IRL Attendance Friday! (1 Viewer)

[Jeff Adkins]

Reports from Auto Racing 1 say that there were fewer than 100 people in the stands for Friday's practice in Homestead, while 12,000 showed up in St. Pete last Friday for CART's practice.

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It's also being reported that 10,000 tix have been given away for tomorrow's race.

Jeff

 

[Cam S]

Wow, that is really sad!

 

[CharlesD]

Yeah everything about the IRL is sad IMO.

I'll tune into the IRL race/formation driving event tomorrow for about 5 minutes just to see how many of those 10,000 free ticket holders show up dressed as empty seats.

 

[Michael Varacin]

There have been a lot of posts regarding lack of attendance for this IRL event and it's functions. But let's not forget where this is...Homestead. It's in the middle of nowhere.

Look at the attendance figures from last year for some of the other events. Many of the events were even sold out.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Homestead is 30 miles outside of Miami. In a large market like Miami, that is certainly considered a suburb!

 

[CharlesD]

It's in the middle of nowhere.

Hmm.. I drive hundreds of miles to attend races that I'm interested in along with 10s of thousands of other fans. I'd say that there just isn't very much interest in the IRL's product.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

Poor oval open-wheel attendance in America can not be wholly blamed on a lack of interest in the Indy Racing League. But it can mostly be blamed on the 'split' concocted by idiot grandson Tony George. All open-wheel oval attendance (and viewership) has been shot to hell by his self-serving 'vision'.

Speaking of series created by misguided fatcats, did anybody notice that the Grand Am race at Homestead today had sixteen cars. For a frickin' sportscar race! Time for 'Fran Am' to close shop and give the Daytona 24 to the American Le Mans Series. Hey, but Bill France's nephew won today, so I guess the series serves some purpose. :rolleyes

 

[Michael Varacin]

OK, so this is obviously an anti-IRL post. Look again at the map. Homestead is close to Miami and....and....NOTHING!

As I said, check attendance figures from other events. Then look at the attendance figures from CART events last year.

I too, was not in favor of the IRL at first. But it opened the door for a lot of people. Now when I look at it, the IRL and Tony George have won. Period.

CART is the one struggling now.

 

[CharlesD]

...the IRL and Tony George have won

No NASCAR has won. What has the IRL achieved? nothing whatsoever.

 

[Michael St. Clair]

I too, was not in favor of the IRL at first. But it opened the door for a lot of people. Now when I look at it, the IRL and Tony George have won. Period.

Oh, there is no doubt. From what remains of the television-only market that doesn't actually set foot in a race, the IRL definitely controls more than half of domestic open-wheel racing. And they've got Honda and Toyota, whose switch had far more to do with politics and the failure of Joe Heitzler than anything good or special about the IRL.

TG couldn't stand to control a minority of the glorious open-wheel racing kingdom, so he destroyed it with a scorched-earth policy and is now the sole Duke of Deceit in the sad little fiefdom that remains. A multi-billionaire can destroy an entire industry but at least control what is left over. What an accomplishment!

And the irony is that George swore that the CART was horribly broken and that the IRL was going to be different. Yet the only way that they've been able to make it this far is by becoming the enemy. Mostly foreign drivers, foreign engines, foreign racers, engine leases, escalating costs. The actions of the IRL invalidate their own propaganda.

And speaking of propaganda, the IRL and Homestead have announced that Tony Kanaan yesterday set track record of 26.5278 seconds, 203.560 mph with his pole. But Greg Moore did it in 24.856 at 217.541 mph in a Champ Car. Because the IRL cannot live up to history, they are now trying to rewrite it. Jimmy Vasser won the fastest 500-miler in history at Fontana last year. How long until the IRL tries to rewrite that fact?

ps IRL car count is on the decline and rumor has it that Tony's sister has told him that he can't keep losing the family inheritance on the IRL. What will the next few years bring, especially if multiple manufacturers return to Champ Car in 2005?

 

[Jeff Adkins]

Now when I look at it, the IRL and Tony George have won. Period.

CART is the one struggling now.

How are they struggling when they lose so many big name drivers in one season and yet they had huge attendance last weekend? They drew over 100,000 at their Mexico City race, they drew around 200,000 to Surfer's Paradise last year under terrible weather conditions. I don't see these kind of numbers at IRL races. How can the IRL have won when they have to do massive ticket giveaways to get anyone to show up to anything other than those 3 races?


Jeff

 

[Rob Lutter]

I grew up in Homestead... it was once a thriving and growing community because of the Homestead Air Force base (who almost everyone was employed by).

After Hurricane Andrew, which LEVELED the entire city/base... the government never reestablished it as a full-fledged base (instead it is a reserve base) and everyone moved away with their home insurance money to Broward.

Although my parents moved to Fort Lauderdale in 1987, my dad's business was in Homestead when the hurricane hit and I still remember that day in August of 1992, walking through a FLATTENED city and thinking EVERYONE was dead and my dad's business (cars) being almost completely destroyed. It looked like a nuke had hit the city.)

Homestead has never quite recovered from Andrew and has become a sort of slum... they should have built the track up in Broward County (because personally, when I lived in Fort Lauderdale, I HATED driving down to Homestead because of the Miami traffic)