91,000+ attendance on Sunday at Indy MotoGP

From a thread I posted earlier "Windy Indy"

..."I talked with alot of people there (locals) that had never seen a motorcycle race. They were there cause something big was happening at the "their" race track. Many said they just go there to support the track and cause its a way of life for them. They all agreed that the bikes were waay cool, the most interesting racing seen and Loud! Dang they were loud and it just grabbed you viscerally with the feeling of immense power and sound. " :up:

I spent alot of time chatting up locals on the street and while eating and many were there cause it was an inaugural race of some kind. Many just support the happening at IMS and their town. Plus, moto heads were out in force and the locals take on them was so positive - they saw we were behaved mostly, were knowlegable, were friendly and helpful. The stigma of a motorcyclist and his stereo typed ways IS making headway and regular peeps see it.

I for one - talk about stereotyping - went up to Chicago and Indy ready for the stuck up ,get outa my way of some city dwelling northern east coast Yanks and was pleaseantly surprised by how genuine and nice the Midwestern Yanks were to all. And yes, I don't think all east coast yanks are that way as I know quite a few from here on the Beeb, but I do spend alot of time in NY & Boston and such places and there are alotta jerks up there.

 

I wasn't clear enough. What I meant was that a MotoGP race at Miller, for instance, might have drawn fewer people than Indianapolis.

I wouldn't compare AMA superbike at Daytona to MotoGP at Indianapolis. Maybe if they ran AMA at Indianapolis, we would have a more interesting comparison.

All 3000 rich people in Qatar attended the race.

 

The old AMA would learn anything or even try to, the AMA races are 100% promoted by the tracks themselves or by an outside vendor, like M1 entertainment who does the Big Kahuna Nationals. AMA does NOT promote races, is not in the business to promote racing, they are the sanctioning body and handle on-track duties, scoring etc. This is the tidbit that most people don't realize.

Like the person at the beginning of this thread stated, all the other track management need to go to an event like this to see how it should be done right. Barber management is very good about traveling to other tracks every year to see what others do and this and were likely @ indy. Some of the other tracks don't really care and think they have it figured out.

The DMG/AMA group now is claiming they will do it all promote, hold, sanction etc racing, but in the past the tracks have wanted to do it themselves, and so results are whatever they choose to do. It will be interesting to see if the tracks allow DMG's involvement in promotion. Maybe DMG is NOT going to do promotion but help tracks get more $$$ support, nobody really knows at this point how that will all work.

 

It helps too that Indy is way more "centrally" located in the US than Laguna...
I can make the trip to Indy from Pa in a (1) day travel mode... I cannot say the same for west coast Laguna...
I can only see Indy getting bigger...

 

Yeah, 'cept you can run a scooter around Road America and get from Canada corner to turn one in about 5 minutes. It took me 45 minutes to get from southwest vista (turn 2-5) to H stand (the beginning of the front straight)

 

Bad Taste

I really enjoyed the w/e and downtown Indy. Well worth my 500 mile drive down.
My one complaint, which I also heard from other visitors, was the quality of the food at the track (exec suites excepted). I heard stories that the track food at Estoril or Monza is like going to a really good restaurant.

On the other hand the Fosters was cold and cheap :up:

/rs

 

How about when Jensen beats DiSalvo next year because they are on equal tires, suspension with basically equal HP?






On Topic:
Indy promoted the hell out of the GP. Along with being a historic venue, centrally located, and a historic event, they did tons and tons of marketing to get the word out. Great website, partnerships, leveraged media, etc etc.

 

I loved it because:

- Star power; was amazing to mingle with Rossi, Stoner, Hayden etc etc

- LOOOOUUUDDDD!!!!! I've been around bikes a long time, and I've never felt that pure emotion watching the green flag drag into turn one...WOW!

- GREAT location. For being in a wheelchair that place was great. Everywhere was a nice roll away. I REALLY did miss being able to walk across the grass to some of the infield areas, but there was more than enough places I could get to. Barber and Laguna would suck in a chair with the hills. But hey, I"m in a minority on that issue.

- CENTRAL to the East coast.


Basically, I loved it. And I reckon the passing car fan would have loved it too. Mainly because its so loud and visually impressive to see a guy on a bike with no cage around him.

 

were you crawling? You could have walked around the whole outside of the track in an hour.

 

I suspect that even if a lot of the attendees didn't know Rossi from anyone else in the show, they did realize that it was a big event and that the top guys in the world were there. Hard to translate that directly to the AMA, but maybe there is a lesson there after all.

I agree 100%. I'd love to see all involved in the AMA, OEM's and everyone, realize that it's about the show, not just selling motorcycles. All working together, take it to the next level, cooperation between all parties involved to get more money involved in the sport and not let it be capped by what the factories can afford to spend. Everyone will benefit, IMO.

 

I don't know what ticket you had but I walked in and out at the entrance near turn four all three days to go to the "fish hut" across from section/stand j.

 

You must have missed these:

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=34163

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news/article/?article=34188

 

BINGO! A race in Indy can be marketed to the 50% of the population that live in the eastern time zone. I saw license plates from just about every state east of the Mississippi. And surprisingly it seemed to be a big riding destination for alot of folks. What Indy lacks in Pacific beauty if makes up for in accessibility. The locals were friendly, the track staff was friendly, the local media coverage was motorcycle friendly, ..... It makes a difference.

The downtown is setup well for conventions which I thought made accomodating a large visiting population pretty seemless. :up:

 

Per capita, Alaska, according to Governor Palin.

http://www.gov.state.ak.us/archive-52391.html

 

Texas and Ohio, last I recall.

 

There were an incredible amount of MC racing newbies at the track.

It was funny watching the reaction of all the people who had never seen a motorcycle race before and had no idea what to expect. One of the security guys at an infield gate said to me in complete amazement "These guys - they fall off their bikes. Then then run over to them and get back on!". He couldn't get enough of it.

I think Moto GP in general scored some new fans over the weekend for sure.

The best was the local TV news interviewing Indy residents at the track about the race. One lady was asked who her favorite rider was, to which she politely said "I like the orange bike, that guy, um... Hayden". To which a diehard fan then stepped in behind her and yelled "GO VALE" right before they cut the feed.

Hilarious!