Cleveland was fantastic!

[Napoleon]

It was a most excellent weekend. Good racing, mostly good weather, and good friends.

The turnout was great. I did a mid race walk around and every stand was packed, with only a few stray seats positioned at random in the stands empty. There were thousands of people who all during the race were walking around and must have had GA tickets. For the first time I ever remember people were standing 3 deep against the fence at the chicane going on to the start finish straigt, and there were people against that fence streaching as far down to turn 7 (or is that 8?) they could go.

No doubt about it, it was a sell out.

Some local stories (spoiler alert).

http://www.cleveland.com/grandprixofcleveland/

[GOFAST1]

:cool: :cool: :cool:

[pchall]

Since Nappy has started the unofficial attendance thread, here is the attendance announced through CART.com:

ATTENDANCE ON THE RISE

Cleveland Grand Prix officials announced a race-day attendance of 58,471, and a three-day total of 112,232. Those numbers were an increase over recent years, according to CGP sources.

The switch to a Saturday night format was credited with revitalizing the Cleveland race. particularly encouraging was the Friday night crowd estimated at 35,000. Many of those race fans stuck around to enjoy the city of Cleveland’s Fourth of July fireworks display, and Friday attendance was boosted by a special $5 admission after 6:00 p.m.

Now we just have to wait for Dave Reinienger (sp?) to announce at yahoo.com that this is impossible since by his personal count there are only 12k (or whatever) worth of grandstands at the track...

[RaceGrrl]

The night action really does make a difference in how much I enjoyed this race. The weather at Cleveland is always so strange, but is usually brutally hot, so the night breeze off Lake Erie was perfect. From where I sat, I didn't see the sparks when the cars bottomed out, but I could see the exhaust flames. That was impressive, and now I know why nobody ever push-starts the car from the left hand side.

We sat in stand F, behind Haberfeld's and Montiero's pit boxes. Montiero was not a happy boy that he wasn't able to race. They gridded the car, and he was suited up, apparently thinking that he'd be cleared to drive. After the CART officials gave him the news and they removed the car from the grid, Tiado went back to his pit, gesturing animatedly to the CART officials to express displeasure with their decision. When he was interviewed later, he did say that he understood why. I just felt bad for him, because he's improving, and I'd have liked to see him do well here.

The company of good friends at the track added to the general enjoyment of the weekend. If you are the partying type, you could party late, sleep in, and get to the track in time for ChampCar warmup, and then do the whole thing all over again. We had a great time, it was nice to be able to hang with friends from OffCamber and Crapwagon. We'll see you at MidOhio!

[mello]

Originally posted by RaceGrrl


We sat in stand F, behind Haberfeld's and Montiero's pit boxes. Montiero was not a happy boy that he wasn't able to race. They gridded the car, and he was suited up, apparently thinking that he'd be cleared to drive. After the CART officials gave him the news and they removed the car from the grid, Tiado went back to his pit, gesturing animatedly to the CART officials to express displeasure with their decision. When he was interviewed later, he did say that he understood why. I just felt bad for him, because he's improving, and I'd have liked to see him do well here.



Did hear he was asked to hold up 2 fingers and kept putting up four. So if that is true it is a good thing they kept him out. Yah sad though. Really sad .

[turn1]

They gave him the test twice and he failed. Good move move in my opinion...

[nrc]

This is exactly the kind of thing the new system of testing for lingering affects from a head injury was intended to catch. Great job by the CART medical staff.