IndyCar: Long Beach attendance estimated at 187,000

While the Australian GP Formula 1 race drew 419,000 people for the weekend, the GP of Long Beach president and CEO Jim Michaelian said early data indicates the total weekend count for the IndyCar race will match or exceed 187,000 fans.

A fairly typical number for the Long Beach race recently, but not as good as the CART years when the grandstands were much larger (Many more rows) or the F1 years.

The attendance at Long Beach was massive, in some years

If Long Beach had switched to an F1 race several years ago, it too would likely draw 400,000 for the weekend, but could the Long Beach infrastructure handle it?

We don’t think Long Beach thought F1 would become as massively popular as it has under Liberty Media. Now that F1 has its 3rd race in the USA (Las Vegas), when the IndyCar contract is up for renewal they should be safe to retain the event, which is the 2nd most important on the IndyCar calendar behind the Indy 500.

Mark C. reporting for AutoRacing1.com