Spicoli
05-09-05, 11:31 AM
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050509/NEWS01/505090419/1006/NEWS01
Stores, bars pine for 500's glory days
Business owners near the track are hopeful the race will regain prominence and the crowds will pick up.
By Theodore Kim
theodore.kim@indystar.com
Less than a mile west of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a shop that sells model racing cars.
Such a store might once have drawn crowds of eager souvenir shoppers on opening day. The annual event marks the start of practices and pageantry at the track, launching the build-up for the 500-Mile Race on Memorial Day weekend.
But the drone of speeding cars Sunday, this year's opening day, generated little business or enthusiasm. Instead, Randy Blackledge, the 54-year-old manager of Indy Slots West, worked alone stocking boxes in the back of the store and smoking cigarettes.
The past decade or so has brought tough times to the businesses that subsist in the track's shadow. Though the race itself still draws throngs of fans, the mobs that once filled the track during qualifying and practice days -- critical to many businesses here -- have diminished. A few stores and eateries have closed as a result.
Blackledge clings to a hope shared by many shopkeepers here -- for a return to glory of the race that has defined this city for generations, and for the wave of new business that resurgence might bring.
Race officials have made a host of changes this year in a bid to recapture fans and boost TV ratings. Those include starting the race later, moving the popular Carb Day to Friday and allowing cars more chances to qualify.
Yet as another May of racing begins without the crowds, color and cachet of years gone by, Blackledge is among those whose expectations have hardened into a somber acknowledgement.
"Racing here will never be as big as it was," Blackledge said.
Some bars and restaurants have moved away from relying on the 500, turning instead to newer events at the track, such as NASCAR's Brickyard race.
The trouble began, of course, in 1996 when open-wheel racing broke into two confederacies: the Indy Racing League and Championship Auto Racing Teams. That split sent the 500-Mile Race, its television ratings and its status into a sharp decline.
As the sport suffered, so did track attendance -- especially at the pre-race qualifying and other events that helped anchor many businesses.
Dan Laycock and Wayne Leary, both racing buffs and regulars at Blackledge's shop, reminisced Sunday about old times at the track. They remembered, not too long ago, when masses turned out for practice and qualifying days. Opening day at the track always drew large crowds whose vibrancy spilled onto the nearby streets and neighboring shops and bars.
Before, those opening day crowds might be measured in the hundreds of thousands. Now, they are in the thousands.
"There were always cheers back then. You could always hear cheers from outside the track," said Laycock, 55. "Hey, Wayne, you hear any cheers today?"
"Nope," replied Leary, 66, a former race car driver. "I haven't heard anything but noise."
A mile to the east of the track on 16th Street, Nancie Cloe sits on a stool at an empty bar just after midday. She owns The Short Chute, named after the ends of the track's squared-off oval.
Race Day still brings crowds, though the celebratory pre-race atmosphere of the Indy 500 has faded. Cloe and others said that mood of revelry was once symbolized by the so-called "Snake Pit," a wild section of the track infield that, on race day, might be described as Mardi Gras North.
The night before the race, 16th Street would often be awash in party-goers and pedestrians. Along with the Snake Pit, that tradition has been tamed.
"We do try to keep the old traditions, but you're never going to have the Snake Pit again," said Cloe, whose business these days relies on year-round customers from the neighborhood.
Even so, Cloe and others are hopeful they will make it through the downturn. The race's prestige is rising again and the masses show signs of returning.
A block or so away on 16th Street at a long-time bar and restaurant called Mike's, owner Paul Brown stood on a ladder painting his storefront. His chosen paint colors are familiar in these parts -- black and white checkerboard.
"You're not going to go right back up to where you were," said Brown, 40. "It may take five years. It might take 10 years. But that doesn't mean you stop trying."
:gomer:
thganks for the visions, you sack of ****.
Stores, bars pine for 500's glory days
Business owners near the track are hopeful the race will regain prominence and the crowds will pick up.
By Theodore Kim
theodore.kim@indystar.com
Less than a mile west of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is a shop that sells model racing cars.
Such a store might once have drawn crowds of eager souvenir shoppers on opening day. The annual event marks the start of practices and pageantry at the track, launching the build-up for the 500-Mile Race on Memorial Day weekend.
But the drone of speeding cars Sunday, this year's opening day, generated little business or enthusiasm. Instead, Randy Blackledge, the 54-year-old manager of Indy Slots West, worked alone stocking boxes in the back of the store and smoking cigarettes.
The past decade or so has brought tough times to the businesses that subsist in the track's shadow. Though the race itself still draws throngs of fans, the mobs that once filled the track during qualifying and practice days -- critical to many businesses here -- have diminished. A few stores and eateries have closed as a result.
Blackledge clings to a hope shared by many shopkeepers here -- for a return to glory of the race that has defined this city for generations, and for the wave of new business that resurgence might bring.
Race officials have made a host of changes this year in a bid to recapture fans and boost TV ratings. Those include starting the race later, moving the popular Carb Day to Friday and allowing cars more chances to qualify.
Yet as another May of racing begins without the crowds, color and cachet of years gone by, Blackledge is among those whose expectations have hardened into a somber acknowledgement.
"Racing here will never be as big as it was," Blackledge said.
Some bars and restaurants have moved away from relying on the 500, turning instead to newer events at the track, such as NASCAR's Brickyard race.
The trouble began, of course, in 1996 when open-wheel racing broke into two confederacies: the Indy Racing League and Championship Auto Racing Teams. That split sent the 500-Mile Race, its television ratings and its status into a sharp decline.
As the sport suffered, so did track attendance -- especially at the pre-race qualifying and other events that helped anchor many businesses.
Dan Laycock and Wayne Leary, both racing buffs and regulars at Blackledge's shop, reminisced Sunday about old times at the track. They remembered, not too long ago, when masses turned out for practice and qualifying days. Opening day at the track always drew large crowds whose vibrancy spilled onto the nearby streets and neighboring shops and bars.
Before, those opening day crowds might be measured in the hundreds of thousands. Now, they are in the thousands.
"There were always cheers back then. You could always hear cheers from outside the track," said Laycock, 55. "Hey, Wayne, you hear any cheers today?"
"Nope," replied Leary, 66, a former race car driver. "I haven't heard anything but noise."
A mile to the east of the track on 16th Street, Nancie Cloe sits on a stool at an empty bar just after midday. She owns The Short Chute, named after the ends of the track's squared-off oval.
Race Day still brings crowds, though the celebratory pre-race atmosphere of the Indy 500 has faded. Cloe and others said that mood of revelry was once symbolized by the so-called "Snake Pit," a wild section of the track infield that, on race day, might be described as Mardi Gras North.
The night before the race, 16th Street would often be awash in party-goers and pedestrians. Along with the Snake Pit, that tradition has been tamed.
"We do try to keep the old traditions, but you're never going to have the Snake Pit again," said Cloe, whose business these days relies on year-round customers from the neighborhood.
Even so, Cloe and others are hopeful they will make it through the downturn. The race's prestige is rising again and the masses show signs of returning.
A block or so away on 16th Street at a long-time bar and restaurant called Mike's, owner Paul Brown stood on a ladder painting his storefront. His chosen paint colors are familiar in these parts -- black and white checkerboard.
"You're not going to go right back up to where you were," said Brown, 40. "It may take five years. It might take 10 years. But that doesn't mean you stop trying."
:gomer:
thganks for the visions, you sack of ****.