Oreo/ESPN on Iowa and Bullrings

[Lousada]

Lowest turnout in the event's history? Really? Did the track lose so many fans they wont bother next year? Hardly. I saw full stands...it is a small track...Using your logic, NASCAR would dump Atlanta entirely and give up on Fontana entirely.

The released attendance number was 34.000. It's the average for Indycar races this season.

[Mark in Oshawa]

The released attendance number was 34.000. It's the average for Indycar races this season.

That's sad..no two ways about it...but then again, for Iowa, it works and NASCAR maybe draws 5 to 10 thousand more.

Once upon a time, the CART would have averaged 70000 plus....

[anthonyvop]

None of which supports your assertion that a mixed series is not a better one.

Gary

Well the facts are except for the Indy 500 the ICS road races get better ratings and road racing fans have more discretionary income.

St. Pete and Iowa had about the same amount of fans but which fans are the sponsors lusting after?

[anthonyvop]

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/art...mishap-in-pits






Plenty of empty seats there.

[NickFalzone]

Tony, not saying this was 100% the case, but on TV they even mentioned that the significant threat of rain that afternoon probably kept quite a few fans from showing up. Now whether that's legit, I do not know. But that was the claim at the time so I take it for what it is.

[Lousada]

That's sad..no two ways about it...but then again, for Iowa, it works and NASCAR maybe draws 5 to 10 thousand more.

Once upon a time, the CART would have averaged 70000 plus....

Nascar Nationwide drew 55k last year at Iowa. But it must be noted that it was the first NNS race there ever.

Tony, not saying this was 100% the case, but on TV they even mentioned that the significant threat of rain that afternoon probably kept quite a few fans from showing up. Now whether that's legit, I do not know. But that was the claim at the time so I take it for what it is.

The thing is that the main grandstand seats maybe 25k. The rest of the seating is temporarily. So you can gauge interest by the amount of temp grandstands they put up. For Indycar there are less and less stands every year...

[px400r]

That's sad..no two ways about it...but then again, for Iowa, it works and NASCAR maybe draws 5 to 10 thousand more.

Once upon a time, the CART would have averaged 70000 plus....

That's the sad truth.

But even if the split had not happened and CART still existed today as it did in the 90's, I'm pretty sure it would still be second fiddle to NASCAR. Not as bad as today's reality mind you, but probably much better off.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Well if there was empty seats there, it isn't indicative by itself that it is a turning away from the IRL. It can also be an indication of the economy, the weather forecast and the local promotors.

Tony' assertion that oval racing doesn't work at all then must make the assertion that ergo, making the IRL an all Road/street course series save maybe Indy would be a roaring success. Well we saw how well that worked for the CCWS didn't we?

OW racing is on life support, and it has to offer up something to all race fans who are either fans of this form of racing, or are becoming disenchanted with NASCAR. They cannot afford to pick and choose one format (ovals or RC) over the other. They need both...

[NickFalzone]

That's the sad truth.

But even if the split had not happened and CART still existed today as it did in the 90's, I'm pretty sure it would still be second fiddle to NASCAR. Not as bad as today's reality mind you, but probably much better off.

That's a very important point that gets lost in the Tony George/IRL/Champ Car/CART fiasco. I firmly believe that NASCAR was on the upswing in 1996 and regardless of what AOW did from 1996-2010, it would have dropped off in prominence as compared to NASCAR. Would it be better off today had the split not occurred? Yeah, probably. But i think we'd be looking at a series still on ABC, but some races on ESPN1/2, and getting maybe 1.2's to 1.3's and 5.0's for the 500. In other words, profitable #'s but nowhere near competition for NASCAR. People like to put the blame everywhere but on actual content, and I think the reality is that the American public's racing interest shifted heavily towards stock car racing starting in the mid-late 90s and no matter what CART did, it would not have been able to hold onto its place as a solid competitor to NASCAR.

[NaBUru38]

the significant threat of rain that afternoon probably kept quite a few fans from showing up

Actually there was a warning of severe thunderstorms.