There seems to be a fair amount of misinformation about these glasses and glassware. I've been buying and selling these for all of my 10+ years on eBay (hundreds of them in fact), so thought I'd jump in here.

The Hulman Family (at least from Tony on back) lived here in Terre Haute, IN and have had their wholesale grocery business based here, as it still is. As a result, there were probably more of these glasses sent or given to people here in Terre Haute, Indiana than anywhere else, except for maybe Indianapolis (and Terre Haute is A LOT smaller town by comparison).

The Hulman Family has owned the Speedway since the end of WWII. I'm not exactly sure what happened re: Christmas gifts between 1946-49, but I'm quite sure that these glasses were first sent out in 1950. My personal collection has an original box of these from 1950 and there were 8 to a box that year. I have personally never seen any from before that, and I've looked for and bought these for a long, long time. I've even bought glassware that had been owned and hoarded by some of Tony Hulman's "right hand men", but have never seen anything dated before 1950. I *have* seen a couple scarce Indy 500 souvenir glasses, but that's not what I'm talking about here... these came directly from the Hulmans.

As a general rule with very few exceptions, from 1950 to about 1980 these all pretty much had the same design. The Indy logo ("flying tire" with flags) and past winners on the back. The first ones had both Tony and Wilbur Shaw's signature on one side, then when Wilbur died, they just used Tony's. After Tony died in 1977, Tony's name no longer appeared. There was an interim year or two with Mary Hulman and "another guy's" name. I forget his name-? but he was affiliated with the track somehow - Operations Manager, Track President or something... 'can't remember at the moment. 

Anyway... after 1980, various other pieces of glassware like plates, carafes, wine glasses, etc. began to appear. These I've also bought and sold, but I'm not quite as familiar with these... simply because I'm a little more interested in the Speedway's history and older collectibles. The newer stuff is exceptionally nice and well made though... and seems to be almost as scarce as some of the older issues... either due to lower production or else they just aren't old enough to have changed hands as much yet.

THE BIGGEST ERROR IN DATING THESE...

You'd think it would be easy since the dates are on the back, but there's a very common misconception, as follows: THE LAST WINNER AND DATE ON THE BACK IS THE YEAR OF PRODUCTION AND ISSUE. These are *not* like Kentucky Derby glasses, which are distributed the year after the last winner listed. Easy to see where the confusion comes from, but that's the scoop regarding dates.

These were *Christmas gifts*, manufactured (by Libby Glass for the old ones) in the fall of the same year following the race indicated, and given out to employess, friends, VIP's etc. around Christmas.

Here's another tip. If you're lucky enough to find an unopened box, you don't need to tear it open to find the date -! I've seen auctioneers and buyers do this and it drives me crazy... the date of manufacture is almost always on the bottom of the box, usually something like "10-23-68" or something similar. I haven't seen every year of every box ever made, but I can't think of any exceptions to this rule from what I've seen.  

Most of the older boxes (and again I can't think of any exceptions but there may be some) typically have a Christmas card shipped inside with the glasses. If boxes have been opened, these are frequently missing but sometimes have been tucked inside (check the sides and bottom of box). Some boxes may have mailing labels and postage on the outside.. 'and some may not - presumably these were handed out or given in person (here in Terre Haute at "Clabber Girl", for instance).

From my experience and what I've seen, most of the early 50's boxes had 8 glasses, many of the 60's had 6, and into the 70's it dropped down to 4 a lot of times. I don't know exactly what year they changed, that's just in general. I've seen one year that had both boxes of 4 and boxes of 6... it was early 70's.. I think maybe '73 or '74? I guess how many glasses you got told you how you ranked with the Hulmans - ha! ;o) ... 

One last tip... don't put these in the dishwashwer... always hand wash them. All gold trimmed glass and china will wear of if put in the dishwasher repeatedly. The gold will begin to look "splotchy" and eventually the black print will begin to fade... and look terrible!

'Sorry... I don't have any production numbers (if they're even known) but hope this helps...

'Cheers from "The Haute"... -ws