Video: Q&A with Indy Motor Speedway President Doug Boles (2nd Update)

UPDATE Indianapolis 500 race organizers said that they have "already exceeded their ticket sales goal and are making slight tweaks to the event" with fewer than two months to go before the 101st running of the race. IMS President Doug Boles said that this year’s attendance will "easily top" '15's. He added that he will be "disappointed if the figure doesn’t crack 300,000." SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Adam Stern notes that would represent at least a 36% uptick from '15, though it would be an approximately 15% drop from the attendance last year. While not ruling it out, Boles "does not expect to fully sell out the 250,000 seats that comprise IMS’s sprawling grandstands" SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL

04/10/17 A reader writes, Dear AR1.com, I was surprised to hear Doug Boles say that he is worried that a 400-mile IndyCar race at the Speedway risks taking away from the 500. What's it going to take away that the boring as hell NASCAR race hasn't already done? They destroyed the sanctity of the Speedway when they brought the taxicabs in to race. Immediately the 500 was no longer a sellout. I can think of 10 different ways they could cross-promote the 500-miler with the 400-miler. For example, if you buy a ticket to both races you get something – like a pace car ride around the track sometime during the year. If you buy a ticket for the 500, you get a discount for the 400. If you buy a ticket to both races you are entered in a drawing to win a Corvette. I could go on with so many ideas like this. I agree with Cipolloni – the IndyCar season needs to end on the oval at the Brickyard. Dale Francis

04/07/17 AutoRacing1.com catches up with Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles to talk about the upcoming 2017 Indy 500 and get an overall update on what's going on at the Speedway. Would he ever consider a 400-miler at the Speedway to end the IndyCar season? What about the track lighting project that was under consideration? Watch to find out.