5,000 attend first IndyCar race in New Orleans
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| In 1996 one man had a 'Vision' to destroy CART and make IndyCar what it is today. |
UPDATE A reader writes, Dear AR1.com, Here's what's really depressing about this past week's race at New Orleans, Indy Eleven Soccer Club had a sellout crowd of 10,524 while only 8,000 people attend the race this weekend. Alistair Fanell
04/13/15 In Baton Rouge, Ted Lewis reports "about 5,000 people showed up for the first major motorsports event" in the New Orleans area in two decades. Due to six cautions, they "might not have seen the most exciting of events," but most attendees "seemed to feel they got their money’s worth." IndyCar team owner Sam Schmidt said, "They did an unbelievable job of pulling this off, especially considering the weather. You can tell this is a crew that really loves this sport."
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| 5,000 or 10,000 – no matter which it was, it wasn't good. |
Schmidt: "We need more good venues for racing. New Orleans is a unique place, and we had a unique race to get things going here today." Baton Rouge ADVOCATE
ESPN.com's John Oreovicz wrote the rain turned the "still unfinished facility into a muddy quagmire." Under the circumstances, the race day crowd "was about as good as could be expected." While the Advocate's Lewis reported a crowd of approximately 5,000, Oreovicz reported a crowd of "around 10,000." ESPN.com