310,000 expected for Indy 500

Miles says ticket sales are up, but with Alonso now out of the race, it is hard to tell what the walkup will be.

Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., which owns IndyCar and IMS, said the mixture of notable on-track storylines, activation from corporate partners and a deeper commitment to myriad community events around the race have been keys to the continued success in attendance of the Indy 500.

“It’s not like we had a lot of scientific data to project what to expect [after 2016], but knew how to sustain a lot of the growth in that year and it seems to be working," Miles said. “The major contributor is we’ve had great racing but the thing that is more new for us, beginning in ’16, was the community engagement — really working to involve every element of the community."

Miles said that as of early May, ticket sales were tracking up a couple percent from last year’s crowd of 300,000, which could put this year’s attendance closer to 310,000, should the uptick hold through the race. Adam Stern/SBD