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91,000+ attendance on Sunday at Indy MotoGP

Discussion in 'General' started by Knarf Legna, Sep 16, 2008.

  1. SpeedyTide

    SpeedyTide 'Bama's Bad Boy

    :crackup:

    Nice to have met you Tonia! :up:
     
  2. Tortuga

    Tortuga Well-Known Member

    Oh I almost forgot; the vendors didn't have any tops for the coffee I bought. Bastards!
     
  3. Rippin Griffin

    Rippin Griffin Well-Known Member

    Was great meeting you and so many really great people over the weekend!

    What an experience!
     
  4. Roger Lyle

    Roger Lyle Well-Known Member

    The Inaugural Indy MotoGP was the coolest race I have ever been to! The security and safety patrol (yellow shirts) were the most helpful people I have ever met at any racetrack. All tracks and promoters need to take lessons from these professionals at IMS. Seeing Nicky on crutches and a boot cast on his foot Saturday night at the Indy Mile, after he qualified 4th that day, when did he do that? (the x games) Experiencing the Indy Mile and seeing Chris Carr, (the fastest man on 2 wheels @ 350.884) win by inches over #1 Kenny Coolbeth was a thrill. The Indy MotoGP program was the best I have ever collected. On Sunday they included the newspaper with a special moto gp section.The souvenir shops had some cool stuff, and you can order it online. The IMS Hall of Fame and Museum was excellent!The special shirts they printed up on Saturday night (for sale Sunday)with the starting grid on the back were cool. The vendors and manufacturers' tents had a lot of neat stuff. The Boz Bros had a custom Yamaha R1 show that had some amazing wild rides!

    The races on Sunday were great and the fans and racers endured Hurricane Ike for 20 laps until the red flags came out, but nobody crashed out! I have only 2 complaints, All the bikes practiced in the rain on Friday. #1 On Sunday the FIM could have run the 250 race at the scheduled time or after the big race like they had switched to.... and then they cancelled it altogether. #2 The FIM said they were going to run the last 8 laps after the red flag, and that never happened. The racers and fans lost out on those 2 bad calls.

    Let's hope they don't do that again. I will be going back next year, and bringing more friends. I will see you there! :up:
     
  5. frackadelic

    frackadelic Buddha Stalin is Chronic

    Restarting the race after red for 8 laps would have been unfair, and they made the right call IMO. However, I would have really liked to see the 250 race.
     
  6. HPPT

    HPPT !!!

    They have done it twice this year. It was actually fun to watch.
     
  7. frackadelic

    frackadelic Buddha Stalin is Chronic

    I didn't say it wouldn't have been fun...hell, West probably would have won. :D
     
  8. HPPT

    HPPT !!!

    I totally agree on the process being unfair.
     
  9. Roger Lyle

    Roger Lyle Well-Known Member

    Restarting the race would not have been unfair. 75% had not been completed and the weather calmed down and stopped raining for a while. All racers would have been on new tires and it would have been exciting.

    We paid to go and see races and we did not get to see all of them. The 250 racers got hosed and will not get any points. Besides, if they had run the 250 race after, the traffic would have flowed easier. If you want the fans and racers back, you give them the whole enchilada the first time. Afterall, this was the Inaugural event. That is only 2 complaints. I have 3,000 good things to say about the event. I will return.
     
  10. Rippin Griffin

    Rippin Griffin Well-Known Member

    The problem was the wind making it unsafe and they were the right calls imo. The Moto GP riders on 800's said that on the straights they needed the whole width of the track to go straight and stay on the track because of how hard the wind was blowing them. What do you think that would be like for the 250's?

    What the GP riders were doing in those conditions was absolutey amazing!
     
  11. Tortuga

    Tortuga Well-Known Member

    Hey Roger it was nice bumping into you on Saturday (Josh). and I totally agree that they should have run the remaining laps as well as the 250. I heard that the reason they didn't run the remaining laps was due to the TV time being over. If that was the case then what they are telling us is to stay home next year and watch it on TV.
    Cancelling the 250 race outright was just a bad decision. Can you imagine the cost to those teams for the weekend and then to leave with no points? Let alone thise of us who went there specifically because of the 250s and 125s. The weather had cleared up and the winds died down considerably when we were walking to the car.
     
  12. Cam Morehead

    Cam Morehead Husband, Dad, Racer

    I can't tell you how many people working trackside asked if I needed anything. Workers smiled, police officers smiled, people acted like they appreciated the racers and fans. I went to a different race this year and was treated like crap by security and police officers........ I plan to attend the 2009 Indy race.
     
  13. (diet)DrThunder

    (diet)DrThunder Why so serious, son?

    This is essentially the same experience we had in Lot 2. There might be a way that those folks could have provided better service to us campers, but I can't think of how.
     
  14. cgordon3

    cgordon3 I need a new bike...


    Damn them.:D
     
  15. edehaven

    edehaven Eric DeHaven SoCalRaceDad

    They made a very good choice with canceling the 250 and running shortened 125 and MotoGP. The wind was VERY dangerous, and honestly I give massive credit to the GP guys for hanging on as long as they did.
    Austin rode in the Rookies Cup race in the morning and he said that the wind was so bad in places that it was pushing them 6 or 8 feet from apex in the wet.
    And that weather was nothing like what the GP guys rode in.
    Unpredictable wind gusts at 60mph can be very dangerous, that was the reason they stopped the races and cut the GP short..
    Good call and a safe one.

    From both a fan point of view and a riders point of view this event was amazing. As fans we encountered all the same nice people and fans from all over that everyone else did.
    As a rider Austin Loved the track, loved the atmosphere, and the fans were so cool.

    Sunday evening after the races we were walking out to the car, as we had to park outside like everyone else. Austin had his team gear (redbull logo shirt etc..) on and was dragging his gear bag. As we neared the exit tunnel under T4 Fans started to notice him as one of the rookie cup riders. He got mobbed within minutes, probably 100 fans asking questions, asking for autographs and taking pictures with him. He stayed, signed about 20 autographs, took about 15 pictures and answered some questions before he said we had to go. Funny thing though, the group kept following us quickly and so we had to get a yellow jacket security guy to open the fence and let us walk under the stands so we could make it to the car without a mob..
    Very funny and also kind of cool.
     
  16. antirich

    antirich Well-Known Member

    Yea, I think having a huge staff is what made it work so well. I thought the folks at Laguna were nice the few years that i was there, but they where clearly overwhelmed by the crowds. Laguna also suffers from that "County Government" ownership deal. How can a place with that sort of draw (and no local taxes) have so much trouble getting money for improvements?

    The 250s where the only reason I would consider going to Indy. Glad I didn't cause the cancellation would have pissed me off! No ones fault, just would have looked forward to it. AMA is OK, but the 125s and 250s make some really good racing.

    Who the Hell would have thought a hurricane would have crepped up to Indy?!?!?!
     
  17. Stillie

    Stillie Off that like Jay-Z

    Red Roof...It was an Aprilia that looked just like mine. Guy even had a Scorpion lid with 248 on the side... :D
     
  18. Nick_OMC

    Nick_OMC Will crash your bike


    Thats how my dad and I rolled as well. We didn't buy a single beer in the joint. Which brought people to ask me where I was getting Labatts from.
     
  19. Roosell

    Roosell It's just as I suspected

    I've heard enough- next year I'm going.
     
  20. Suburbanrancher

    Suburbanrancher Chillzilla

    No kidding....there were a couple of jackasses ridin' all hooligan like on their DRZsm's next door to us, too - like they owned the place or something. The guy with the jacket and helmet just like mine had me worried we'd be confused for one another.

    It was nice of Sam's Club to have such a big, empty parking lot right there though. That's what they told me :D
     

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