Originally Posted by ThrowbackRacingTeam:
To set the record straight, the Hulman Classic was traditionally a Sunday afternoon event. Hot laps at noon. It was the first weekend in May when practice started at Indy. Running on Sunday afternoon didn’t directly conflict with any weekly racing in Indiana and fans and cars would pack the place. Running at night on the weekend has already proven to be a bust at Terre Haute with bad car counts and attendance. That is why Track Enterprises moved most events to weekdays and it was successful for a number of years. I think it was a very bad decision by the fair board to try to do what they are doing. Sprint week is on a Wednesday and I’m sure they will make up some of their losses but if fans don’t support that one, I would suspect they will either go out of business or maybe try winged racing next year. Unfortunately, USAC racing just isn’t very popular anymore on the big tracks. Eldora won’t book them alone, Knoxville didn’t draw flies, Salem, Springfield and Du Quoin crowds are pathetic. Terre Haute had a niche on Weekdays and should stick to it.
I was thinking originally it was 2 days. Friday qualifying,then the big Calcutta party to beef up the interest and purse. Saturday heat, semis, feature but all worked into Wide World of Sports live programming with the Kentucky Derby.