Brickyard 400 Crowd a Huge Disappointment

If you watched the Brickyard 400 on Sunday in Central Indiana or Illinois, you most likely watched it on your television.  During the broadcast it seemed like there were more empty seats than full ones.  That's not quite accurate, but it is pretty close.  

Full capacity at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway is around 257,000 seats.  During Sunday's race, only around 140,000 of those seats had fannies in them.  The attendance was a major appointment for both the speedway and NASCAR, with a 40,000 fan dip in attendance from 2009.  This is an issue not only facing Indianapolis, almost every NASCAR event this year except for the Daytona 500 has had drops in attendance.  But 40,000 people?  In Central Indiana?  At one of the most historic and storied race tracks of all time?  

Why the sharp decline?  The factors are fairly obvious, with the main reason being the economy.  People who would drive in from Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Illinois are not coming.  Remember back in the late 90's during Brickyard 400 week?  Hotels in Terre Haute would fill up.  This year, downtown Indianapolis had plenty of rooms available.  

Another reason NASCAR fans do not care for Indy is the fact you cannot see all around the track, like most NASCAR ovals.  The drivers sure seem to love being able to take turn 4 and have fans cheering behind the pits and behind the outside wall, but Indianapolis has always drawn criticism from fans because of the obstructed view around the track.  Because of this, many people would rather enjoy the television coverage from the comfort of their own air-conditioned living rooms.  

The popularity in the sport is arguably dwindling as well.  As noted earlier, attendance is way down at all the tracks, and television ratings continue to decline.   Sounds like NASCAR has a new race -  to find it's fan base.

If you are a fan did you go to the race or did you stay home and watch it?  What was the biggest factor in your decision?