Indy crowd looks like a rain delay

hidesert cowboy

hidesert cowboy

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that is the most pathetic non rain delay crowd I have ever seen. Including even at a nxs race. What is there 10k people there? That crowd is embarrassing. If that is the crowd nascar has no business going to Indy any more
 
I can’t imagine nascar keeping Indy around on schedules ‘beyond’ what’s already set in place...

It’s a terrible look for the sport. The other tracks you notice declines, but Indy highlights it.
 
Keep in mind, the facility handles over 350,000 people. And...when the date was the first weekend in August, it was sold out. Changing it to the first week of NFL was a brain dead decision...now that it will be in July, watch the numbers climb back up.

The upper Midwest is NFL country, nothing competes against that, not even MLB
 
The hotel I was staying at in Brownsburg said they were getting a numerous amount of cancellations due to the hurricane.
 
OldTimer said:
Keep in mind, the facility handles over 350,000 people. And...when the date was the first weekend in August, it was sold out. Changing it to the first week of NFL was a brain dead decision...now that it will be in July, watch the numbers climb back up.

The upper Midwest is NFL country, nothing competes against that, not even MLB
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2017 the race was in July and had 50k estimated show up.
 
For whatever the reason the number of people shown in the stands was appalling. This is Indy, the storied track with over a century of history, and that's the best nascar could attract?
 
Why wasn't this posted to either the weekly pre-race or ongoing attendance discussion?

Attendance is down for live sports across the board. And maybe everyone interested has been to Indy once, realized it's a lousy place to actually WATCH a race, and there aren't many left who haven't learned from the mistakes of others.
 
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Charlie Spencer said:
Why wasn't this posted to either the weekly pre-race or ongoing attendance discussion?

Attendance is down for live sports across the board. And maybe everyone interested has been to Indy once, realized it's a lousy place to actually WATCH a race, and there aren't many left who haven't learned from the mistakes of others.
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I enjoy watching short track racing at the track but I don't like to watch any race at a large track at the track. But I do love watching racing at a large track on tv and that is the main reason I decided not to stay and watch the race while I was in Indy. But, there are a ton of Indy car fans that wouldn't miss the Indy 500 for any reason and that is why they pack the place in the month of May. As I said earlier a Nascar race is not going to sell near as many seats at Indy as an Indy car race. And also as I said earlier the Indy 500 at the Brickyard always has been and always will be my favorite race...on tv:)
 
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hidesert cowboy said:
Because the board gets only a couple new threads a Day and no one wants to look through a 50 page thread that was started by someone else. That mentality is killing this board
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pretty much because the same thing is said over and over..it's a deathbedder thing. Same ones saying the same thing. The attendance at Indy has been small for years but the TV ratings have been good and they are paying the bills.
 
Well if you want to take Indy off the schedule due to attendance then using that logic we need to take other tracks off the schedule where attendance is down so let’s Go where do we start after Indy ?
 
And BTW taking Indy off the schedule for attendance is poor excuse because they outdrew Darlington, Chicagoland, and Pocono if they drew 68K like they said when the place can easily sit 350k. The Indy 500 doesn’t even do those numbers anymore
 
AdoubleU24 said:
It's ok it'll be all better since they took Daytona's historic date away next year :rolleyes:
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I agree on this, I unfortunately think this will be a mistake but we’ll see. I hope I’m wrong but it’s so damn hot here in the Midwest during July that’s why I was hoping they’d let the September date breath before they moved it to July.
 
Just have to lo laugh at all the excuses for low attendance. It was too hot, there was a chance of rain, it was too cold, it was NFL opening weekend, it was the Emmy awards, it is the economy, it is the hotel rates, now they say because some drivers retired. I really think it is because they schedule races against the soap box derby. As long as I have been around an Ohio State Football game has been jam packed, regardless of anything else going on.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
What hurricane is blowing through Indianapolis?
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Come on Chex I think you know there was no hurricane in Indy. The fans that live in Indy doesn't need a hotel room. The fans that were coming from the hurricane states were the ones that had booked rooms and then cancelled them.
 
I want to see the entire track (even if it’s far away, Talladega is my favorite track)
Not thru a tv
Reason I won’t go to a road course or Indy
 
I watch 5-6 Indycar races a year and have very vague interest outside of the 500. I watch every single Cup race a year and have MUCH more vested interest in the sport.

That said, I'd chop off both my pinkies to sit high in turn 1 and witness the Indianapolis 500. Brickyard 400? Not so much...when your track has poor sightlines the "spectacle" of the race is all you really have (imo), and even me, an avid NASCAR fan, would prefer Indycars over stock cars at Indianapolis any day.
 
Speedbowl14 said:
I watch 5-6 Indycar races a year and have very vague interest outside of the 500. I watch every single Cup race a year and have MUCH more vested interest in the sport.

That said, I'd chop off both my pinkies to sit high in turn 1 and witness the Indianapolis 500. Brickyard 400? Not so much...when your track has poor sightlines the "spectacle" of the race is all you really have (imo), and even me, an avid NASCAR fan, would prefer Indycars over stock cars at Indianapolis any day.
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Agreed, but people are beating a dead horse at this point. People go to IMS for the atmosphere/energy.
 
My girlfriend only watches with me, and she even said "nobody is there"

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
If we're not there, we're part of the problem. I'm part of the problem.

Maybe it's just me but it seems somewhat strange to complain about attendance from anywhere other than your seat at the track.
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If the 65K number is accurate, I don’t think there’s a problem other than how it looks on TV.
 
Well, I was there , was thoroughly entertained, up until a couple hours before the race, a rain delay looked like a strong possibility, and from the stands, I thought the crowd looked better than from a few years past. Last year was hard to judge because it WAS a rainout, and everybody pretty much knew it would be going in.
 
Someone posted a video last week of Dale Jr. Ward Burton, and Casey Mears each topping each other and the track record in qualifying for the 2004 Brickyard. There were as many people there for that as there was for yesterday's race.
 
There could have been 300 or 300,000 fans at the Brickyard, there could have been 1 caution or 50 cautions at the Brickyard, there could have been 1nch difference or a 10 car length difference between the winning car and the 2nd place car at the Brickyard and I still will be just as excited to see the race again next year because I love watching race cars racing at the Brickyard.
 
It's a sad state of affairs when some people judge how good a race is by how many fans are in the stands and they ain't one of em. On a personal note, if I looked at the track from a spectator's standpoint, 2 1/2 mile track blocked off with a huge island in the middle wouldn't be my cup of tea, but watching at home I can see the whole thing.
 
there is no way there was 65k in the stands. even the crowd on the front stretch and turn 1 was only about 15% full. The rest of the stands were empty with maybe a few people that probably moved in those areas to get away from everyone and watch the race from another vantage. I suspect nascar is making some changes in the schedule. I am surprised they pay these tracks all this TV money. It seems to me they should have tracks paying nascar for the sanctioning and the ability to hold the race at their track. This is how they do it in lower series like the K&N series. if you want a K&N race at your track. pay the 65k purse and sanctioning fee. Instead nascar gives the tracks all this TV money. Maybe this is what is driving the nascar buyout of the tracks. If they control the tracks they aren't on the hook for giving away the TV money. with these buyouts of SMI and ISC. I wonder how that will impact the owners of indy, dover and pocono, I think that is the only 3 not owned by bruton, or ISC
 
hidesert cowboy said:
there is no way there was 65k in the stands. even the crowd on the front stretch and turn 1 was only about 15% full. The rest of the stands were empty with maybe a few people that probably moved in those areas to get away from everyone and watch the race from another vantage. I suspect nascar is making some changes in the schedule. I am surprised they pay these tracks all this TV money. It seems to me they should have tracks paying nascar for the sanctioning and the ability to hold the race at their track. This is how they do it in lower series like the K&N series. if you want a K&N race at your track. pay the 65k purse and sanctioning fee. Instead nascar gives the tracks all this TV money. Maybe this is what is driving the nascar buyout of the tracks. If they control the tracks they aren't on the hook for giving away the TV money. with these buyouts of SMI and ISC. I wonder how that will impact the owners of indy, dover and pocono, I think that is the only 3 not owned by bruton, or ISC
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I'm having a little trouble understanding why IMS would want to pay Nascar to hold a race at their track if Nascar can't draw at least 65,000 fans when Indy can draw 300,000 fans at their own race. The Brickyard survived for many years with out Nascar.
 
Nitro Dude said:
I'm having a little trouble understanding why IMS would want to pay Nascar to hold a race at their track if Nascar can't draw at least 65,000 fans when Indy can draw 300,000 fans at their own race. The Brickyard survived for many years with out Nascar.
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but Im not sure Indy 500 drew 300 K this year either. Like I posted above earlier...... if we are going to eliminate Indy because of attendance then using that logic we need to eliminate other tracks that dont sell out and look like eyesores on TV as well. My opinion is this: The Premier Stock Car Series in the world NEEDS to be racing at the most famous race track in the world and especially if you want to be taken seriously. Case closed, end of discussion. The prestige of winning at that place should be emphasized over tired and frankly lazy arguments of attendance, especially when what Indy drew yesterday is more than some tracks draw on a good day, that alone makes any argument to take this cathedral of motorsports off the schedule irrelevant.
https://www.indystar.com/story/spor...dy-500-crowd-attendance-down-2018/1244754001/
 
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