Gordon belittles IndyCar (Update)
Further elaborating on the topic, he also tweeted: “I love #IndyCar just wanted to recognize how fortunate we are to get the crowds that we get in @NASCAR."
08/02/13
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| Jeff, I cannot win anymore, Gordon belittled the Pocono IndyCar crowd above |
Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan said Jeff Gordon unfairly picked on IndyCar on today.
At Pocono Raceway for NASCAR qualifying, Gordon compared the hefty crowd there today with what he saw last month (considerably fewer people) for the first IndyCar Series race at the eastern Pennsylvania track since 1989.
“I am very, very appreciative of this sport and this series that we are in because when you drive in that tunnel for an IndyCar race, and you drive in here for a NASCAR race, you get a perspective of how big our sport is," Gordon told reporters.
Kanaan read Gordon’s comments in between IndyCar practices at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
“I was at the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400 (both at Indianapolis Motor Speedway)," Kanaan said. “It was the same shock to me."
The 500 crowd was three times as large as what attended last weekend’s 400 — an estimated 250,000 compared to 80,000. Kanaan was so surprised by Gordon’s comments that he asked twice about the context of them.
A transcript provided by Chevrolet clearly showed Gordon’s respect for the speed of the Indy cars But after complimenting open-wheel racing, Gordon uttered more unflattering comments about IndyCar.
“Sometimes we see the decline or something going flat and we are not seeing these grandstands filled up," Gordon said of NASCAR. “But let me tell you, go to an IndyCar race and then a month or two weeks later come back here.
“We better be very thankful for all the people we have here. It’s pretty amazing."
Pocono Raceway president Brandon Igdalsky said IndyCar had “a great crowd" on July 7.
“We let (people) spread out over (the) whole stands, so it looked like less," he wrote in a text today. Indy Star