Considering what the group has accomplished, a newcomer might think the Old Speedway City Neighborhood Association has been around as long as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

After all, the more than 100 volunteers have procured a historic designation for their neighborhood, hosted community candidate nights, before crucial elections and gained local and national recognition for the town — even earning a National Neighborhood of the Year designation.

The association has done it all before its 10th birthday.

“I don’t think I can overstate the importance this group has had on our town,” said Town Council member Gary Raikes.

“Everyone knows them and respects them because of everything they have accomplished during that time. Without civic volunteers like that, this whole community couldn’t be served.”

The town recognized the association’s 10-year milestone at last week’s Town Council meeting.

In its first 10 years, the group has refused to focus solely within its borders — roughly 16th Street to the north, 10th Street to the south, Lynhurst Drive to the west and Main Street to the east — by hosting events and garnering recognition to benefit all of Speedway, Raikes said.

The group earned the inaugural Collaborative Spirit Award from the Indianapolis Neighborhood Resource Center in 2006, which led to its receiving the National Neighborhood of the Year recognition from Neighborhoods USA in 2007.

The association also has hosted various community events, such as this year’s home-improvement seminars to provide tips for sprucing up Speedway.

Maybe more amazing than its long success is how the group got its start.

Carolyn Runge adored the charming, storybook homes in the older portion of Speedway when she moved to town with her family in 1990. While on vacation in a historic community in New Jersey about seven years later, she had an epiphany.

“We were in Cape May, and I kept seeing plaques that it was on the historic register, and I just thought we need this to preserve the essence and character of Speedway,” Runge said.

She contacted Jeff Bennett from the Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana and began to learn what goes into earning the designation.

“He said with its history, the old part of Speedway would definitely qualify, but that there were certain requirements that would have to be met, including the formation of a neighborhood association,” she said. “When he said that, my heart sunk because I knew this was going to take a lot more work than I anticipated.”

Runge started to talk with her neighbors about forming a neighborhood association, and the excitement built quickly. The effort began to unify the neighborhood, she said.

The association formed in 1999, and Runge became its first president. The group has had five presidents. Runge continues to be a member, although she no longer is active.

“It’s amazing how one little idea can blossom into something so amazing,” she said. “It really has been humbling. I would put this association up against any other as far as the progress it has made in 10 years.”