Allstate 400 now just another race
Not only was it the first time since 1918 that a race other than the Indianapolis 500 had been staged on the "hallowed grounds," but also the event helped launch NASCAR on its meteoric rise to national acceptance.
Sure, the 1979 Daytona 500 is regarded as the race that brought NASCAR into the national consciousness. But the first NASCAR race at Indianapolis proved that stock cars were just as worthy of racing at Indy as "the cars and stars" of the IndyCar racing.
The race was a huge success. Ticket demand was so high that it was estimated the first race could have been sold-out two-times over. In true NASCAR fashion, a young Jeff Gordon — who spent his formative racing years in nearby Pittsboro, Ind. — won the race for his second career victory. It helped make him a true legend and helped the Brickyard attain iconic status, leading some to predict that it would be bigger than the Daytona 500. With the late Dale Earnhardt winning in 1995 and Dale Jarrett in 1996, it was a race where the "big names" of the sport would triumph.
But 15 years later, the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard is no longer the "earth-stopping" event that it once was. Last year's race had as many as 50,000 empty seats at the massive Indianapolis Motor Speedway. These weren't simply scattered empty seats throughout the facility but large gaps in the North Tower Terrace, Turn 3 and both the north and south chute areas.
And as Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard looms closer, that trend is expected to continue in the face of a horrible economy with gasoline prices around $4.25 a gallon in the Midwest.
"Any time the economy takes a downturn, entertainment dollars become affected," says Joe Chitwood III, the president of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. "Motorsports is more expensive to participate in because of the travel and the days of activity with the hotels. [The economy] affects the [racing] customer more than it does those who follow a stick and ball sport. That works against us."
But the 400 itself has become "just another race" because of several other factors: More at SI.com