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With one more day left of the Bridgeton Fall Festival, I would like to share my observations as it pertains to Indy car racing. First of all, this festival is not a racing festival so what you see are just regular people some of which are race fans. Basically your normal down to Earth Midwesterner. Obviously, our business targets the race fan. With that in mind, here are my observations of the past nine days.
Not one person has come to our booth and said anything positive about what is going on in Indy car racing today. These people said that they used to be big Indy car fans but lost interest because of its direction.
Most people (I would say 75%-90%), when they see our DVD's and pictures (50's and 60's in particular), comment that these are real race cars and that they would watch Indy car racing again if they ran cars like these. These same people say they are not NASCAR fans but go to the sprint car races around their area. In fact, We have not had very many people that are NASCAR fans stop by our booth.
****Note: I know safety is of the utmost importance and the cars from the 50's and 60's were not as safe as today's cars. However, you can make a safe race car using today's technology that looks similar to those cars.
Most people (70%-80%) said that they quit watching Indy car racing because of the lack of American drivers in the series. (This has been discussed in another thread)
Most people (85%-90%) said they do not like road racing and watch only the ovals or not at all.
A few people stopped by and asked if these cars were from NASCAR, and if we had anything with the number 88 on it. This was particularly amusing because we only have open wheel material.
Everyone here knows my feelings about what is going on with the sport today. However, listening to the casual race fans, along with the more passionate ones, I found the above comments very interesting. I know this subject has been debated for years, and decades, but if Indycar is trying to reach the casual fan, it isn't working. At least in the Midwest. Shoot, it is not reaching the more passionate fans either. By the way, Hoosiers are not the only people that attend this festival. It is attended by people from all of the Midwestern states. It is that big.
I think everything that can be done should be done to reach these people. The series will not grow without them. Most of the people that I talked to said they would love to watch Indy cars again, but they won't watch it in its current state.
Brad Edwards
First Turn Productions LLC.
Not one person has come to our booth and said anything positive about what is going on in Indy car racing today. These people said that they used to be big Indy car fans but lost interest because of its direction.
Most people (I would say 75%-90%), when they see our DVD's and pictures (50's and 60's in particular), comment that these are real race cars and that they would watch Indy car racing again if they ran cars like these. These same people say they are not NASCAR fans but go to the sprint car races around their area. In fact, We have not had very many people that are NASCAR fans stop by our booth.
****Note: I know safety is of the utmost importance and the cars from the 50's and 60's were not as safe as today's cars. However, you can make a safe race car using today's technology that looks similar to those cars.
Most people (70%-80%) said that they quit watching Indy car racing because of the lack of American drivers in the series. (This has been discussed in another thread)
Most people (85%-90%) said they do not like road racing and watch only the ovals or not at all.
A few people stopped by and asked if these cars were from NASCAR, and if we had anything with the number 88 on it. This was particularly amusing because we only have open wheel material.
Everyone here knows my feelings about what is going on with the sport today. However, listening to the casual race fans, along with the more passionate ones, I found the above comments very interesting. I know this subject has been debated for years, and decades, but if Indycar is trying to reach the casual fan, it isn't working. At least in the Midwest. Shoot, it is not reaching the more passionate fans either. By the way, Hoosiers are not the only people that attend this festival. It is attended by people from all of the Midwestern states. It is that big.
I think everything that can be done should be done to reach these people. The series will not grow without them. Most of the people that I talked to said they would love to watch Indy cars again, but they won't watch it in its current state.
Brad Edwards
First Turn Productions LLC.
I wonder what the attendance was for the Terre Haute Action Track all year?
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