91,000+ attendance on Sunday at Indy MotoGP

I couldn't believe how well-behaved most riders were. In fact I only saw one doing a wheelie and that was in the hotel parking lot. He gets a pass cuz he was on a supermoto.

 

Sleep Inn Airport West?

 

I had been hearing some grumbling about no re-entry but didn't have any problems with it. Usually if somebody gets the short end of the stick, it's me. Well that sucks for them...

 

I think the rain probably turned away alot of people. Saturday (all days actually) was great. And loud, yes they were definetly louder than I remember from past races... Plenty of vendors, plenty of food counters and everyone was so dang polite.

Why is "official merchandise" so cheesy? Is it just me?

 

Not just you. I was expecting more "MotoGP" stuff. Posters, rider memorabilia. I couldn't find anything for Colin Edwards for example. Maybe I was looking in the wrong places, but that was my biggest gripe.

Otherwise I loved the event, and can't wait for next year.

 

Touche

 

Same here. Was really bummed there wasn't more rider specific stuff that I could find.

A kick ass Team Fiat Yamaha pit shirt would've been cool.

 

And think of this: The 91,000 on Sunday paid a minimum of $75.00 each to watch the race in a Hurricane... :wow:

Dedication.

The weather sucked, but it also made it that much more amazing to watch.

Indy was proof that there were thousands of us here in the East that were *dying* to see a MGP race, and we would'nt miss it.

Watching Rossi catch and pass the 2007 Champ, then catch and pass the 2006 Champ and ride away in that weather was mind bending - Me thinks there are a lot of new GP fans after Sunday....

 

FYI:

If you enter the track at Gate 10 - North side, off 30th street - you then drive to the infield parking, and it's FREE!!! :up:

Car / truck in the infield, with a giant cooler filled with "refreshments" - that's how we rolled.....

 

Bottom line - we'd go again in a heartbeat

the racing all weekend was absolutely fantastic, the Rookies Cup more than making up for the cancellation of the 250cc race. Hiding from the rain under the grandstands with people from england, italy, and Maryland was actually a very special experience. I had to struggle to keep the nightmare of trying to get out of the Speedway area from spoiling 4 otherwise excellent days. Even the cops near the speedway couldn't understand why the major direct artery to the interstate was in gridlock immediately after the race. No worse than getting out of Barber after an AMA race, actually. The fan events on Thursday were uncrowded and gave great access to the racers - got some great photos of Colin & his kid with Toseland, Nicky on crutches talking honestly about his relationship with the Pedrosa camp. The vendor booths were plentiful, the crowd enthusiastic, even the Speedway food prices were very reasonable compared to many other sports vendors, with a good Bratwurst for $3.00 being a darn fine meal. $3 for water, however, is a crime. Given the chance to see Colin Edwards throwing out t-shirts to the fans from the top of a shipping crate - Rossi scoping out the track doing laps on a scooter - meeting Earl Hayden and having a brief chance to talk parenting - Can't say enough about the good parts. Parking for motorcycles at our end sucked - grass & mud after Fridays downpour, what were they thinking? At $50 for 3 days, the bikes deserved better. Despite some of the minor negatives, all 3 of us in my party that made the trip (by motorcycle from SC & NC) would do it again in a heartbeat. We would like to skip the 60 mph crosswinds and downpour we rode through in southwestern Ohio on Sunday evening, however, it did take our minds off the ninety minutes we spent motionless stuck in traffic exiting the Speedway... can't imagine what 3 times the crowd is like for a 500 race (unless they just totally screwed up the traffic management plan). Shame how the human brain works - having such a strong feeling about the last negative experience (the traffic) vs. all the fun experienced in the 3+ days prior to that..

 

The free gate 10 streetbike parking on the Oval backstrech - 3 miles of bikes!!!

 

There were some car guys sitting behind us that were stunned that they kept racing when the yellow flag came out. They kept saying, "why aren't they slowing down? I explained to them the difference between the standing and waving yellows. They thought that was way cool.

I think a lot of people became roadracing fans over the weekend.

 

A lot of people say that the turnout was amazing given the weather. How many people buy their tickets at the event? Wouldn't most have bought it before?

 

Should have been 91003 because two friends and I got in without anybody checking our tickets...

Next year why bother buy a ticket?

Security!!!!!!

 

As long as they saw it around my neck, I only had one guy actually look at the ticket.

 

The amount of people there actually surprised me. And it wasn't your run-of-the-mill trailer-trash crowd, these were motorcycle enthusiasts for the most part. I was sad to see the weather turn south for Sunday, as there seemed to be a bit more folks there on Saturday (in the stands at least). Nevertheless, the crowd was enthusiastic. Indy put on a great show all in all, and I will definately be back:

-Parking/traffic was organized
-They had Turkey Legs
-They had big cans of Fosters
-Downtown was a blast
-Location is convenient
-In section J, we could see a good portion of the track
-They provided great maps of the area and track

 

My experience:

Drive up to Camping Lot 6.... Guy in yellow jacket ASKS for permission to step up onto my cab. Then asks to see my paperwork, reviews it and then says "why don't you toss er in park and I'll take you around in the golf car and we'll find you a spot that works for you. When we're done, your daughter there (points to Bonnie) can have the best spot in the place"

We drive around and look at several spots and we pick one. He informs me that if we need anything that we are to come see him or his partner who are staying in thier rigs and he takes me to thier spots so we'll know where to locate them if need be.

He also reviewed rules (there were very few) with me and ask if were cool with visitors. Lastly he informs me that because the Belgians bought Budweiser that he is spearheading a boycott and that if we have any Anheiser Busch products we could join in by giving them to him and he will dispose of them properly.. I ask him how that's working out and he said not too good but he still had four days to refine his pitch.

This was representative of how we were treated ALL weekend by everyone we came in contact with. The "guards" for suite access we equally as nice. This place has customer service down.

Another cool thing is that with 75k in attendence the place was only 25% full. Hell.. they were at 50% staffing and still overstaffed by a good 20% to 30%. Did ANYONE stand in a line for anything?

Indy rocks and we're going all-in with two suites next year. I love this place.

 

The 4 of us bought 3 day passes on Thursday at the track office, there was a line.

 

? and maybe you also explained to them that there are no standing yellows for the Moto GP, the yellow is waved ONLY ?

 

I'm usually the jackass that just has to find something wrong with everything (or the world really is out to get me) and my Indy experience was awful. The weather delayed my plane so we missed the connector and had to rent a car and drive, the weather forced the MotoGP to end early and caused the cancellation of the 250 race which was one of the main reasons we went, so I have to say that the weather was poo. And somehow we managed to be woefully unprepared for both the sun on Sat and the rain on Sun. Pure talent.
As for the things that the speedway and the town could control; they pretty much did everything right. I don't live far from Laguna but never go there because they suck in so many ways. I will gladly go back to Indy every year (so long as they bring the 125s and 250s)(and there are no hurricanes predicted)