Hollow is not automatically dangerous, and this is where homeowners get oversold more than anywhere else on this list. A tree is a tube, and a tube carries bending load in its outer wall — a hollow stem with a thick continuous shell can be as strong as a solid one. What actually matters is the thickness of remaining sound wall relative to trunk radius, and whether the cavity is closed or has an open slot in the side. An open slot is worse than a sealed hollow of the same size because the tube can no longer resist flattening inward. Neither of those is visible by looking at the hole. In Speedway — Old Speedway City (Speedway Historic District), Speedway Manor and Main Street corridor included, that's normally a hazardous tree removal job at $800–$5,000. Within weeks.
Why this comes up in Speedway
AES Indiana (the former Indianapolis Power & Light) serves Speedway. AES states it prunes on an eight-year line-clearance cycle and is an Arbor Day Foundation Tree Line USA utility (every year 2004 through 2025). It removes debris after routine scheduled trimming but not after emergency or hazard-limb work.
Speedway's canopy
No public street-tree inventory has been published for Speedway, so species counts are UNVERIFIED. Because the residential core finished building out by the mid-1950s and has barely been rebuilt since, much of the yard canopy is likely of comparable age and large enough to close over narrow streets and 40-to-50-foot lots — an inference from build-out dates, not a measured finding. The exception is Main Street, where a town streetscape reconstruction installed all-new landscaping, so those trees are recent.
Marion County rules
Indiana has no statewide tree removal permit, and no Speedway ordinance requiring a permit to remove a tree on private property is documented in the sources reviewed. Important caveat: Speedway is an excluded town under Unigov and maintains its own municipal code separate from Indianapolis, and the full Speedway code text could not be retrieved, so the exact local text is UNVERIFIED. Marion County's zoning ordinance does state a purpose of protecting and enhancing tree cover and the countywide code carries a "Trees and Flora" chapter, but the section citations are unconfirmed and whether they bind Speedway is unconfirmed. Call the Speedway Street Department before touching anything near the street line.
The tree lawn in Speedway
The tree lawn is town right-of-way, and critically it is Speedway's right-of-way, not Indianapolis'. Speedway runs its own Street Department rather than relying on Indy DPW, so right-of-way work is cleared with the town. Who bears the cost of removing an existing tree-lawn tree is UNVERIFIED.