Stick a fork in the IndyCar Texas race? (Update)

UPDATE It looks like IndyCar and TMS will renew their agreement because Eddie Gossage is saying nice things.

TMS estimated 65,000 attended this year’s IndyCar race (which is impossible if you saw the grandstands and know the seating capacity of TMS – that would mean 1/3 full. What likely happened is that Firestone gave away another 30,000 free tickets through it tire centers but those people did not bother to show up. Maybe 30,000 were in the grandstands), and Gossage is more pleased with how IndyCar is running things nowadays. A couple years ago, he thought about dropping IndyCar from the racing schedule because the two sides couldn’t reach an agreement.

Those days are in the past.

"I'm really pleased with what they're doing (i.e. they probably brought Gossage the Firestone sponsorship for the race, which helps him make money)," Gossage said. "I'm excited about the future of IndyCar, they’re doing a lot of things to help grow the sport."

Juan Montoya gets service. Notice the small crowd. As this race continues to shrink year after year, the huge empty NASCAR grandstands make IndyCar look like a loser.

06/08/14 IndyCar CEO Mark Miles met with Texas Motor Speedway President Eddie Gossage before Saturday night's Firestone 600 to discuss a return to the oval track that’s been an IndyCar staple since 1997. We wonder how that conversation went given the attendance was down again this year to a small fraction of what it was in its heyday. Will Texas eventually go the way of every other race at made for NASCAR tracks with huge grandstands – gone – dead?

One thing we know for certain, while the racing is good at Texas, the massively empty grandstands make IndyCar look like a complete loser to any potential sponsor or potential new fan. Horrible for IndyCar's image. That's why they will hold their grand finale race at Fontana again this year so they can wrap up the championship on live TV and come across looking really bad with loads of empty grandstands. We don't make this stuff up.

Wasn't the Indy 500 a great race with lots of fans in the grandstands? We have no doubt a 400-miler at Indy on Labor Day weekend would be spectacular because the cars race so well there and Indy is in the heart of the IndyCar fan base. It's also a great place to have a 'party' and many of those same fans that come to party at the 500 in May would welcome a big season finale at their beloved track – a 400-miler to end the season on another holiday weekend.

It sure would be better for IndyCar's image than Fontana, that we can assure you. Oh, and if they put lights up at Indy and run the race under the lights it would be a massive success. We heard they are afraid of letting all those drunk fans out onto the streets in the dark. Gee, NASCAR does it all the time. That's what portable generators are for, to light the streets around the track after the race. Did you ever see them in action out on the highway for the construction crews? They are massively bright.