Crowds at Brainerd???

[mick]

LOL! oooooh! the truth hurts....sat. nite was a doozy!.......still tired too.

nick, for 28 years it continues to be about the race; the good times are residual.
am very fortunate to know many folks on spectator and pit side that continually make the
bir weekend memorable.......paul is one of them, even when he reveals the length of
the evening

 

[TooTall999]

Man...talk about a bunch of fans dressed as Empty seats! For a race throwing out performance like this, pretty sad!

One thing you don't see on tv is the number of fans watching just beyond the bleachers. A lot of the zoo crowd doesn't bother with paying for the reserved seating and watches from the fence just beyond the bleachers.

 

[mick]

first round yesterday....looking across at large spectator side bleachers

 

[.]

I thought the crowd was pretty damn good.... In fact, I was staying in the pits along the fence line over looking the "front" of BIR property. I was very surprised at the 24 hour constnt flow of traffic trying to get in. Considering the rain early in the week, and the forecast for the weekend, it didn't seem like weather was much of a factor for attendance this past weekend. Overall, I thought the crowd was pretty good.

I had a few late nights with Paul and Mike. Great times! We got lots of great pictures that can't be posted here. Lolol.

 

[Dennis]

View attachment 3682 first round yesterday....looking across at large spectator side bleachers

I watched a few minutes of the live broadcast...what was the orange or red in the stands near the starting line? Was it just a group of people in the same colored shirt?

Didn't know if it was representative of something.

 

[vegasnitro]

I guess I see both sides. If you are going for 1 day, it seems outrageous and a giant pain in the rear, but if you are going for the whole weekend at the Zoo, it seems pretty reasonable and not too much of a hassle.

But I still maintain that this nickel and dime routine going on at ALL sporting events is taking it's toll on attendance.

 

[mick]

dennis, no clue about folks in orange shirts....over on complus there is shot of them in the gallery section from bir.

panoramic from saturday.....top row (32 high i think) around 330' mark.....IMO sat. crowds down a bit this year cuz of scattered weather.
sunday well attended......bleachers hold just over 20k

 

[70AARCuda]

Parking is FREE in VEGAS...........

 

[DrRocket]

I attended the first one in 1982, remember seeing Shirley win that. (More than I can say for a lot of the folks there that year.) I went quite a bit in the '80s, less in the '90s. Two of them in the 2000s.

It's always been about the racing for me.

The last several, I've skipped camping in the zoo, preferring to stay at a motel instead. I've gotten too old for that kind of thing anymore. In the early years, the zoo was pretty wild and wooly. And there was, of course, the "Brainerd International Mudpit" The "security" they'd hired was a joke. Those guys wouldn't leave their trailer after dark. They wanted nothing to do with the crowd. Then, the infamous "wet t shirt" contest happened. Old timers will remember. I do. Things changed after that. They started hiring off-duty cops for security, and things got calmer, at least in the stands.

Gonna be at Indy in a couple of weeks!

 

[my friends call me Zappy]

Thanks for the heads-up guys, I read these prices to my wife and we IMEADIATELY took BIR off our "tracks to do list." $20 park & $8 coke...forget it.

 

[none]

Thanks for the heads-up guys, I read these prices to my wife and we IMEADIATELY took BIR off our "tracks to do list." $20 park & $8 coke...forget it.

You wouldn't like Pomona then

 

[M Jones]

The vendors do not set the prices in vegas at the drag strip or the big oval, I do graphics for some of them and they are good customers, they turn over all the money at event end and wait for a check

 

[mick]

sherwood, any comment after 32 posts? you started this thread; same exact thread you put on complus.
cokes @ bir do not cost $8.....did anyone read that i paid $9 sunday for a corndog and coke?
you think bir is expensive?, then stay away......go ahead and travel great distances and tell us all how much you save on your
cokes, hotdogs, parking, and seats.......and when you stuff your nhra tourist nitro mall bags with stupid t-shirts and nhra
trinkets, don't forget to mention the great prices you got on all that crap too.....roll my eyes

 

[The Swegian]

I watched a few minutes of the live broadcast...what was the orange or red in the stands near the starting line? Was it just a group of people in the same colored shirt?

Didn't know if it was representative of something.

A group of people were wearing the same orange t-shirts. There was a silk screened picture on the shirt similar to something you'd see on a Rat Fink t-shirt with a car, and above that, it said "Drag Junkies". Pretty sizable group from what I could tell. I must've seen several dozen sporting the same shirt.

 

[The Swegian]

sherwood, any comment after 32 posts? you started this thread; same exact thread you put on complus.
cokes @ bir do not cost $8.....did anyone read that i paid $9 sunday for a corndog and coke?
you think bir is expensive?, then stay away......go ahead and travel great distances and tell us all how much you save on your
cokes, hotdogs, parking, and seats.......and when you stuff your nhra tourist nitro mall bags with stupid t-shirts and nhra
trinkets, don't forget to mention the great prices you got on all that crap too.....roll my eyes

Excellent point Mike. I'm sure my first post came across as a bitch session, which was not my intent. Other than the part about the inconvenient process of going through the various lines to get settled (i.e. admission ticket, reserved seat, etc.) Thing is, I knew what I was facing, and I willingly made the decision to attend. Just like every other track I've been to, I willingly spent the money to get there, pay for lodging, and bought race tickets. My experience has been the other tracks have a more streamlined process to their ticketing procedure and it seems odd BIR hasn't picked up on that.

 

[mick]

mark, you are right, there is always room for improvement.

 

[mgty3whlr]

I agree with the frustrations just to get into the track in an efficient manner.
Last year I went to Maple Grove, 2 things irritated me with just getting in.
1- They closed the pit side parking in the grass field because someone decided to take the parking field and plant corn. (that's where I always parked) Line wasn't bad at all.

2- They had the entrance on the spectator side, Longer walk and like 2 walk up to ticket booths and 2 advanced ticket booths.

Now my gripe is, If NHRA wants to increase fan volume, Open more booths (they have them, just open them up) to keep the lines moving instead of waiting in line for 45 to 60 mins.

 

[stitcherbob]

I missed Maple grove last year..... they planted on that steep hill???
That's where I always park... I drive past all the looney house owners that hold signs saying " no parking at track, park here only $ " (make up your own price over $20) and then find tons of at site parking....

 

[mgty3whlr]

Yes that hill had corn on it last year and that's where I always parked. Total Bummer.
I hope they make it available this year but prob. not.

 

[Bubba]

I paid $10 for Sunday parking inside the track, I think the ticket was $80, paid $9 for a gyro lunch with $3 for a bottle of water. What's making the weekend really expensive is the hotel prices.