Fan Friendly? Not in May...

To anyone who follows the sport of auto racing, it's no news to them that open wheeled racing has been taking a beating for years. A lot of people like to direct that blame towards Tony George, founder of the Indy Racing League. I don't think Tony was wrong with what he tried to do, because frankly, when it comes to open wheeled sanctioning bodies, the IRL has fast become the leader of the sport, at least in the United States.
Tony's original idea was an open wheeled league of inexpensive cars, American drivers, oval tracks only, and all races held within the confines of the United States. His problem was during his opening of the new league, he decided to "reserve" the top 25 positions for only those drivers who were members of the IRL, which meant rival CART drivers would only be eligible for the last 8 positions.
Without going into a long diatribe spanning the last decade, let's just say that although Tony had a great idea, he really loused things up with the top 25 Indy qualifying positions, and soon that idea was scrapped. Problem was, the damage had already been done, and rival CART decided on holding an alternate 500 mile race the same day at Michigan Speedway. Thus the war of the open wheeled sanctioning bodies began.
Now, all these years later, although the IRL is the leader as far as the two factions go, the cars are not inexpensive, there's many foreign drivers that are full time drivers in the IRL, the body decided last year to begin road course racing(BORING!) and the IRL is now racing out of the United States.
So much for offering the small town driver without much money the chance to participate in the greatest auto race in the world, huh?
Because of the friction that the open wheeled wars has caused, crowds have dwindled at most venues, CART has filed bankruptcy and is virtually a non-existent racing faction now, and one only need to travel to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the month of May and see the vast masses reduced to just a few die hard open wheeled fans and curiousity seekers.
I can remember over forty years ago the entire month of May was a buzz and crowds flowed into the Speedway daily. Pole day the front straightaway was packed, and race day was sold out a year in advance.
Pole day is now lucky to draw 10,000 fans, the race hasn't been sold out for the last two years and the practice day audience dwindles year after year.
One need only attend the practice sessions each year and can see part of the reason why. The Indianapolis Motor Speedway isn't very fan friendly during the month of May anymore.
If you go to any of the activities related to the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard in August, you know what kind of a crowd attends the Speedway for this major Nascar event. Although it hasn't sold out either the past couple of years, the crowds that attend the one day of practice and the one day of qualifying are massive. On those days, stand after stand is open to accomodate the fans, and you can't pass a vending stand that isn't open and selling refreshments or souvenirs.
Each year that I have attended Indy 500 sessions for the past four years, I see less and less stands open for the spectators, and vending and souvenirs stands sit empty and unopened. Four years ago I attended the entire opening week of practice, save for the first Sunday, but I was there five straight days and sat in a grandstand one stand north of the media center. The next year, that stand was closed. On fast Friday, up until last year, Grandstand E down in turn one was open. Last year it was closed.
This year, half of the section I sit in that sits in front of the medial center has been closed, and Monday, the stairways that lead up to the stands from the back were closed, meaning that if you wanted to sit up at the top, you had to climb over 30 rows of stairs leading up thru the stands without handrails. And while this may seem unimportant to most, it really bugged me this year.
Due to a careless accident on my part, I severely sprained my left ankle and tore the main ligament that runs across the bottom of the foot. It's been very slow healing, and yesterday, because of the back stairways being closed, each time I wanted to go down out of the stands whether it be for refreshments of voiding myself of refreshments, I had no choice but to go straight down the stands, and seriously, the last time I started up those stands, I didn't think my left ankle was going to make the trip. Today, I took a cane, and lo and behold, one flight of stairs had been opened up. Today, however, I got smart and used the handicapped facilities one flight down from where we were sitting.
I went online earlier this week to check out what seating is going to be available on Fast Friday, and guess what, dear friends, there are even less stands open this year than last. Last year, my friend John and I sat in our favorite seats in front of the media center on Fast Friday and were almost ran out of our seats by a group of men in their late 50's t0 early 60's who were trashing the entire area of seats by throwing not only their empty beer cans down, but they brought in big bags of peanuts and were throwing the shells down in all directions and eating fried chicken and throwing the bones down as far as four rows in front of them and to the side of them. After about an hour of this adolescent behavior from this group of grown up delinquents, John and I traversed under the track thru the tunnel and sat directly behind the flagman's stand on the top row and were treated to a grand view of the track. That was, until the mid afternoon thunderstorms came and drove us out of the stands and out of the Speedway entirely after it was decided the track could not be dried off before the track closed.
This year, however, that stand is not among those listed as being open.
Go figure.
You hear the public relations people of the IMS wondering why the crowds are dwindling away. If you attend each year like I do, it isn't hard to see why people aren't going. IMS is not fan friendly in the month of May. They close so many spectator areas, they close down refreshment areas, more and more each year, and then scratch their heads and ask"What can we do to get the people to come back like they used to?"
Trust me, I truly expect to back next year and find an even smaller area in front of the media center open to the public. I expect less seating next year open for Fast Friday. Probably less vendors will be open, too.
It's a shame that Indy can't be what it once was, and no, I don't think that will ever happen again, because the open wheeled wars took care of that and sent fans scurrying over to Nextel Cup and Nascar. But they can at least put up an effort and at least try and make more seating available that's in the shade, provide access for people who are injured or handicapped and provide better security for those of us who sit in the stands and don't wish to be the target of chicken bones that are being turned into projecticles you have to dodge just so you can sit and watch some of the sport that many of us still love to watch.
Without a fan base, IMS runs the risk of losing their faithful few. I take a vacation every year so I can attend the practice sessions, but this year it's not been fun, it's been a pain and an inconvenience. It makes me wonder how much longer I'll continue to make my annual trips to the Speedway for IRL practice.
I don't think I'll cancel my plans for next year just yet, we'll see how Fast Friday goes this year.
But, if I go back next year and less and less is open and it has become even more inconvenient, my trips to my favorite race track might come to an abrupt end.
And, if I quit going to Indy during the month of May, I just might quit going during August, too. After all, it's the same people running the facility, and if they don't care about my comfort or convenience during the month of May, then maybe those same changes in August just might come along to.
Hope someone at the IMS wakes up before it's too late and all of us have gone home, never to return.
It's a sad situation and only getting sadder as the years go by.
Funny, too, that it's the 90th running of the Indy 500 this year, too.
You think that in itself should make those in charge want to attract a larger audience.
Apparently they don't care as much as they profess to.
The Greatest Spectacle in Racing?
Maybe, but for how much longer, Indy?