Comments on: Photos From Race Weekend

By: Oilpressure

Oilpressure — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 04:14:05 +0000

I asked one of his mechanics that very question. He explained that the copper is actually a paint and they cannot use painted wheels because the paint covers. and hides potential cracks. I didn’t ask about cars with black wheels, but I’m sure someone out there knows the answer. The only time we’ll see copper wheels is as a show car or when they are transporting the car to and from the garage area. – GP

By: Rick

Rick — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 01:58:55 +0000

To add to the Geek’s note, the two people sitting on my other side left sometime before lap 100 and never returned. While the race started with a number of visible empty seats, I’m sure others left and didn’t come back.

Biggest infield crowd I’ve ever seen, and most electric atmosphere by far.

George, meeting you and all the other bloggers, friends, and fantasy racers only helped make this the best time I’ve had in a while-which I’m telling anyone who’ll listen.

By: Bickelmom

Bickelmom — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:06:16 +0000

Thanks, Geek! Good info and theories!

Hey, another question, George. In that photo I can’t see the front of the Wasp, but is it being driven or towed? And if it was driven, how did it sound?

By: H.B. Donnelly

H.B. Donnelly — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 19:02:41 +0000

I was so disappointed about the lack of copper wheels! On pole day, Tags had the copper wheels and Alex Lloyd’s car had these fantastic gold wheels that just looked so great in the sunshine at speed. I’m sure a little over-governance by our favorite director of competition knocked that idea out…

By: The Speedgeek

The Speedgeek — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 18:13:54 +0000

Cavin and Kevin were talking about just this thing on last night’s show. Their theory is that a lot of the people who had bad seats (either ones low down or in the NE Vista on the straightaway, where I can tell you from personal experience that you can’t see turn 4 basically at all) possibly moved to the infield. There, they would have gotten 50% of the value of the seats (i.e. seeing half as much) at 25% of the cost ($20 versus $80+ in the grandstand). I think that holds a lot of water, because the infield was as full as I’ve ever seen it, all the way down the backstretch. I can remember years in the late-’90s / early-’00s when the backstretch was pretty sparse. Now, it is packed all the way down toward turn 2.

The other thing that might have affected how the crowd looked was the heat. That meant that people were walking up / walking down to get drinks and shade pretty much constantly, so there were always holes in the stands. This doesn’t speak to why there were large groups of empty seats in the east end of the North Vista or on the straightaway end of the NE Vista, but I’ll defer to Curt and Kevin’s idea on that.

I will say this: my buddy and I got to the Coke Lot around 9:30, or roughly as close to race time as we always get there (or maybe even a little earlier). I’ve never arrived to a Coke Lot that was more than 50% full, except for 2003 when we arrived late and were then faced with a huge line to get in through security at Gate 9 (thereby forcing us to arrive to our seats at about lap 4; it was a dark, dark day). Well, that changed this year. At 9:30, the Coke Lot was at least 75% full, maybe more. That tells me that there were a LOT of people there this weekend. Maybe that didn’t show on TV for one reason or another, but it tells me that we’re certainly not circling the toilet at any speed that can’t be reversed by some smart marketing in the next couple of years and new cars in 2012.

By: Bickelmom

Bickelmom — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 15:59:04 +0000

On the local news they seemed to be saying that parking lots filled faster this year, but then it looked like there were a lot of empty stands.

By: redd

redd — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:57:59 +0000

There’s been much discussion on blogs about the “decline” of the 500, in terms of unexciting, non-overtaking-type races, poor attendence and low television ratings. I felt pretty good about the race until the blogs and the tv ratings totally bummed me out. You’ve been there, George, what’s your opinion on “the state of the greatest spectacle?”

By: nickh360

nickh360 — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:56:44 +0000

I’d be interested to hear the story as to why Tags team can’t race with the copper wheels. They are sharp looking!

By: Bickelmom

Bickelmom — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 12:54:19 +0000

Great pictures! Did you think traffic was worse this year getting into the track? I’ve heard many people say it was worse earlier this year. I hope that means attendance is on the upswing!