Large crowd in Mid-Ohio

UPDATE One of the vendors told an associate today that the rumor that was going around Mid-Ohio was that Honda had bought 34,000 tickets for the Honda 200 and gave each of their Marysville, Ohio employees 8 tickets. Honda confirmed to AutoRacing1.com that they did indeed buy free tickets for their employees.

07/21/07 The IRL appears to be gaining strength with improved TV ratings and solid attendance numbers. The attendance at this weekend's Mid-Ohio race in conjunction with the ALMS is the largest crowd we have seen since the heydays of CART. Of course we do know that Honda did a massive ticket giveaway to their Ohio employees, but nonetheless the fans showed up and they were treated to an exciting qualifying session. One factor working in the IRL's favor is the large number of sponsors in the series and the fact they have popular American drivers in Patrick, Andretti, Hornish, and now Hunter-Reay.