Coca-Cola 600 TV ratings top Indy 500
The rating for the rain-shortened Indianapolis 500 was down 11
percent from last year, and was lower than the weekend's NASCAR race for the
third straight year. More
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uwe
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mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox)
Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/
Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E)
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Two things account for not seeing a lot of open seats. One is that the TV crews do there best to never show open seats - watch a CTS or Busch race and see if they ever really show stands with no people in them. You'll notice they'll cut off the parts of the grandstands that are empty by using an alternate focal point. The second is the IRL gives away a lot of free tickets through promotions and charities. I've been to 4 - 500s in the past 7 years and 3 of them I never paid a dime (the fourth I got them for half price). Sad but true.
Wag
I knew something was up this year. 2 weeks before the 500, and for the
first time in my memory, WLS in Chicago started running ads for
tickets. Used to be you couldn't beg, borrow, or steal a ticket to the
500. Now it seems they can't sell the place out (although I didn't see
many open seats on TV). Maybe the economy has something to do with
ticket sales. But that wouldn't account for TV draw.
I've also heard that the tracks that have Nascar events force the
Nascar buyers to purchase irl tickets or they don't get the choice seats.
Texas comes to mind, which is strange since some of the irl's best races
have happened there.
dh
Another reason is that all of the portable grandstands are not erected.
Thus, a place that can seat 350,000 people may look full with only 225,000 people in it.
Two things account for not seeing a lot of open seats. One is that the TV crews do there best to never show open seats - watch a CTS or Busch race and see if they ever really show stands with no people in them. You'll notice they'll cut off the parts of the grandstands that are empty by using an alternate focal point. The second is the IRL gives away a lot of free tickets through promotions and charities. I've been to 4 - 500s in the past 7 years and 3 of them I never paid a dime (the fourth I got them for half price). Sad but true.
Wag
I knew something was up this year. 2 weeks before the 500, and for the
first time in my memory, WLS in Chicago started running ads for
tickets. Used to be you couldn't beg, borrow, or steal a ticket to the
500. Now it seems they can't sell the place out (although I didn't see
many open seats on TV). Maybe the economy has something to do with
ticket sales. But that wouldn't account for TV draw.
I can tell you that the stands were full. Even with the delays they were full. Everyone thought they wouldnt; run until Monday after the Red flag and I would say half the people left thinking that they would run Monday, due to the tornado warnings they had out for 1PM. It definitly isn't like the old days with the packed infield and parties but that place packs you in like sardines. The seats are tighter than coach on an airplane.
Another reason is that all of the portable grandstands are not erected.
Thus, a place that can seat 350,000 people may look full with only 225,000 people in it.
Two things account for not seeing a lot of open seats. One is that the TV crews do there best to never show open seats - watch a CTS or Busch race and see if they ever really show stands with no people in them. You'll notice they'll cut off the parts of the grandstands that are empty by using an alternate focal point. The second is the IRL gives away a lot of free tickets through promotions and charities. I've been to 4 - 500s in the past 7 years and 3 of them I never paid a dime (the fourth I got them for half price). Sad but true.
Wag
I knew something was up this year. 2 weeks before the 500, and for the
first time in my memory, WLS in Chicago started running ads for
tickets. Used to be you couldn't beg, borrow, or steal a ticket to the
500. Now it seems they can't sell the place out (although I didn't see
many open seats on TV). Maybe the economy has something to do with
ticket sales. But that wouldn't account for TV draw.
>This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>------=_NextPart_000_0069_01C44C2A.299FEA60
>Content-Type: text/plain;
> charset="Windows-1252"
>Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
>I can tell you that the stands were full. Even with the delays they were =
>full. Everyone thought they wouldnt; run until Monday after the Red flag =
>and I would say half the people left thinking that they would run =
>Monday, due to the tornado warnings they had out for 1PM. It definitly =
>isn't like the old days with the packed infield and parties but that =
>place packs you in like sardines. The seats are tighter than coach on an =
>airplane.=20
> Another reason is that all of the portable grandstands are not =
>erected.
> Thus, a place that can seat 350,000 people may look full with only =
>225,000 people in it.
On another note, there was a local news article where a journalist actually
went and counted all the seats. Poor dummy spent all winter doing it if what I
heard was right! I forget how many, but it was right about 250,000. Those are
actual seats. Of course, back in the days when the infield was packed too it
might have been much higher.
BTW., we got our turn one seats from a scalper that morning on the street for
face value ($85/each). Back when it was Champ cars, you were lucky to even get
in anywhere except the infield. Turn one? Forget it... My Dad's impression
(he's lived there for about 15 years) is that the race isn't what it used to be
before the IRL split, but it seems to be coming back. That's not looking at
ticket sales though of course, it's just his general impression. He also
thought the cars seemed a bit louder this year, so... :-P
Todd Wasson
Racing Software
http://PerformanceSimulations.com
http://performancesimulations.com/scnshot4.htm
> > I've also heard that the tracks that have Nascar events force the
> > Nascar buyers to purchase irl tickets or they don't get the choice
seats.
> > Texas comes to mind, which is strange since some of the irl's best races
> > have happened there.
> Don't know about irl races but many times you have to buy a full package
> > Two things account for not seeing a lot of open seats. One is that
> > the TV crews do there best to never show open seats - watch a CTS or
> > Busch race and see if they ever really show stands with no people in
> > them. You'll notice they'll cut off the parts of the grandstands that
> > are empty by using an alternate focal point. The second is the IRL
> > gives away a lot of free tickets through promotions and charities.
> > I've been to 4 - 500s in the past 7 years and 3 of them I never paid a
> > dime (the fourth I got them for half price). Sad but true.
> > Wag
> I've also heard that the tracks that have Nascar events force the
> Nascar buyers to purchase irl tickets or they don't get the choice seats.
> Texas comes to mind, which is strange since some of the irl's best races
> have happened there.
> dh
Tim
> >This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
> >------=_NextPart_000_0069_01C44C2A.299FEA60
> >Content-Type: text/plain;
> > charset="Windows-1252"
> >Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
> >I can tell you that the stands were full. Even with the delays they were
=
> >full. Everyone thought they wouldnt; run until Monday after the Red flag
=
> >and I would say half the people left thinking that they would run =
> >Monday, due to the tornado warnings they had out for 1PM. It definitly =
> >isn't like the old days with the packed infield and parties but that =
> >place packs you in like sardines. The seats are tighter than coach on an
=
> >airplane.=20
> > Another reason is that all of the portable grandstands are not =
> >erected.
> > Thus, a place that can seat 350,000 people may look full with only =
> >225,000 people in it.
> Yeah, the stands looked very full from where I was sitting. An occasional
pair
> of seats were open here and there, but that was about it (around turn
> 1/straight area anyway). I snapped a couple pics of the crowd with my new
> binocular cam (this thing is so cool!). I haven't actually hooked it the
PC
> yet so don't know if it'll work, but if it does, I'll post the crowd pics.
> On another note, there was a local news article where a journalist
actually
> went and counted all the seats. Poor dummy spent all winter doing it if
what I
> heard was right! I forget how many, but it was right about 250,000.
Those are
> actual seats. Of course, back in the days when the infield was packed too
it
> might have been much higher.
> BTW., we got our turn one seats from a scalper that morning on the street
for
> face value ($85/each). Back when it was Champ cars, you were lucky to
even get
> in anywhere except the infield. Turn one? Forget it... My Dad's
impression
> (he's lived there for about 15 years) is that the race isn't what it used
to be
> before the IRL split, but it seems to be coming back. That's not looking
at
> ticket sales though of course, it's just his general impression. He also
> thought the cars seemed a bit louder this year, so... :-P
> Todd Wasson
> Racing Software
> http://PerformanceSimulations.com
> http://performancesimulations.com/scnshot4.htm
Yeah, I bet. My dad was telling me that 16th street used to be filled with
vendors all the way out "to here" (several blocks away from the track) all week
at least. Even on race day there were vendors, but only out to a block or two
away. Sad...
Todd Wasson
Racing Software
http://PerformanceSimulations.com
http://performancesimulations.com/scnshot4.htm
