Cleetus and Cars at IRP (1 Viewer)

[Rick the Rocket]

We attended the Cleetus and Cars event at Indianapolis May 6 & 7. I have nothing but compliments to Garrett Mitchell (Cleetus) for the professionalism of the organizing of this event. For those who don't know the headliners of the event were YouTubers. The addition of Top Alcohol classes by NHRA due to the postponement due to weather of the weekend before was a great bonus.
The turnout was very impressive there was more people in the stands than on some days at the U.S. Nationals. If this type of event is what it takes to get these younger crowds to the track more power to Garrett.
I give special props to Brian Lohnes for doing some announcing it good to hear a familiar voice.
The burnout competition wasn't exactly my thing but the crowd love it. The vast majority of the parked cars stayed till the end of the event around 9:30 pm. It was fun to watch for the first 20 or so cars.
The circle track race on Sunday was a great show, it drew a good crowd and was run and promoted with professionalism.
This was the 3rd year for this event. I attended last year's rainy Saturday event the turnout then was equally impressive.
It is fantastic to see the young people flocking to the track.

 

[.]

We attended the Cleetus and Cars event at Indianapolis May 6 & 7. I have nothing but compliments to Garrett Mitchell (Cleetus) for the professionalism of the organizing of this event. For those who don't know the headliners of the event were YouTubers. The addition of Top Alcohol classes by NHRA due to the postponement due to weather of the weekend before was a great bonus.
The turnout was very impressive there was more people in the stands than on some days at the U.S. Nationals. If this type of event is what it takes to get these younger crowds to the track more power to Garrett.
I give special props to Brian Lohnes for doing some announcing it good to hear a familiar voice.
The burnout competition wasn't exactly my thing but the crowd love it. The vast majority of the parked cars stayed till the end of the event around 9:30 pm. It was fun to watch for the first 20 or so cars.
The circle track race on Sunday was a great show, it drew a good crowd and was run and promoted with professionalism.
This was the 3rd year for this event. I attended last year's rainy Saturday event the turnout then was equally impressive.
It is fantastic to see the young people flocking to the track.

I watched part of the live stream on Saturday night, and the entire live stream on Sunday and it was very good. Cleetus owns his own live streaming company. The entire production crew, camera guys, drone operators, etc. are all working for Cleetus directly. Their live stream production quality gets better and better at every event.... On Sunday I was even thinking to myself how good the live steam was. It was as good as any other live television broadcast that I've ever watched..... but with no commercials. lol.

There was another thread on here from a few days ago talking about this Cleetus event: https://www.nitromater.com/threads/you-tubers-in-doorslammers-vs-top-alcohol-dragsters.47649/

Also, It may be the third year for "Cleetus and Cars" at Indy..... but I'm 99.8% certain it was only the second year for the Crown Vic race (Indy 800) at IRP. Cleetus was really looking forward to having Tony Stewart drive in the Crown Vic race. He even brought an extra car just for Tony but for some reason Tony wasn't able to do it (something about insurance) so Tom Baily drove that car instead. Cleetus has had many big name drivers run in his Crown Vic races in the past (not just youtubers) including Kurt Busch and Alex Bowman.... along with many other pro drivers from other forms of racing.

Cleetus put on one hell of a show in my opinion. Even Tony Stewart was genuinely impressed.

 

[Rick the Rocket]

Yes the praise from Tony at the end of the Crown Vic race almost made me feel good about him. Maybe Leah can turn him towards being more fan friendly.

 

[Ponyhntr]

The addition of Top Alcohol classes by NHRA due to the postponement due to weather of the weekend before was a great bonus.

Just a little clarification - the alcohol cars were NOT there because of the Divisional rainout the week prior. That was a Divisional event, meaning TA wasn't going to be there anyway. The Top Alcohol cars were scheduled to be at Cleetus and Cars since the event was scheduled last fall.

Note the date written:

https://www.dragzine.com/news/nhra-top-alcohol-classes-added-to-popular-cleetus-and-cars-event/

 

[Rick the Rocket]

Just a little clarification - the alcohol cars were NOT there because of the Divisional rainout the week prior. That was a Divisional event, meaning TA wasn't going to be there anyway. The Top Alcohol cars were scheduled to be at Cleetus and Cars since the event was scheduled last fall.

Note the date written:

https://www.dragzine.com/news/nhra-top-alcohol-classes-added-to-popular-cleetus-and-cars-event/

I apparently got sucked in by Cleet's bs. I would have thought he would have used this in his promotion of the weekend, before his 4/26/23 video when he announced it as an addition to the card.

 

[.]

I apparently got sucked in by Cleet's bs. I would have thought he would have used this in his promotion of the weekend, before his 4/26/23 video when he announced it as an addition to the card.

Maybe Cleet doesn't see the Alcohol cars as a draw to his fan base? Which wouldn't be far off considering the Alcohol cars can't even draw fans to their own races..... and it's not like many of his fans have any idea what a top alcohol car is, anyway. Read the comments under his recent video where he races the A Fuel car.... most of his fans (of the ones who posted under that video) think that was a Top Fuel car. lol. The majority of the comments regarding the Alcohol cars in that comment section are hilarious. If I was in his shoes, I'd be careful too about advertising something that could possibly HURT my overall attendance. He's done this before where his live stream events have included MORE than he originally advertised. And actually, maybe that is the best way to do it..... make people think they're getting more for the same price at the last minute? Ole' Cleeter aint stupid. lol

 

[Nunz]

Even if the Cleetus crowd isn't well versed on the TA categories, I think it's awesome that they were able to be featured and race in front of a big, new audience! Attracting new fans means introducing them and then educating them.

 

[.]

Even if the Cleetus crowd isn't well versed on the TA categories, I think it's awesome that they were able to be featured and race in front of a big, new audience! Attracting new fans means introducing them and then educating them.

I agree!

 

[Sean Bellemeur]

I had LOTS of fans approach me and say " I cant believe you actually shift those cars. That's awesome!" The whole event was unforgettable. The educating was a two way street also. We were exposed to a genre that most of us have never seen. One Cleetus fan told me "all you need is an idea and a welder"... but mostly an idea.

 

[jgrigz]

I'm confused. Was that alcohol dragster/funny car part of the show a Lucas Oil points earning event or not? Was this the alcohol portion of the Lucas Oil event that was moved to August? Be patient. I'm officially an old geezer.

 

[Ponyhntr]

I'm confused. Was that alcohol dragster/funny car part of the show a Lucas Oil points earning event or not? Was this the alcohol portion of the Lucas Oil event that was moved to August? Be patient. I'm officially an old geezer.

There is a difference between a Regional event and a Divisional event. The event that was postponed was only a Divisional, which means that the TA cars were not there. TA cars only run at what are called Regional events. Cleetus and Cars was considered a Regional, and was a points earning event for the TA cars.

 

[mick]

cleetus, nhra, and irp have to split spectator gate various ways?.......pretty cool concept joining the alcohol classes with the cleetus show.
could they be joined with a fc chaos race? or do the chaos races have too many of their own cars?........ and cleetus fans even lucky enough to see tony stewart drag race, and win.