Does anyone go to these races anymore?

[bsullivan161]

Seems like all these races have a lot of empty seats....I know the economy is poor. Are the seats that expensive...I've never been to a race. It just looks so depressing to turn it on the tv and see no one at these races this year!

[numanoid]

seats I think are $65. Milwaukee had horrible attendance as well and I think a lot of it was due to weather. Iowa was totally sold out.

[Sateryn76]

I think it was the weather as well. Dario commented in his after-race press conference that the fans there had really impressed him - calling them very knowledgeable and "hard core"

$65 is a little high in this economy - that would deter a lot of casual fans.

[drewdawg727]

I was at the race - general admission was 40 bucks. I will tell you there were a LOT of scalpers there...I actually got a ticket from a scalper there who was only giving them away for 20 bucks. To me, it seems like weather was definitely the biggest factor because judging from the amount of scalpers that were trying to give away their tickets, there should have been a lot more people there.

It did look pitiful on TV, but when we were sitting in the stands, the crowds actually looked decent. Grandstands in turn 4 were closed also.

[nigelred5]

Well, tix to the race in Baltimore are $75 and $85 for Sunday only (sold out) and $45 for GA Which I wouldn't inagine will provide very good viewing prospects for much of the track.. I"ve paid more, I've paid less...

[FIAT1]

I have been to races with rain and is not fun. I think that forecast had something to do with that.

[numanoid]

Same with Milwaukee. Heavy rain was forecast throughout the day and it was a ghost town.

[FormerFF]

Yeah, an oval rain race isn't much to see.

[champcarray]

We attended the race at NH and while the weather forecast probably deterred some fans, I think it has a lot to do with the split. If you'll recall, CART had decent attendance at that track from 1992-1995, but the track owners sided with TG and attendance plummeted to about 5,000 people for the IRL races held there in 1996-98. The Bahre family dropped the race when they realized that New Englanders and Quebecois were generally not interested in the IRL. The region has lost nearly a generation of attention and it's going to take time to rebuild here. I honestly think the folks around here need to be dazzled by wild looking and differing cars as well as drivers with greater name recognition.

[nigelred5]

I have been to races with rain and is not fun. I think that forecast had something to do with that.

Roger that. I can't tell you how many cold (What year was the snow-out??) wet days I spent waiting for the race at Nazareth. We always renewed our tickets immediately after the race in those days but we pretty much new to expect crappy weather and a long day. If we were race day ticket buyers, we likely wouldn't have made the 2 hour drive and we were HARD CORE CART fans back then.

[call_me_andrew]

2000 was the Nazareth snow out.

I was at the 1999 combination Busch Series/Busch North race. I sat through the cold rain all day, sat through more rain after the race started, and the race was still shortened due to darkness.

I was at the last CART race at Nazareth in 2001. It was hot and I got sunburn in places I didn't think could burn.

[nigelred5]

Yeah,sad to remember that the last race was probably the best weather they had ever had for the CART races.