mousecatcher

Judging from the ALMS fan turnout at Laguna Seca, road racing is dead in the US. This race should be a headliner event. Yet the already thin crowd was leaving early because it was getting cold. A stark contrast to the Laguna Seca motogp attendance a couple of months back. Not to mention the availability this year of an amateur no sound limit weekend at Laguna.

Brilliant move by Panoz to fill out the field with the GT3 cars, but it doesn't matter if it doesn't bring in the fans.

AU N EGL

Economy? ppl dont have the money to go too races.

Heck even NASCAR races are down in attendance.

mousecatcher

$40?

Aardwolf

I went to one and I was shocked at the cost, I think it was $40. Maybe a little more. I haven't been back but I really like club events besides having a limited budget.

John Shiels

Rolex DP race had nothing but empty stands. Economy to a point but face it people love accidents and I think NASCAR is having less and it is hurting the tickets.

StealthLT4

The actual cost of the ticket is small compared to the total cost. I've been to 3 ALMS races, and I LOVE it, but the multiple-hour drive, gas, and lodging all make it fairly expensive; a couple hundred dollars, probably.

RedLS1GTO

I go to a few races a year... tracks that are usually sold out months in advance now have sections that are completely empty.

rfn026

I really love the vintage races. They're cheap and one ticket gets you full access. It's not the same as the ALMS or Grand AM races but I enjoy the paddock a whole lot more. I'm just getting a little tired of the big money arrogance.

That may be why we're going crap car racing next year. Cheap and dirty - I love it.

Richard Newton
Intervention Motorsports

DaveL82

Roadracing was it but the series owners forgot how to market the product. How many young folks think about road racing beyong their X-Box etc... You need to bring in the fans.

MotoGP is hot because it also markets to the younger crowd and they can afford bikes themselves however the sales of sportbikes is down due to financing.

Looks like the owners need to rethink the strategy.

RedLS1GTO

I'm relatively young (28) and I think I am about as big of a race fan that there is. I have a coffee table made out of a tire for cryin' out loud... I was at a track for the first time at 1 year old and haven't stopped since. I grew up with Indy/NASCAR/Dirt track/Motorcycles/Drag Racing and about everything else out there. Only in the last 2-3 years have I discovered road racing as anything more than an afterthought. I grew up in the Cincy area so there were no local road courses. Mid Ohio was the closest... It is hardly ever on TV (no big market coverage), and like Dave said it isn't marketed really at all. Granted there is more coverage now than before, but it still isn't good.

mousecatcher

Rolex races are always empty though. ALMS needs the spectators.

BAMbrick

Exactly why i couldnt make it. That's a pretty expensive weekend for an event 6+ hours away.

BAMbrick

i will add, that i was able to go to the Long Beach race earlier this year and it was awesome

Z11409

This year it was $50 for the two day ticket.The money is made on the TV sales.ALMS buys the 4 hours of air time and sells the commercials.Yes the attendence was down,but so is every type of racing except for Vintage.Next years race is in MAY.There was in excess of 250 cars in Vette coral and 150 at the Corvette Racing dinner Friday night.

John Shiels

because the cars don't look like any thing on the street. Went to NASCAR 2 years ago and 5 people went through over 1000 with no travel included and nothing great to eat few beers and burgers.

7t2vette

Attendance at the ALMS race at Mosport was noticeably smaller this year; even the Corvette Corral was smaller than usual. In years past, the corral was always sold out.

rustyguns

marketing does not exist!

68sixspeed

It's hard to draw spectators when some of the ALMS races had 8 cars per run group too. The last couple at least had a dozen or so GT2 cars, but the lack of close racing other than restarts makes it something for the die-hards only. Plus running 3-4 types of cars mixed together to make a full field really sucks IMO. I know it's the way it's done, but I'd rather see a couple shorter races all the same day, i.e. 15 each gt2 and gt3 cars or even better 25 gt2 cars (dreaming)... then a seperate race for the prototype cars. Without the prototype cars cutting through the field, maybe the gt cars could stay in contact better, but then again 1-2 seconds per lap difference between the slow and fast cars isn't that close of a field of gt2.

mousecatcher

sure ... i'm not arguing why Rolex attendance is low, i'm just pointing out that it's always been extremely low so it's not a good barometer to measure ALMS attendance.

mousecatcher

and I'll bet there were 400+ last year. there were tons of infield parking spots available.