Indianapolis 500

[kidrock]

I've read the speculation concerning the supposed 300,000 at one of the Brickyard 400's. We had tickets to both the 400 and the 500 up until 7 or 8 years ago at which point I couldn't even give the 400 tickets away. We attended both races starting with the inaugural 400 in '94 and I never got the impression that there were as many at the 400 as at the 500. Especially in the infield, the 500 had many thousands more in the infield year after year. The only people that know for sure are the Hulman-George family and their confidantes and none of those folks are talkin'.


The difference between gimmick racing and the Indy 500 is the 500 has been drawing huge crowds for 100 years and the gimmick racing only filled the place up for a few of the early years until the bloom dropped off the rose bush. You can buy a ticket near where out tickets are for the 500 in the penthouse seats at the end of pit road for the 400 for face price, or less. Tickets near where ours are were selling for in excess of $1,000.00 APIECE for this years race. No one waved 2 large under my nose, if they had they'd have owned our seats. However, I wasn't looking to sell, either.

There are the facts, you be the judge.



I have several friends that winter in Florida and attend the Indy Car race at St. Petersburg and I have a niece in Los Angeles who attends the Grand Prix of Long Beach and those races draw in excess of 100,000 people. In fact, the 2015 Grand Prix of Long Beach had a 3 day attendance of 181,000. The St. Pete race drew over 160,000 for the 3 day event in March of 2016. I read that the race at Barber Motorsports Park drew 80,000 to 85,000 for the 3 day event, and the race at Belle Isle always has a good crowd, too. The oval race at Iowa is near full every year but they only have seating for around 30,000 there. So, to say only Indy is the only venue that draws a good Indy Car crowd is just a bit disingenuous, if not out and out bull$hit. I don't care for road course racing and street racing even less but at least a couple of the street races are pretty well attended in their own right. Why? I don't know but they are.

Now, the ovals at Pocono, Texas and Phoenix aren't that well attended. No disputing that. It's hard to understand because some of the best racing of any kind, anywhere has been Indy Cars at Texas. Chicagoland was also a great race year in, year out. NASCAR basically tossed the Indy Cars from Chicagoland. I believe it was because the Indy Car crowd was getting close to the Cup race attendance, but then again, I might be wrong.

You might not have gotten that impression but,those that keep records on that sort of thing did and your right now you can't give a ticket away. NASCAR never should have been at Indy yo begin with and should leave immediately.

Ok your talking over 3 days but, you know attendance is not that great overall and they only race like 15 times a year.

[old fan]

Indy will not return to Fontana in 2016 because, it had less then 10,000 fans in the stands.Hey raceday maybe Indy can get this extra seats from Fontana since they need less then 10,000 when Indy was there lol.

an INDY car getting 10 k was that for 3 days lmao that is pathetic

[old fan]

High five Clayton!!! That's some funny stuff right there!!!Another benefit of the helium filled lungs is the price to see the race is only what the helium costs to get ol' litey off the ground!!! Plus, his voice would sound more normal! LOL!But he'd have to watch out for the flyover. Those F-18's might think litey is an ISIS dirigible and shoot his ass right out of the sky!! LOLOL!!!

I would n t bother either I would beat the show me or Springfield mile were 99.9 percent would be American on a American holday

[buster83]

it very well was a Rookie that won Indy but a very talented one the one Gimmick that has worked very well for Indy cars @ Nascar tracks is the soft walls.

[CIRF]

Indy will not return to Fontana in 2016 because, it had less then 10,000 fans in the stands.

Yep, they could remove at least 1/2 or more of the seats at Fontana and would still have plenty for NASCAR Cup races. However, Chicagoland was a whole different story. The racing was generally better at Chicagoland than Fontana and the crowd was MUCH better. The Indy Car crowd at Chicagoland was approaching Cup size. I have my own theory as to why ISC ran Indy Car off from Chicagoland but I can't prove it.

The bottom line is there sometimes is no rhyme or reason as to why venue's come and go. It's a known fact that Indy Car was grossly under-promoted at Fontana and only the folks in charge know why.

You might not have gotten that impression but,those that keep records on that sort of thing did and your right now you can't give a ticket away. NASCAR never should have been at Indy yo begin with and should leave immediately.

Ok your talking over 3 days but, you know attendance is not that great overall and they only race like 15 times a year.

The vast majority of race attendance at the 3 venue's referred to above was on Indy Car day, the last day of the 3 day event. 160,000 to over 180,000 at the St. Pete, Barber and Long Beach events isn't too bad at all.

As far a event numbers is concerned I believe 20 would be a good number. I've read several different places in the past that the yearly budget for Indy Car teams is heavily skewed in favor of the month of May and The Indy 500 which limits many of the lesser resourced teams from competing in significantly higher number of races.

the one Gimmick that has worked very well for Indy cars @ Nascar tracks is the soft walls.

Safer barriers were installed at Indianapolis just prior to the 2002 Indy 500. Indy was the first venue to install safer barriers. This was prior to any NASCAR track installing them. The Safer Barrier project was initially promoted by Indianapolis Motor Speedway and financed by the Indy Racing League (which later became Indy Car). The folks in the Engineering Department at The University of Nebraska, Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League deserve most of the credit for one of the most significant safety innovations of the last 50 years.

[kidrock]

Yeah I would say for a street race that's pretty darn good because, those street races are not very entertaining in my opinion.

Nascar could get rid of half its seats at all tracks today.

Nascar has to many races and was better off before they got to big, the reason they kept adding seats and then their bubble burst and now they have way to many. In my opinion they need to get it back down to 50 to 75,000 and leave it at that. I think in the near future your going to see some tracks cut from the schedule and some maybe only have one race per year instaed of two.

As far as your conspiracy theory I think that's hogwash. There is no way a promoter is going to stop indy car from racing at the track because, they were about to pass Nascar in attendance.

[CIRF]

Yeah I would say for a street race that's pretty darn good because, those street races are not very entertaining in my opinion.

Nascar could get rid of half its seats at all tracks today.

As far as your conspiracy theory I think that's hogwash. There is no way a promoter is going to stop indy car from racing at the track because, they were about to pass Nascar in attendance.

I too, am surprised that the street courses draw as well as they do. Personally I wouldn't walk across the street to watch a street race if the tickets were free. My niece out in L.A. says that it's like a great big block party and there isn't nearly the attention paid to what is happening on the track as at an oval race. She's been to both Long Beach and Fontana for the Indy Cars and she says the whole Long Beach Grand Prix experience is much more of a social event than the Fontana oval race was. That is one of the only things that can account for the decent attendance numbers because if you go for the racing there is no comparison.

I believe the Daytona 500 sold out this year. I also believe the reasons it did in fact sell out had nothing to do with the racing. The reduction of seating capacity was a big factor and the facility upgrades were probably somewhat of an attraction.

In regards to Indy Car leaving Chicagoland I will readily admit I can't prove anything one way or the other. I don't believe there was any particular conspiracy, either. What I do know for sure was that there was a fair amount of animosity shared among ISC, the Hulman-George family and Indy Car, that is well documented. Exactly why, I don't claim to have answers to that question but the NASCAR trucks came into the picture at Chicagoland when the Indy Cars were dropped and all racing activities were condensed to just one weekend and Chicagoland was made part of the chase gimmick. The IndyCars were dropped when the Hulman-George family relinquished their ownership stake in the track and the crowd for the Indy Cars was gaining a little more steam every year. That's what is documented and one can make up ones own mind as to the reasons for the ultimate outcome.

[Raceready]

You and me both, Kid. This will be my 32nd consecutive Indy 500. Even though my first and most intense and enduring love is dirt track racing we dearly look forward to The 500 year after year. The first 4 or 5 Indy 500's we attended are just a bit fuzzy. Despite sometimes going for 30 hours or so without sleep and the after-effects lingering for days, we wouldn't trade a million bucks for the experience. We were even lucky enough to have witnessed the original Snake Pit in turn one in it's last days prior to it's demise by The Speedway installing grandstands in the area where all the debauchery once took place. Glad I got to see that whole phenomenon at least once!! LOL! The uniqueness, pride and love in which the roadsters were built by men like Frank Kurtis, A.J. Watson, Eddie Kuzma and George Salih were what makes them special. Salih was the father of the lay-down Indy roadster and in my opinion the lay-down's were the most beautiful of all the roadsters. The mass produced identical cars of the past 40 years are no match for the passionate innovation of the hand built beauties of the roadster era. While we marvel at the safety and technological wonders that are Indy Cars of today the roadsters are an artifact of a time in American racing that should be revered and preserved. If that makes us nostalgic romantics who are living in the past, I'll happily plead guilty as charged! LOL!

If you have been going that long then you may have had the awesome chance to hear Gomer Pyle sing? He was quite the crooner!

[CIRF]

If you have been going that long then you may have had the awesome chance to hear Gomer Pyle sing? He was quite the crooner!

Yep, we got to see and hear Jim Nabors sing "Back Home Again In Indiana" many times over the course of the 3+ decades we've attended the Indy 500.

That part of the pre-race ceremonies will never be the same. In 2015 a very popular native Indiana a capella group called Straight, No Chaser sang "Back Home Again In Indiana" and it was not well received. This year it was sung by a TV singing competition winner and a native of Indianapolis, Josh Kaufman with support vocals from the Indianapolis Children’s Choir. It was better than last year but Jim Nabors is a tough act to follow.

[Just The Tip]

Not to high jack this thread, but I happened to be home with no wife or kid this sunday afternoon and found the indycar race from Detroit on tv. It looked like a street course on an island off of Detroit. The race had just started and I figured I would watch a couple laps and then get some work around the house done while I was alone. I sat and watched the whole thing. The racing was good. The pit strategies were compelling. And the race race was just plain fun to watch. It's been forever since I could just sit down and watch a race like that. Well done indycar.

[buster83]

both races was good JTT indy cars need to run more road course racing.they getting some good drivers back into it.

[CIRF]

Just got done renewing our 2017 tickets for the 101st running of the Indianapolis 500!! God willing we'll be in our B-Stand Penthouse seats next May 28th for what we hope will be another GREAT race! WOOHOO!!!

[Raceready]

Good for you! I hope it is every bit as good as this years race was.

[CIRF]

Good for you! I hope it is every bit as good as this years race was.

Thanks Rr. Appreciate the kind words.