different from the Indianapolis 500, it’s the mentality that you’re going to sit in your seat and watch a 500-mile race. The mentality I think that’s best to enjoy this one is to come with the idea that you’re going to spend some time wandering around.”

ABC will televise the GP of Indy (3:30 p.m. ET) and continue with its coverage the following weekend for Indy 500 qualifying before it airs the big race on May 25. It’s hard to predict how the GP will be received on its debut, although Boles expects it to be warmly met by those who attend.

“It’s going to be a different experience for those who’ve only see Indy cars runs on the oval, and we hope people just take their blankets and picnic baskets and get out and watch the cars basically driving right at you, braking and turning right in front of you,” he said. “I think everyone will be surprised how close you can get to the cars, and especially IndyCar fans or Indy 500 fans who haven’t experienced IndyCars on a road course, I think they are going to find it very fascinating. And then the rest of the month of May follows the Grand Prix. It’s an exciting time for us and for IndyCar.”​​