On the spur of the moment I went up to Chicagoland Speedway, met some friends and took in the IRL race there last night. Wow, what a great experience. The weather couldn't have been better if we had bought and paid for it, it was very comfortable since the stands were maybe half full (which isn't necessarily a good thing), the crowd was very well behaved and respectful and above all the racing was second to non!! I cannot for the life of me figure why this show doesn't draw better than it does. I doesn't make any difference what nationality the drivers are, that was some good racing and the crowd was so much more enjoyable to be part of than the NASCAR crowds.

And how 'bout Sarah!! She hung with the big shooters for a good chunk of the race, they had a hell of a time finally getting around her!!

Everyone we talked to after the race was gushing about the quality and excitement of the whole deal. If that deal can't generate additional interest I'm not sure anything will. Where am I going wrong here.

I watched a little of the race last night on TV. It did look like a good race, but your comment about why people don't go? Foriegn drivers, I don't care if they race here. I just don't know their up-bringing and don't relate to them. Thus I don't care to watch them. On the other hand if Shane Hmiel gets going in indy lights, I'll probably watch. Another example Sweet was is the truck I was intersted in how he did, thus I watch. I hear your point good racing is good racing no matter who the driver is, but if I got choices which we all do TV, internet streaming, etc. I'm going to support the driver that has or is racing at my local track. My kids would watch an Indy car race if Windom, Jones, DD, and many other were in it. If they can't pronounce there names they don't seem as intereted.

I also went to Chicagoland. It’s a great venue and the racing is always good there….same at KY. I agree that the crowd was disappointing. I guarantee if you had a packed house for Nascar, rolled out the top 29 in Cup points in Indy Cars painted just like their stock cars, those fans would be blown away by the racing they saw in comparison to stock cars (same as if they saw sprint cars on dirt). The issue is not the racing, it’s about getting people there so see it that have never been. How do you do that? It’s 100% drivers that get new people to show up (talking those that are really race fans…not just people that would go for something to do).

To me it’s not just the foreign driver argument. It’s the, TOO MANY foreign drivers argument. Look back when Foyt, The Andretti’s, The Unser’s, Johncock, Rutherford, Mears, Rahal, Sullivan, etc. ran…. Clark, Hill, Mansel, Fittipaldi, Luyendyk, etc… had fans too. That was because the good American drivers were there too. Today there are too many foreign ride buys that keep Americans out….that’s why the foreign drivers are looked down more than anything. There is room for both if the system could be fixed. Kanaan has been the man of the house since he was 13 years old because his dad died. He slept on shop floors coming up because he had nowhere to stay and he was trying everything he could to make it. Foreign or not, that says something. Helio had no money either….just drove to the top. Problem is your driving doesn’t do all the talking anymore because some drivers can just bring bags of cash to the table. That is what needs fixed…..the product itself is good.

BTW – it was cool to see an Indy Lights car with the RW logo on the side. Luyendyk gave it a good run from the back…..can’t wait to see some of our guys in the seat hopefully. At Indy next year for Lights, I’d love to see a four car team of: Hmeil, Clauson, Kuhn, and Coons, Jr.

It's very simple why there was no crowd on Saturday night, ISC did no or very little promotion for the race. At every track they own it's the same deal.
They don't promote the NHRA race at the dragstrip either.

Your right Vukie, I live close enough to have access to much of the Chicago media, whether it be radio, TV or print media. I heard, saw or read very little regarding the IRL weekend.

That whole deal up there is perplexing, at least it is to me. They have a drag strip that the pro-competitors as well as the weekend warriors love and that draws a good crowd, a pretty nice dirt track facility that is used for nothing more these days than monster truck shows and demolition derby's (just another sigh of the impending armageddon, LOL!!) and of course the big track that hosts some of the best open wheel racing in the world. How can this be happening.

Without knowing the specifics or the behind the scenes maneuvering, it sure appears that ISC is at the very least a good portion of the problem.

I've been to Chicagoland for several IRL events. The 3 wide racing at those speeds is incredible. It's too bad they can't draw any fans. Then to top it off I just saw on speed they won't be back at Chicagoland or most likely any ISC track next year.

The first year they had the IRL at Joliet I got on their web site to purchase tickets and found that I had to purchase a Track Pack or something like that. In other words, you had to purchase tickets to every event the track had for the year. I wasn't about to buy expensive NASCAR tickets just to go to the IRL race, so I didn't. Next year, same deal. At some point in time I just gave up on going. Yes, I could have gone up and hoped that someone had tickets to buy or tried to purchase them on eBay, but the whole point of going to the web site was choosing the location I wanted.