Signs of slow growth at Indy 500 quals

While the second day of qualifications was largely washed out, there were strong signs the Indy Racing League is in a growth mode during the first day of qualifications Saturday. There were also some signs that the newly reunified open-wheel racing series has some growing to do.

Though Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IRL officials don’t release official attendance figures, motorsports observers said attendance for the first day of qualifications was up 10 percent to 15 percent from last year, with a crowd of 55,000 to 60,000 on hand. While merchandise trailers were busy—especially Danica Patrick’s—there were still plenty of empty seats in the cavernous facility, which according to published reports seats near 300,000.

IRL and IMS boss Tony George held court with about a dozen reporters from some of the nation’s biggest daily newspapers, talking about unification and the series’ recent growth.

But while George had some positive points to spin, attendance trackers said Saturday’s attendance still was only about half of what it was before Champ Car/CART and the IRL had their acrimonious split in the mid 1990s. Indianapolis Business Journal