Where are all the fans?

UPDATE #2 Nashville Superspeedway's 25,000 capacity main grandstand was full prior to the Saturday night deluge that delayed the race 18 hours, but only about a third of those spectators came back for Sunday's noon start. ESPN.com

07/15/07 Another reader writes, I see the grandstands at Nashville, as small as they are, were just 50% full on Sunday. I guess all those real fans (or are the ticket giveaway fans?) decided to not come out and watch the Indy Car race today after it was rained out. A true fan would have returned. As it was, I estimated the attendance at around 7K to 8K at best. And what a borefest of a race it was on that stupid one-groove concrete race track. Why is the IRL racing there again? Kuldip Gingh

07/14/07 A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, First let me admit that I am a big NASCAR fan. I was at Nashville yesterday to watch practice and qualifying and the place was a ghost town, very depressing. At the NASCAR races I go to there are many fans that attend practice and qualifying. This would indicate to me that the IRL has very few true fans like we have in NASCAR. What I cannot figure out is why the IRL fans only show up for the race. Are they all free ticket giveaways? Jason Greer

Dear Jason, That has always been a mystery and makes you wonder, but we can say that the IRL has been consistently getting 1.0 TV ratings this year, which is an improvement over recent years, so either they have just had dumb luck with channel surfers, or their marketing campaign around the three poster girls – Patrick, Duno and Fisher – is reaping some results. Mark C.