Observations from the USGP

[M3Richard]

I\'ve attended all 5 at Indianapolis

1- Ralf incident happened right in front of us (we were in the Penthouse Section of Stand A). The way the crash and recovery was handled was a travesty. It took an eternity for the safety team to get to him which is unacceptable in this day and age.
2- The race SHOULD HAVE been red flagged at that point. What happened each time the field went by the crash site was horrific. Safety workers were on the track, picking up car parts while emergency team was working on Ralf. At several points, there was obvious confusion about the route the race cars would use on a lap to lap basis, at one point the street-sweeper cleaning the track essentially pulled into the line of race cars, at another point a recovery vehicle basically got in the way. A Jag actually stopped at the crash site at one point (for what reason, I don\'t know) & then was almost hit by JPM. When the track is essentially blocked AND medical recovery is taking place on track, stop the race!
3- While the infield crowd looked to be larger, attributable in part to the new infield grandstands, IMO attendence was down again. Grandstands across from the Pits (where our seats are located) were less than 50% occupied. If Tony George\'s shills say attendence was up or inline with last year, my take would be an awfully lot of people came disguised as empty seats.

RichardM///3
Delaware USA
02'M36 Speed, 1/02 Build
Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"

[dill003]

Thats pretty damned ridiculous to let those cars putt around the track for 10 laps risking injuries to the crews trying to extract a driver. Best we can hope for is that this is a wake up call for some better response teams.

Chris

[caylan]

Richard, aren't those lower on down seats accross from the pits not very attractive to begin with?
Since F1 fans (including myself) prefer corner seats over watching cars zoom by @ 200+ on the straights.

As far as I've seen, those seats post 2000 haven't fill up @ all just because you can't really see anything.

[M3Richard]

stands have been pretty much packed: you get a good view of the pits, the front straight (from the exit of the infield (turn 12, through turn 13 the straight to turn 1) and portions of the infield, since the seats are up so high, you can see over the buildings on the infield (in many cases): 4 the last 4 years, section I\'ve been and the adjacent sections were 90% full: this year maybe 50%.

I agree 100% the lower straightway stands were diminishing in use by the year, but I really noticed a big difference this year.

Been wrong before, though...RichardM///3
Delaware USA
02'M36 Speed, 1/02 Build
Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"

[arig]

it's a demo. so guess what the details are.
20% Tint
<img src="http://members.roadfly.com/arig/new new version sig copy.jpg ">

[M3Richard]

RichardM///3
Delaware USA
02'M36 Speed, 1/02 Build
Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"

[arig]

it's a demo. so guess what the details are.
20% Tint
<img src="http://members.roadfly.com/arig/new new version sig copy.jpg ">

[M3Richard]

whether to renew existing tickets or not. Have had the same seats for 5 years & like the location, but with the availability of seats up to and including race day, not convinced in makes sense for Tony George to have my money for an entire year.RichardM///3
Delaware USA
02'M36 Speed, 1/02 Build
Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"

[arig]

interest on your money? i hate that man. he is the sole reason why open wheel racing in american sucks. and now he wants to add road races to his beloved irl. let him go fook an elephant. i hope gentilozzi and his business partners over at cart stamp him into the ground as if he were a cigarette.

p.s. his real name is anton, not tony. why not call himself anton, instead of tony george. i think anton george is much more accurate.(this is dumb, i know this is. but i hate that guy.) i hate him probably more than some people hate bernie and max.

it's a demo. so guess what the details are.
20% Tint
<img src="http://members.roadfly.com/arig/new new version sig copy.jpg ">

[M3Richard]

RichardM///3
Delaware USA
02'M36 Speed, 1/02 Build
Alpine White/Imola Red Leather
"Life is too short not to drive an ///M"

[AndyO]

didn't know the Anton trivia.

Had a suspicion he ruined CART, that's a shame because IRL is lame, especially when the grandstands are empty!!!

CART helped open wheel, IRL ruined the open wheel eduction to the general public, just when it had an opportunity to take off.