500 Qualifying… It's Not The Format

[sejarzo]

FWIW, I'm probably not going to attend with this format, and I'd venture that it will probably adversely affect the out of town attendance negatively.

For many years I have attended Fast Friday, Pole Day, and gone to the speedway on Sunday Morning to watch for a few hours, then I catch a flight around 2 to 4 pm.
I have bought a Bronze Badge and spent more than a few sheckels on coats, hats, shirts, tenderloins, and the like. I really enjoy the garage access on Friday and watching all the teams search for speed, adjust, trim, and go back again. I really enjoy the time talking with old acquaintances, mechanics, owners, drivers and getting a real feel for what is needed to capture the pole. Saturday is game face day for the teams and I enjoy the 7 am stroll thru the garage and seeing who is confident, who is nervous, and who is still just working on the cars, then I go sit and watch Quals. It is satisfying to see who is on the pole when I leave. Sunday is a day to capture a few autographs, buy some souvenirs and catch a few of the hopeful at speed and watch a few early attempts.

If Saturday is nothing more than the fill the field day and then Sunday is more attempts and a late afternoon shoot-out for the top six or nine, well, I just can't fit that into a busy work schedule and get what I am looking for. So I'll be skipping the whole event until the 100th running.

I know there are many people who pretty much have this same ritual for qualifying weekend.

You're 100% spot on. I live about a 3 hour drive away but vision problems mean I must leave before 6 PM to make it home safely now...and those same vision problems mean that attending the race is out for good as navigating race day traffic and crowd is too much of a PITA now. IMS has to hope that the number of out-of-towners that no longer attend quals is more than offset by new local attendance, or that the out-of-towners show for the road course weekend instead. All I can hope is that ABC does a bang-up job on covering qualifying.

[TheAngryDwarf]

when Martinsville is tarping off huge areas of the stands

You mean the set of back stretch stands that have been tarped over for at least four to five years now? Those aren't good seats and don't hold a lot of people either.

[BSJracing]

Do you think it would have been better to grandfather out the old cars and engines over a couple of years, rather than requiring the purchase of new DW12s when they first came out? The top teams still would have bought new cars, but at least smaller operations would have had a proven, cheaper car to go racing with....maybe?

Absolutely. I always loved the shade tree teams with a 6-7 year old eagle trying to tweak enough speed to make the show.

[TimmyZ1]

You have nailed the issue for people from out of town. I live in Indy and basically foolow the same routine you do. It looks like I may have to reverse the order of days I do things in.

FWIW, I'm probably not going to attend with this format, and I'd venture that it will probably adversely affect the out of town attendance negatively.

For many years I have attended Fast Friday, Pole Day, and gone to the speedway on Sunday Morning to watch for a few hours, then I catch a flight around 2 to 4 pm.
I have bought a Bronze Badge and spent more than a few sheckels on coats, hats, shirts, tenderloins, and the like. I really enjoy the garage access on Friday and watching all the teams search for speed, adjust, trim, and go back again. I really enjoy the time talking with old acquaintances, mechanics, owners, drivers and getting a real feel for what is needed to capture the pole. Saturday is game face day for the teams and I enjoy the 7 am stroll thru the garage and seeing who is confident, who is nervous, and who is still just working on the cars, then I go sit and watch Quals. It is satisfying to see who is on the pole when I leave. Sunday is a day to capture a few autographs, buy some souvenirs and catch a few of the hopeful at speed and watch a few early attempts.

If Saturday is nothing more than the fill the field day and then Sunday is more attempts and a late afternoon shoot-out for the top six or nine, well, I just can't fit that into a busy work schedule and get what I am looking for. So I'll be skipping the whole event until the 100th running.

I know there are many people who pretty much have this same ritual for qualifying weekend.

What am I missing here? As the other poster said you're going to have to flip things around or add an additional vacation day. I'm assuming your taking Friday off already so now you'll need to take Monday or both. Does it suck you miss Fast Friday? Yes. But your still going to spend 2 full days at the track if you fly out Monday.

You're 100% spot on. I live about a 3 hour drive away but vision problems mean I must leave before 6 PM to make it home safely now...and those same vision problems mean that attending the race is out for good as navigating race day traffic and crowd is too much of a PITA now. IMS has to hope that the number of out-of-towners that no longer attend quals is more than offset by new local attendance, or that the out-of-towners show for the road course weekend instead. All I can hope is that ABC does a bang-up job on covering qualifying.

1st off, I'm sorry about your night vision issues. With that being said are you coming in from out of town? Or in Indy? Can't you do a flip like I just said to Irloyal? I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a dick but things change, I'm seeing a ton of whining over something like this. I don't see it as a big deal. I just don't get it. Its not like NASCAR changing the Daytona 500 date last year. That really cause some drama.

You mean the set of back stretch stands that have been tarped over for at least four to five years now? Those aren't good seats and don't hold a lot of people either.

Honest question since I've never been there. Martinsville is a short track, aren't all seats good at a short track?

[irloyal]

What am I missing here? As the other poster said you're going to have to flip things around or add an additional vacation day. I'm assuming your taking Friday off already so now you'll need to take Monday or both. Does it suck you miss Fast Friday? Yes. But your still going to spend 2 full days at the track if you fly out Monday.
SNIP...

What you are missing is reading with comprehension. I (meaning me, myself, irloyal) cannot fit that into a busy work schedule and get what I (meaning me, myself, irloyal) want. I do not want to flip the schedule around and skip Fast Friday. That is THE day for me. I can not use more than 1 vacation day and it really has to be Fast Friday at that time of year due to my busy schedule. May is a pretty important month for many businesses for multitudes of reasons, the month already has the Memorial Day Holiday and many people schedule time off around that, so they just won't take that Monday after qualifying weekend to travel.

I'm sure this will work for some people and for some people it won't matter, but Indy is losing my $1K for those days, and I'm pretty confident that a significant chunk of the out of town attendees are going to have to reconsider their choice as well based on this schedule.

[TimmyZ1]

What you are missing is reading with comprehension. I (meaning me, myself, irloyal) cannot fit that into a busy work schedule and get what I (meaning me, myself, irloyal) want. I do not want to flip the schedule around and skip Fast Friday. That is THE day for me. I can not use more than 1 vacation day and it really has to be Fast Friday at that time of year due to my busy schedule. May is a pretty important month for many businesses for multitudes of reasons, the month already has the Memorial Day Holiday and many people schedule time off around that, so they just won't take that Monday after qualifying weekend to travel.

I'm sure this will work for some people and for some people it won't matter, but Indy is losing my $1K for those days, and I'm pretty confident that a significant chunk of the out of town attendees are going to have to reconsider their choice as well based on this schedule.

Then it sucks for you and I'm sorry. I honestly think IMS is thinking along the lines I am that people can flip around their days off. No matter what IMS does they were going screw up the plans of some people, no matter what. We will find out in May if it screwed a lot of plans up or a little by the attendance.

[Doc Austin]

Certainly looks like a domed piston to me.

[BSJracing]

Then it sucks for you and I'm sorry. I honestly think IMS is thinking along the lines I am that people can flip around their days off. No matter what IMS does they were going screw up the plans of some people, no matter what. We will find out in May if it screwed a lot of plans up or a little by the attendance.

Once again, it was better attended before they screwed around with it.

[ramberg]

...and attendance sucked when they didn't screw around with it. Don't they need to do SOMETHING different? Even before the "fast 9" format - in fact, WAY before it, the attendance sucked.

[lotuspoweredbyford]

You mean the set of back stretch stands that have been tarped over for at least four to five years now? Those aren't good seats and don't hold a lot of people either.

Yes the same ones that were full when I attended the race several years ago.

But everything's perfect in nascar because as I understand it, they had a sellout yesterday at Phoenix.

[TimmyZ1]

Once again, it was better attended before they screwed around with it.

and that has nothing to do with the thread. I'd like to go back to 94 and lock TG, and the owners in a room and tell them how bad the future gets but I can't. They have to work within the constraints they have in a completely different era that doesn't have the interest in racing period that many used to have.

[TheAngryDwarf]

[QUOTE=lotuspoweredbyford;3467220]Yes the same ones that were full when I attended the race several years ago.
[QUOTE]

I was there about 4 years or so in the spring and they were tarped. To answer another question those seats sit low in that area, you don't have a view of the pits, and the big screen is behind you. When they built the rest of the stands I would venture a guess those seats became far less desirable because the turn 1 and 2 complex where I sat were great seats. That day it rained all night, drizzled the whole day, and was in the low 40's. The front stretch through the turn 1 and 2 complex were filled and the turn 3 and 4 complex wasn't but had plenty of people. If I remember correctly the place was filled all through the second race later in the year with better weather.

I don't think anyone is saying it's perfect but they are pointing to what it is. Compared to others they are still doing quite well. Big TV contracts and even when they are not filling the stands they are getting crowds that IndyCar would die to get.

So let me ask you this? Is UK Basketball dying? It used to be to get one of the 22K seats in Rupp Arena you had to will your first born child even for an exhibition game. There have been two exhibitions and two regular season games played so far and for three of those the student section wasn't filled and there were empty seats in the top.

[sejarzo]

1st off, I'm sorry about your night vision issues. With that being said are you coming in from out of town? Or in Indy? Can't you do a flip like I just said to Irloyal? I'm sorry if I'm coming off as a dick but things change, I'm seeing a ton of whining over something like this. I don't see it as a big deal. I just don't get it. Its not like NASCAR changing the Daytona 500 date last year. That really cause some drama.

Simple. I leave home as soon as it's light enough on Saturday, miss no on-track action, see the pole won that day, stay the night, leaving IMS at 4 PM or so on Sunday. I'm satisfied to listen to IMS Radio in the car to hear which team failed to get their spec car in the show (no drama there to me)...that costs me 1 hotel night, no missed work days, and I have nearly two full days at the track with friends from a variety of places. If the Fast Nine ends at 6 PM Sunday, I have to spend another night in Indy AND take a vacation day because I can't get back up here early enough.

Like irlloyal, I'd love to be there on Fast Friday...but if I were to do that and be there for pole on Sunday, that's going to cost me two vacation days and three nights in a hotel. If you're local, that costs you $50 in tickets or $125 for the badge, and you burn a vacation day and gas from home to the track a few times. For me, add in another vacation day, plus $350 in hotel room and food, then throw in another $40 for round trip gas. Not worth it now...I can take that money and go to Iowa or Milwaukee for quals and a race.

And if I have the luxury of burning another vacation day the week before the 500...I'm going to get up early on Carb Day, drive to IMS, have fun with friends from Canada, CA, and TX who are there for the whole weekend, watch the Freedom 100 then leave as soon as the $%^&* concert starts and get home without paying for another hotel night.

Note that I mentioned having fun with friends more than once...to be honest, for those of us who are in our mid-50's and older who experienced years of real bumping of non-spec cars, there is simply NOTHING that can make qualifying 33 spec cars and only bumping one or two at most as exciting an experience we had in the past. It's not possible, and (not meaning to be condescending, seriously) nothing that IMS or a younger fan who hasn't experience that does or says, or any other fan tells me, is going to change that. So I enjoy what there is to enjoy...and that's access to the drivers in Gasoline Alley, seeing the Fast Nine (which I think is a pretty good idea) and hang with friends...which is a good weekend for me.

[lotuspoweredbyford]

[QUOTE=TheAngryDwarf;3467234][QUOTE=lotuspoweredbyford;3467220]Yes the same ones that were full when I attended the race several years ago.

I don't think anyone is saying it's perfect but they are pointing to what it is. Compared to others they are still doing quite well. Big TV contracts and even when they are not filling the stands they are getting crowds that IndyCar would die to get.

Of course, IndyCar would love to have the fan base that NASCAR has.

And the ticket sales.

And the merchandise sales.

Not at all the point I am making.

[lotuspoweredbyford]

So let me ask you this? Is UK Basketball dying? It used to be to get one of the 22K seats in Rupp Arena you had to will your first born child even for an exhibition game. There have been two exhibitions and two regular season games played so far and for three of those the student section wasn't filled and there were empty seats in the top.

No idea, but I know that I personally wouldn't pay to see Northern Kentucky or Belmont or Texas Arlington or NC Asheville or any of that group.

So I can certainly understand why the arena wouldn't be full.

I can't say that I am a Kentucky basketball expert though, so I wouldn't be able to speak on the record about whether it's dying or not, or provide a relevant opinion.