The Attendance Thread

Efisher131

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I just went and bought my Pocono tickets. Normally I wait till the week of the race and check the weather on Wednesday or Thursday, but I was afraid to do that this year. The 300 level where I normally sit is completely sold out. The 200 level has very very few tickets left. Excited to see that. It’s possible Pocono will be a sellout for the first time in many years.
 

Hotrod

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After the excitement of a packed Atlanta #1 , I would guess Atlanta #2 crowd was
off by 25 -30%. I think the forecast of storms kept some away even though
they didnt happen.
 

Speedbowl14

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I just went and bought my Pocono tickets. Normally I wait till the week of the race and check the weather on Wednesday or Thursday, but I was afraid to do that this year. The 300 level where I normally sit is completely sold out. The 200 level has very very few tickets left. Excited to see that. It’s possible Pocono will be a sellout for the first time in many years.

As I said in the pre race thread, Loudon ticket sales look strong as well. A number of sections along the front stretch are sold out
 

racingfan7

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I think ticket sales look good at Pocono. Place has 76,000 seats or so and they’ll probably get 60-65k at least

New Hampshire looks like the usual decent 45k crowd that shows up, just got rid of the Laconia grandstand in 3-4 to right size. I know right sizing looks good but it’s sucks seeing good spots to sit torn down.
 

Magicmiler

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I think ticket sales look good at Pocono. Place has 76,000 seats or so and they’ll probably get 60-65k at least

New Hampshire looks like the usual decent 45k crowd that shows up, just got rid of the Laconia grandstand in 3-4 to right size. I know right sizing looks good but it’s sucks seeing good spots to sit torn down.
Best seats @ Loudon on Saturdays are Concord grandstands. Elevator, mezzanine with all amenities, great views...
 

Efisher131

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I think ticket sales look good at Pocono. Place has 76,000 seats or so and they’ll probably get 60-65k at least

New Hampshire looks like the usual decent 45k crowd that shows up, just got rid of the Laconia grandstand in 3-4 to right size. I know right sizing looks good but it’s sucks seeing good spots to sit torn down.
New Hampshire went from full to ghost town in like 3-4 years. I remember it being packed when I went in 2011 and by 2015-2016 it was empty.
 

Magicmiler

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Yep..As a long-term fall attendee for 20+ years, once SMI did the 5 year plan, the writing was on the wall...
.The Bahres were about fan concerns...
 

racingfan7

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I was at New Hampshire a few years ago. It’s a nice weekend and a nice ticket overall. I hope they can get an IndyCar weekend back there personally.
 

Speedbowl14

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New Hampshire went from full to ghost town in like 3-4 years. I remember it being packed when I went in 2011 and by 2015-2016 it was empty.

It did. Sold out both Cup races every year til 2009. And as you said, within 5 years they were getting half as many people if that. In 2010 my seats at the top of Laconia were $110. In 2015 they were $49. In 2018 they were gone.

Place needs a lot of $$$ thrown at it in the coming decade, wondering if SMI ponies up. It's the only SMI oval without a big screen for the fans and the only without lights (that was a 5+ year fight they won iirc but never installed them). They gave up on the fall Cup race, the Indycar race, and the big modified race that replaced the fall Cup race. Definitely seems to be some kind of red-headed stepchild. Track needs a repave badly the surface is in terrible shape.

Last time I went was the last big modified race (fall 2020). The track had paid parking close to the gates. They had free parking super far away. They closed off the lots in between. Yep, if you wanted free parking, you had to walk through closed, empty parking lots to get to the track. All you make you pay $10 for the paid lot. Left about as sour of a taste in my mouth as a racetrack could.
 

RHRFan#1

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Same race day attendance as the last Brickyard with fans. Not sure what Friday and Saturday looked like back then.


The old reliable eye test to me looked like the crowd was noticeably stronger this year from last year.
 

FLRacingFan

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Same race day attendance as the last Brickyard with fans. Not sure what Friday and Saturday looked like back then.


Fwiw, this is easily a grandstand sellout at every NASCAR-owned track besides Daytona, Talladega, and Fontana. They had about 60k in the grandstands at Talladega and more in infield camping (which IMS won’t offer until the new IMSA race next year). Fontana is obviously being downsized. Overall a relatively big crowd.
 

racingfan7

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D69FAF62-CCA2-4D91-9D03-274E4D4CDC8B.jpeg


Michigan had a great crowd on Saturday as well
 

Charlie Spencer

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Crap, so now that every racetrack has removed 50,000 seats we are going back to being packed in like sardines. Oh well, it was a good run for quite a few years.
The remaining seats are no closer together than they were. Indeed, many tracks are removing every other row, so fans actually have MORE room.
 

West

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They will probably put those removed seats back once Nascar goes electric and the fans start waiving Interstate and DieHard battery flags in the stands 👍
 

Magicmiler

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The remaining seats are no closer together than they were. Indeed, many tracks are removing every other row, so fans actually have MORE room.
Yep. Loudon has 20,000 more empty seats in the Lacoina (ex) grandstands since their removal... Plenty 'o room...
 

Hotrod

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I want to see a sold out Bristol in a couple weeks. That nite race use to be sold out for decades.
It was one of the hardest tickets to get.
 

racingfan7

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I want to see a sold out Bristol in a couple weeks. That nite race use to be sold out for decades.
It was one of the hardest tickets to get.

I’m with you. I wouldn’t mind going myself but IDK.

Darlington was a cool sellout but it was only 40,000 instead of 47,000 like it was and the backstretch seats were awesome.
 

Charlie Spencer

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Is it "Sold Out " with the Boeing Backstretch covered in tarps?
Or, is that part of the Business Model..?
"Sold Out" means they sold all the seats they made available for sale. It does not mean all the seats in the facility. For example, for Xfinity or Truck races, it's common to sell only a percentage of the total seats.

Only a handful of people were sitting on the Darlington backstretch for last few years it was open. Why bother with the logistics of selling seats, and servicing and staffing a grandstand that isn't profitable?
 

Charlie Spencer

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I love it. They've even installed cup holders in front of you.

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
It's been 11 months but I'm pretty sure my Charlotte seats have a full shelf running in front of them, about a foot wide, to put stuff on.
 
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