IndyCar: Hard-Cord IndyCar fans pissed at huge increase in Iowa ticket prices

Hard core IndyCar fans are pissed off at Iowa Speedway for jacking up this year’s ticket prices over 200% because of big name musicians coming in to make the grandstands look full.

None of these extra fans are there for the race, and none of the hard core fans give a darn about the concerts.  They are struggling to put food on the table due to high inflation caused by the global tree-hugger war on oil.

The hard-core fans cannot buy the best seats because apparently race sponsor and promoter, Hy-Vee, kept those tickets for their special guests.

Sample Social Media Comments:

We just got the same seats as last year and it was $300 for each ticket, and the garage pass was $100. Last year was $128 per ticket and I don’t recall garage pass – maybe 50 or $75? I get it that they have big name concerts and I assume that may be part of the price increase, but I would go concerts or not to support my local speedway and the series.

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Hy-Vee pays for this event for their employees, vendors and partners. If you aren’t one of those than you’re an afterthought.

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My tickets for both days of the 2022 race weekend was a total of $165 after fees. This year they are $348. I’m fully in support of IndyCar oval racing, but I just got major sticker shock. I actually said “Holy Shit!” out loud when the renewal page loaded.

They might have just priced me out of this deal. A 110% price increase is ridiculous. Just bend me over a barrel and show me the 50 states while you’re at it.

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My tickets went up to $450 a piece for the weekend. Fuck this. This isn’t F1. IndyCar was the last value in racing. I’m not going to an Ed Sheeran concert, I’m going to a pair of races. Hy-Vee / Iowa / Indy, you might make some money but ultimately you’ll lose fans – and shortly.

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Hy-Vee has really shit the bed here. People who want to pay a premium aren’t even offered the option, and people who could afford the race before are getting priced out just because IS/HyVee think they can squeeze more. They took all the wrong lessons from 2022.

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Not from their point of view. This event is entirely a market outreach and B2B event. This event doesn’t need positive cash flow to be a success for them. Which is why I laugh whenever anyone says that their event is a blueprint that other oval promoters should follow. It’s not feasible for any standalone promoter because the goals are entirely different.

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Indy car fans: we want more ovals and sponsor activation

Hyvee : OK we will have a kick ass 2 day event with major concert acts and rock the house year 1

Indy car fans : that was an awesome event well done hyvee

Hyvee : now that we have an in demand event we created from nothing, we made the concerts even better and we want to make a profit on it

Indycar fans : wait you mean a weekend with 2 top class races and 4 major music acts will cost more than a few nights at my local short track.

Hyvee : you wanted popular events, so pony up

Indycar fans: the hell with hyvee I want stuff for 30 bucks like back when Mario was racing….

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I’d say this is a little extreme of a take but it’s the point. My fiancé and I went to Iowa last year and loved it, the concerts were a bonus for us. But to triple the price and make us pay 600+ our travel coming in from eastern Wisconsin is a bit much.

We go to multiple race weekends a year including the Indy 500…. We don’t even pay that much for that weekend. 30 isn’t realistic but it shouldn’t be what it is now.

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Under Penske Entertainment the core fanbase is the owners, their friends, sponsors, and guests. We regular folk are just gravy.