Indy vs NASCAR

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 begin 666 pixel.gif K1TE&.#EA`0`!`(#_`,# P ```"'Y! $`````+ `````!``$```("1 $`.P`` ` end

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. On Sat, 5 Jun 2004 09:31:41 -0400, "Tiny Lund" <[email hidden]> wrote:

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> > > 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 > >

On Sat, 05 Jun 2004 13:38:43 GMT, T Wortman wrote: > 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). cardboard cut-out spectators? Maybe those 2D rows of people have made it from sims into real-life racing? ;-> uwe -- mail replies to Uwe at schuerkamp dot de ( yahoo address is spambox) Uwe Schuerkamp //////////////////////////// http://www.schuerkamp.de/ Herford, Germany \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ (52.0N/8.5E) GPG Fingerprint: 2E 13 20 22 9A 3F 63 7F 67 6F E9 B1 A8 36 A4 61

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 "T. Wortman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... 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.

"B Wegner" <[email hidden]> wrote in news:[email hidden]:

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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'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

"Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > 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 of CTS, BGN,and CUP tickets to have first choice at the better seats, or to keep seats you had the previous year.

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. "B Wegner" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... 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 "T. Wortman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... 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. "KnektR" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:C2Nwc.28452$[email hidden]... 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. "B Wegner" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... 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 "T. Wortman" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]... 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.

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>From: "Jeff Vogel" [email hidden] >Date: 6/6/2004 11:43 PM Central Daylight Time >Message-id: <RnSwc.6628$[email hidden]> > >This is a multi-part message in MIME format. > >------=_NextPart_000_0069_01C44C2A.299FEA60 >Content-Type: text/plain; > charset="Windows-1252" >Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable > >I can tell you that the stands were full. Even with the delays they were = >full. Everyone thought they wouldnt; run until Monday after the Red flag = >and I would say half the people left thinking that they would run = >Monday, due to the tornado warnings they had out for 1PM. It definitly = >isn't like the old days with the packed infield and parties but that = >place packs you in like sardines. The seats are tighter than coach on an = >airplane.=20 > "KnektR" <[email hidden]> wrote in message = >news:C2Nwc.28452$[email hidden]... > 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

"Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> "B Wegner" <[email hidden]> wrote in > news:[email hidden]: > > > > > 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

Kansas is that way also. CTS and IRL tickets are always for sale cheap or free. Way to hot in Kansas to be there in July. Tim

Not True at Richmond or Dover,Ive had the same seats for 10 yrs for the cup races only,never been to the CTS or BGN races "gordo" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:DTxwc.195$[email hidden]... > > "Dave Henrie" <[email hidden]> wrote in message > > > 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 choiceseats. > > 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 packageof CTS, BGN,and CUP tickets to > have first choice at the better seats, or to keep seats you had theprevious year. > >

I went to INDY many times during the 80's... both for races and qualifying. Although the stands will always look full for the race itself, what really showed me the lack of interest was the empty stands during second weekend qualifying. Sure, they were never full... but there were at least crowds there when I used to go. Now, there's no one... like any other IRL race. "J. Todd Wasson" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

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> >From: "Jeff Vogel" [email hidden] > >Date: 6/6/2004 11:43 PM Central Daylight Time > >Message-id: <RnSwc.6628$[email hidden]> > > > >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=

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> >airplane.=20 > > "KnektR" <[email hidden]> wrote in message = > >news:C2Nwc.28452$[email hidden]... > > 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 thePC > 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 journalistactually > went and counted all the seats. Poor dummy spent all winter doing it ifwhat 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 tooit > might have been much higher. > > BTW., we got our turn one seats from a scalper that morning on the streetfor > face value ($85/each). Back when it was Champ cars, you were lucky toeven get > in anywhere except the infield. Turn one? Forget it... My Dad'simpression > (he's lived there for about 15 years) is that the race isn't what it usedto be > before the IRL split, but it seems to be coming back. That's not lookingat

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> 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 > >

"CW Webster" <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:SA3xc.22292$[email hidden]... > Not True at Richmond or Dover,Ive had the same seats for 10 yrs for the cup > races only,never been to the CTS or BGN races Well it's true for Homestead where I purchased tickets for the inaugural Cup race a few years back. I still have the unused CTS ticket. Maybe only ISC owned tracks have this policy?

On Wed, 09 Jun 2004 23:47:50 GMT, "Double-T" <[email hidden]> wrote: >I went to INDY many times during the 80's... both for races and qualifying. >Although the stands will always look full for the race itself, what really >showed me the lack of interest was the empty stands during second weekend >qualifying. Sure, they were never full... but there were at least crowds >there when I used to go. Now, there's no one... like any other IRL race. Good observation. Bubble day used to be full of excitement. No more.

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> >I went to INDY many times during the 80's... both for races and qualifying. >Although the stands will always look full for the race itself, what really >showed me the lack of interest was the empty stands during second weekend >qualifying. Sure, they were never full... but there were at least crowds >there when I used to go. Now, there's no one... like any other IRL race. >

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