Champcar at Homestead

[The Snout]

Guys what sort of crowd was Cart pulling at our time at Homestead ?

For the IRL race today ESPN are saying that about 20000 were at the track. 5000 Toyota giveaways, 5000 Marlboro giveaways and then a few on top, so they pulled 9000 maybe paying customers.

Interested in what we were pulling before we pulled out and our reasons, I never really heard why.

[Jay]

hmm...just checking... According to this article in the St. Pete times, the race drew between 30 and 40,000 in its final year.

http://www.sptimes.com/News/040501/S...success_.shtml

I'm pretty sure that was Cart's worst year too... I know it went down every year.

[f1manoz]

Simply put, oval racing is not as popular as it once was.

[CART2Day]

Originally posted by f1manoz
Simply put, oval racing is not as popular as it once was.

Or maybe IndyCar open wheel racing is not that popular

[Lee Janotta]

Or maybe IRL was never popular!

[BootsOntheSide]

Open wheel oval racing is not as popular as it once was, CART and IRL. NASCAR's growth in popularity has taken some of the audience - its rules are set to ensure parity, the races are close and chaotic with lots of carnage, identifiable personalities, and mostly US drivers - givign the public what they want.

The Indy 500 will probably be the only oval race this year to be among the 10 most attended US open-wheel races, the US Grand Prix and top CART races like Long Beach, Laguna Seca and the rest are where the enthusiasm is, with a new cosmopolitan field and following.

[¡As-de-mim!]

Originally posted by The Snout
Guys what sort of crowd was Cart pulling at our time at Homestead ?

For the IRL race today ESPN are saying that about 20000 were at the track. 5000 Toyota giveaways, 5000 Marlboro giveaways and then a few on top, so they pulled 9000 maybe paying customers.

Also, Buy a Slurpee, Get a ticket, Buy a Big Gulp, Get two Tickets. Show up at the gate and prove you're alive, don't need a ticket. Just park your carcase in a seat.

[Liz]

My first response when I saw the photos from Homestead was "We obviously have more homeless people than they do."

[The Snout]

Thanks for the info Jay. Just a quote from that link..

"There's a transition between CART and IRL, but it's almost unnoticeable to race fans. The cars are identical ... They're both going over 200 mph.

Try telling us here that it's "almost unnoticeable" , just thought that was real spin city stuff.

By the look of Sunday, Cart's best move was to ditch Homestead and have the Miami city race, for atmosphere and interest it would have to cream anything else openwheel wise in that area.

[sgw2]

IRL got TV ratings of 1.8 for 1,911,600 HH.

This is a 20% increase over last year and the best OW race numbers in the 2000s outside of Indy. Even if 20,000 represents a bunch of freebies - just as Miami had 50% free tickets for CART's paltry 28,000 crowd - it is still a substantial increase over last year.

I think the numbers for Miami, Homestead and even St. Petersburg, show how weak OW racing is, especially in Florida. A street race should get 3-5x the crowds of an oval.

The TV numbers should be sobering to CART. They have been claiming that the IRL's improvement is phantom. But this shows that the IRL has a fair shot at reaching the once common 2.0-2.3 ratings CART enjoyed even into the late 1990s by next year. CART meanwhile is hoping to contain its attendance declines at several tracks, and try to keep its Network TV numbers at least above 1.0.

[The Snout]

I'm curious why 28000 with 50% freebie's is 'paltry' but 20000 with 50+% freebie's is a good start.

Anyway, I agree with Cart's direction in Miami after seeing and living within an hour of Surfers success. If Champcar grow their Miami street race on the same basis it will pull great crowds like Surfers and become marked on Miami's events calendar. We were never going to get that with Homestead and looking long term, it's the best option by a country mile.

Cart's TV numbers are **** and everyone knows it, the sooner Cart increase their relationship with a CBS like they say they are doing according to the Portland Town Meeting, the better off we'll be. When Cart's TV is much more accessable to the fan and their package is more similar to the IRL's then a comparison will be more valid. Until then it's apples and oranges. Anyone know how many homes Cart can reach compared to the IRL ? Also, how long is Cart's current TV deal for ?

[indycool]

Posted this on the IRL board but since it's being discussed here, too, will post again:

If Marlboro and Toyota gave away "X" thousand tickets, how did they acquire them? The track at Homestead didn't just hand 'em over. They may have been purchased at a group discount rate, they may have been part of an overall package with billboards, hospitality or the like, but someone paid for 'em in some way.

[Lee Janotta]

The marketing departments of both companies have money to burn, Marlboro especially.

[Jay]

Not necessarily indycool... In fact, I'd be surprised if they were payed for at all. Those corporations are undoubtably given X number of tickets by the IRL to do whatever they need(mostly promotions). So, there's a good chance the IRL payed for most of those seats. I suppose if you're the promoter you wouldn't care though...

I don't think Cart can expect super TV ratings this year. TV ratings aside, the St. Petes GP received 10 times the local media coverage than the Homestead race. That's what Cart's trying to do this year! Expose the major urban centres to the races, get the local media talking (which they have), and build interest in the urban centres. If they can do that, they will undoubtably be able to get TV contracts in the future.

The theory being the average urbanite would rather see the series that stops in their city (and other major cities) annually throwing a great party, than the series that has races at venues they've never heard of (and the only venue they have heard of is Indy). Nobody (except die-hard race fans) has ever heard of Texas Motorspeedway, Fontana, Homestead, Nazareth, Michigan Intl. Speedway, etc. etc. But they have heard of Long Beach, Miami, Denver, Toronto, Cleveland, Montreal, Mexico City, St. Petersburg, etc. That's what Cart is trying to build on!

[The Snout]

It's a good point Jay. Street racing isn't necessary better than roadcourse or oval, it's the whole event is created around the city that's gold.I've seen it go from half empty stands at the 1991 Surfers race to it now being a huge city event which touches the whole community, that's the magic of urban racing, to make it a city community event. And when you think about it, the Indy 500 is a street race ! Why ? because it involves the city with parades, media coverage etc, that's why it's a big race as much as anything, it's involves the people.

On ticket giveaways, why is it that when Cart gives away tickets it's fudging the figures but when the IRL does it it's legitimate.

[Liz]

Same in Toronto. And I'd be willing to bet the USGP would be a much better race if it was run in a real city that was attractive to a more diverse audience -- for the same reason that Montreal GP is popular although the racing is equally boring.

[indycool]

Jay, Snout, the IRL does not own the tickets. The promoter owns the tickets. The sanctioning body gets a fee from the promoter to stage a race. The promoter tries to pay that fee and make money by selling the tickets. That's the way it works.

[norman-normal]

If that also applies to the IRL, I think they will be losing a few venues Mr Cool

[The Snout]

Well Norman, for Cart there's an opportunity to offer car makers an openwheel roadracing, oval racing, street racing series in the largest car market in the World, North American. I think that's the ball we need to keep an eye on. It's in Cart's interest to leave dicing up the numbers for a 70% empty venue to others.