racer2c
10-05-10, 12:53 PM
On vacation this week down in the Keys (3 nights in Key Largo 4 nights in Key West) so the timing worked that we stopped to catch the race on our way down. Got there at 5:00pm (two hours to green flag) and questioned if this was a night race or just Saturday practice because, well, we're were 2 of about 12 people. There were 5 merchandise trailers, Penske, TCGR, Danicles and 2 for track swag. I never saw a single person at ANY of the trailers. A sad, sad contrast to my first few CART races in Cleveland and Naz with fans 10 deep at every trailer. The paddock was empty of fans also.
At 6 we went to find our seats and to watch the so called 'pre-show' which was really just the f16 fly overs (which was cool, they did about 6 passes!).
about 10 miunutes before the green flag the stands did fill in, but they only had the a few sections opened, so while it seemed packed from my perspective, in reality it was only 20K or so packed into two or three sections.
We had good seats and could watch the cars all the way around the track. I haven't been to an oval since Naz so that was kinda cool. The drone of the cars becomes very irritating about half way through. I brought ear plugs knowing that I would want them, but my wife refused and regretted it!
The crowd seemed more comprised of race fans (most in NASCAR and F1 attire) than at the St Pete Indy Car race and they were overwhelmingly TK fans. The entire crowd stood for most of the race and I can honeslty say they cheered more than any other Indy Car race I've been to (mainly for TK, Danika and Helio and when Dario did his donuts).
At 6 we went to find our seats and to watch the so called 'pre-show' which was really just the f16 fly overs (which was cool, they did about 6 passes!).
about 10 miunutes before the green flag the stands did fill in, but they only had the a few sections opened, so while it seemed packed from my perspective, in reality it was only 20K or so packed into two or three sections.
We had good seats and could watch the cars all the way around the track. I haven't been to an oval since Naz so that was kinda cool. The drone of the cars becomes very irritating about half way through. I brought ear plugs knowing that I would want them, but my wife refused and regretted it!
The crowd seemed more comprised of race fans (most in NASCAR and F1 attire) than at the St Pete Indy Car race and they were overwhelmingly TK fans. The entire crowd stood for most of the race and I can honeslty say they cheered more than any other Indy Car race I've been to (mainly for TK, Danika and Helio and when Dario did his donuts).