INDIANAPOLIS — Any sports event that draws an estimated crowd of 180,000 has to be considered a smashing success.
Except when it drew 270,000 two years earlier.
There are expected to be empty seats at today’sBrickyard 400, leading some to wonder whether one of NASCAR’s marquee events has lost a little bit of its luster.
“Has some of that worn off ? I think a little bit,” Jeff Gordon said. “But I still think the sport brings in a heck of a crowd and this track and its history still makes it very, very prestigious. Certainly forthe competitors it’s as prestigious as it’s ever been.”
Winning at the Brickyard is about as big as it gets for NASCAR drivers, even rivaling the Daytona 500 in terms of prestige. But it’s beingseen by fewer fans in recent years.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway does not release official attendance figures, but crowds are declining according to NASCAR estimates: from 270,000 in 2007 to 240,000 in 2008 to 180,000 last year.
That’s still a remarkable number of people - dwarfing even the University of Michigan’s “Big House,” which recently increased its capacity to 109,901.
But the track is taking steps to boost attendance, letting kids 12 and under get in free with the purchase of an adult general admission ticket.Jeff Belskus, president and CEO of the speedway, says he is expecting a crowd of “well over” 100,000 today but acknowledges that ticket sales have been somewhat sluggish.
“We’ve seen some softness,” Belskus said. “It’s not a lot different than last year, frankly. There are still going to be a lot of race fans here.”
The economy certainly plays a role in sagging attendance, both at the Brickyard and throughout NASCAR. But Belskus acknowledges that severe tire issues that turned the 2008 race into a tough-to-watch debacle might play a role, too.
“Mostly, yeah, [it’s] enduring this tough economy,” Belskus said. “We had some tire issues here a couple years ago with this event, and I actually think that probably accelerated some things a little bit for us. The tire issues are behind us, and we hope better economic days are ahead. We’re looking forward to coming out on the other side.”
The Brickyard isn’t the only racing event with attendance issues. Facing declines in attendance and televisionratings, NASCAR has made a slew of technical and procedural changes in recent years intended to spice up the show.
“For a while I’ve been saying enough with trying to make adjustments in the garage area,” Jimmie Johnson said. “You know, new car, new rule, new this, new that, ‘drivers have at it.’ We’re tapped out. We’ve been doingall we can and we’re putting on great races.”
The quality of racing seems to have improved after NASCAR ditched the wings on the backs of cars in favor of a spoiler. The move shuffled the balance of power, as some teams adapted better than others, and made the cars more challenging to drive.
Johnson isn’t sure therewill suddenly be more passing at the Brickyard, though.
“On the straightaway it’s going to help us stay together, but we get in the flat turns and it will hurt the performance of the car,” Johnson said. “So I don’t know until we get out there what’s going to happen. I would assume the aero push will be a little stronger because it’s so flat here.”
Today’s NASCAR Sprint Cup lineupNASCAR-Sprint Cup Brickyard 400 After Saturday qualifying; race today At Indianapolis Motor Speedway Indianapolis Lap length: 2.5 miles (Car number in parentheses) 1. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya, Chevrolet, 182.278.
2. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 182.142.
3. (5) Mark Martin, Chevrolet, 181.803.
4. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 181.748.
5. (39) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 181.741.
6. (33) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 181.517.
7. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 181.353.
8. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 181.251.
9. (29) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 181.21.
10. (31) Jeff Burton, Chevrolet, 181.156.
11. (12) Brad Keselowski, Dodge, 180.883.
12. (56) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 180.73.
13. (17) Matt Kenseth, Ford, 180.571.
14. (2) Kurt Busch, Dodge, 180.426.
15. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 180.382.
16. (43) A J Allmendinger, Ford, 180.357.
17. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr., Chevrolet, 180.26.
18. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 180.249.
19. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford, 180.22.
20. (71) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 180.213.
21. (7) Robby Gordon, Toyota, 180.155.
22. (78) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 180.047.
23. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 179.845.
24. (9) Kasey Kahne, Ford, 179.791.
25. (77) Sam Hornish Jr., Dodge, 179.591.
26. (98) Paul Menard, Ford, 179.497.
27. (19) Elliott Sadler, Ford, 178.962.
28. (6) David Ragan, Ford, 178.916.
29. (00) David Reutimann, Toyota, 178.891.
30. (82) Scott Speed, Toyota, 178.884.
31. (21) Bill Elliott, Ford, 178.845.
32. (83) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 178.838.
33. (87) Joe Nemechek, Toyota, 178.834.
34. (20) Joey Logano, Toyota, 178.781.
35. (13) Max Papis, Toyota, 178.621.
36. (09) Bobby Labonte, Chevrolet,
178.377.
37. (55) Michael McDowell, Toyota,
178.341.
38. (37) Travis Kvapil, Ford, 178.013.
39. (64) Todd Bodine, Toyota, 177.89.
40. (66) Dave Blaney, Toyota, 177.578.
41. (47) Marcos Ambrose, Toyota, Owner
Points.
42. (34) Kevin Conway, Ford, Owner
Points.
43. (32) Jacques Villeneuve, Toyota,
177.466.
FAILED TO QUALIFY
44. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 176.783.
45. (36) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 176.626.
46. (26) David Stremme, Ford, 176.236.
47. (46) J.J. Yeley, Dodge.
Sports, Pages 29 on 07/25/2010