NOTEBOOK: The crowd was spinning in turn two
Indy attendance continues to sag
INDIANAPOLIS – The crowd was astonishingly small, and the start was astonishingly slow.
The 17th running of Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s Brickyard 400 began with some of the best seats in the house empty, most of the worst seats empty, and 10 cars spinning wildly in the second turn.
The good news? Well, at least it was only a yellow flag and not a red one.
A massive opening-lap crash began with a slip-up by Kyle Busch, who reportedly said there was a slick spot on the track. His Toyota’s contact with Sam Hornish Jr.’s Dodge touched off a crash that embroiled cars driven by Elliott Sadler, David Reutimann, Reed Sorenson, Bobby Labonte, Michael McDowell, Todd Bodine, Marcos Ambrose and Joey Logano. Most eventually resumed the chase.
Action resumed on lap eight with Juan Pablo Montoya leading.
But … that’s not all – Over the next half-dozen laps, Carl Edwards’ Ford, Brad Keselowski’s Dodge, Denny Hamlin’s Toyota and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s Chevy all suffered overheating problems, Robby Gordon’s Toyota blew a right-front tire and Max Papis’s exploded in flames.
One view, expressed by Robby Gordon, was that the overheating resulted from cars having to skid through high grass on the inside of the track to avoid the opening-lap melee. For some reason, grass all over the facility was ankle-deep this week, from the inside of the track to the parking lots.
Otherwise, it was fairly uneventful.
Trending downward – Attendance was about 120,000, by this estimate. The Indianapolis Star, which estimated the 2009 attendance here at 180,000, called the crowd 150,000.
The front-straight grandstands were no more than two-thirds full. Stands in the third and fourth turns were mostly empty, as were the grandstands on the inside of pit road. The track’s seating capacity is 257,000.
Changes of some sort – NASCAR chairman Brian France whispered mostly sweet nothings during a press conference shortly before the race began. He suggested that the 2011 Sprint Cup schedule will be announced “here shortly” and that there will be noteworthy changes.
France said changes in the Chase will take more time.
“Whatever we do, it will be with the industry having lots of chances to weigh in, and us, in the end, thinking this is something that we can build around that enhances winning, enhances the championship, gives more of a playoff field than we currently have now, if that’s where we end up,” he said.
You may contact Monte Dutton at mdutton@gastongazette.com.
