Indy 500 Winner

Does Dario Franchitti have it made or what. Multi millioniare
at 39, 3 time Indy winner, movie star good looks, married to
Ashley Judd. I wonder how many times a day women come
on to him and if he even notices anymore.

After Ashton Kutcher married Demi Moore, he said he started
to get hit on by women who he thought were completely out
of his league. Women who wouldn't even talk to him before
were now giving him their phone numbers. Its because
of who he married, women are always in competition with each other.

*yawn*

Another foreigner wins the Indy 500.

"America's race?"

I think not.

Lots of empty seats in the grandstands.

Quote: MrV

Lots of empty seats in the grandstands.

It was 96 degrees there today, duh..

Nice tap dance, Bob.

Indy used to be a huge party scene.

With the loss of interest in auto racing in America, the crowds are no longer what they once were at Indy, no matter what the weather.

I lost interest in American open wheel racing when The Schism happened, and don't really much care about it any more.

Too bad, because I was once an avid follower.

Of course, since they scratched Portland as a scheduled venue, I've pretty much given Indycar the middle finger.

Quote: MrV

Indy used to be a huge party scene.

Ever been to Indy in the summer? The humidity
is a killer, and it was over a hundred degrees
in the those stands today. That will kill any
party.

Quote: MrV

Lots of empty seats in the grandstands.

Top Three Reasons There Were Empty Seats, as inspired by former Indy 500 winning co-owner David Letterman:

3. There were really only 31 cars in the race, so who cared? (The two Lotus cars had no business being there, and were pretty much black-flagged for being too slow - if I understood the commentators correctly, your lap times cannot be so slow that you would be lapped within 20 laps, and even in qualifying, the two Lotus cars were something like 10 MPH slower than the other cars, and the only reason they made it was because only 33 cars attempted to qualify. It reminded me of the 2005 US Grand Prix at the track, where, because of a Michelin tire problem, only six cars ran more than one lap.)

2. Maybe they heard that Jim Nabors wasn't going to be there and decided not to show up? (Note to the track: if you are going to use a recording of Nabors again, make sure the band conductor knows how it is paced. There have been four years since the 1970s when Nabors didn't sing it - IIRC, they were sung by Peter Marshall (yes, the Hollywood Squares guy, although he did have a singing part in the movie version of Annie), some Army or Marine sergeant, a Disney choir of some sort (I think it had something to do with Mickey Mouse leading the parade that year), and the last time Nabors was sick, "the crowd" sang it while the band played) - and I don't remember the race coming to a halt because of it.)

1. They couldn't figure out a way for Tony Stewart to try for the "Tony Stewart 1100" (500 miles at Indy, and 600 at Charlotte).

I watched maybe 10 minutes of the race, just long enough to see the fueler get hit and the subsequent crash that resulted. That racing I did see...it made me sad. The stands - empty. You can blame weather all you want, but go to NASCAR's Talladega, Texas, or Atlanta, you won't never see an empty seat, no matter how hot it is. No matter the weather, whether it's mid summer NASCAR in the south or Buffalo football in December, if the product is there, the seats will be filled. Indy didn't bring it. And after what little I did see, I'll be continuing my boycot of IRL.

The crowds that follow NASCAR are thinning as well, but not as drastically as they are with the debacle that Indy Car has become since the CART schism.

Here, check out the crowds in 1989 for the Indy 500: 1989

People just don't much care about racing in America these days: the product sucks.