Crowds at Joliet...
- Thread starter Toejam
- Start date
Very crowded Saturday but less so Sunday. I don't understand why people would want to come Saturday instead of Sunday. To me that's like watching the first half of a basketball or football game and then going home to watch the second half at home. If I could only go one day I would go Sunday. Weather was great on Sunday. Got to see my first 200+ mph bike run!
Remember the hopes we all had that the sport was taking a turn to the big leagues when they built this track? Stadium style seating, massive tower and grandstands- if they build it, the crowds will follow, blah blah blah...
At this point in the association needs to sit down with ALL the tracks on the tour and say "Look, we know your average attendance numbers, and you are making us look bad with all these seats masquerading as attendees. Mask off, or even remove some of that grandstand area, sell tickets to FILL the rest of them, and stop making it look like we are half empty on television."
Concerts I do in larger venues that are poorly sold will close and in some cases, curtain off the upper balcony and renumber the seats down low to make the place look full, even when not.
At this point in the association needs to sit down with ALL the tracks on the tour and say "Look, we know your average attendance numbers, and you are making us look bad with all these seats masquerading as attendees. Mask off, or even remove some of that grandstand area, sell tickets to FILL the rest of them, and stop making it look like we are half empty on television."
Concerts I do in larger venues that are poorly sold will close and in some cases, curtain off the upper balcony and renumber the seats down low to make the place look full, even when not.
Last edited:
While my first post was obviously tongue in cheek, if you really want to fill the stands at Joliet tell the 5 to 6 deep crowd at the fence they have to sit in the stands. Oh and tell all the people under the stands buying food or sitting in the shade or the ones roaming the midway and the pits that the pro cars are running and they HAVE to sit in the stands so we don't look bad on tv. Or make the whole place general admission so that everyone on the north side doesn't have to leave the pits and walk all the way back around the track to have a seat. Let everyone sit on one side if they chose to. Particularly since the south side is what you see mostly on tv anyway. Do that and I bet you'd fill more of the stands that you think. That place is not hurting for a crowd, I can promise you that after being there the last 2 days.
Randy’s point is solid and one I truly believe in. Getting to see everyone run twice is a blessing. For the casual fan this is a home run. Whether it real or not, some believe Saturday is a lighter traffic day and less crowded because it’s not Raceday. Another, in theory just a less stressful day for drivers equals more driver availability. Personally I would rather attend Raceday because side by side W’s and L’s mean something.
Yeah same here; and if you by-chance were rooting for a crappy car; or someone with no chance in hell in actually qualifying, atleast you got to see them with the engine running while they were in town instead of seeing pictures in National Dragster. And I always believed there more drivers available to meet and get pit cards signed too. Plus - the vendors on the manufacturers midway put out all the good stickers and give-aways on Friday and Sat mornings. You could score a handful of MechanixWear or Checker-Shucks Kragen stickers and a fistfull of Fram Autolite keychains. Or grab 3 Valvolive Joe Amato or Warren Johnson AC Delco posters!!!! Nowadays by Sunday morning they're all picked over and gone; even the boothrat product reps there working don't even care by then and are busy looking at thier phones to see when they can get out of there LOLOL
Last edited:
I attended friday, it was a little light during the day and it picked later in the day. Also, I did notice a lot of people were in the north side parking area tailgaiting pretty much all day and never came into the gate and when the pros were running the north side had 5 to 6 deep along the fence watching.
