The Great and Forbidden Thread Topic ;)

[pchall]

The little AP Wire blurb on LBGP in this morning's paper had the Sunday crowd estimated at 70 thousand. Any comments from those in the grandstands and wandering the paddock and circuit?

[RacinM3]

Sounds about right. There's an obvious strategy the LBGPA is employing that's pissing me off, though. First, many of the grandstands are smaller and narrower, causing the appearance/feel of a crowded race. Second, and worse, many of the overcrossing bridges are narrower than before, meaning you still have to wait in line to get over the track. In some places, where there were two bridges (one going one way, the other going opposite), there is now only one. While I understand the cost saving of smaller grandstands, leave the width of the bridges alone.

Otherwise, the Friday crowd was impressive, as was the Saturday crowd, considering the rain. The Sunday crowd, under great weather, was large and as enthusiastic as ever.

I think the crowd being good caused my issues with the stands and especially the overcrossings.

[Winston Wolfe]

I was there all three days, and tend to agree with RM3.

Friday was a really decent crowd, which started earlier than normal, and held on all through the day.

Saturday was obviously affected by the rain, and I think the casual fan has figured out that the Grandstand seat is not necessary for all three days, as evidenced by the "lighter than normal crowd" in the G-stands, but plenty of GA folks milling around...

Sunday, absolutely a regular race day crowd, but the stands were built smaller this year, most likely as a result of less than expected crowds, but to give the sense of "packed stands" in the face of "CART is Dead, see, they cant even get fans into the LBGP, which is their crown jewel of racing" blather that we would have heard from the other side....

Plenty of GA crowds, plenty of sun, plenty of good noises, lots of fast cars, bikinis, beers, King Taco grub, and the best thing is.... the tradition of the LBGP and Champs cars continued for yet another year.....

Ya gotta love it, man !

[Corner5]

Robin said 75,000 for Sun. so does this article-

http://grandprix.motorway.com/Stories/0,1413,275%257E27293%257E2093582,00.html

3 day total is good considering everything that happened before.

they seem happy-

"Friday was up 200 percent over last year. Today was just amazing, in terms of the race, and I believe there were more people this year than last year,' Siefken said.

Some race fans crossed state lines to see this year's Grand Prix, but a few fans traversed oceans.

"He's very excited about it,' said Adam Choi of South Korea, who was translating for his friend, Stan Kim, a Korean stock car racer.

"It's a different style compared to Korea,' said Choi, whose friend races Hyundai Tiburons in his home country. "He's never faced one of the largest racing competitions.'

Jim Michaelian, president of the Grand Prix Association of Long Beach, said Sunday's crowds were a nice rebound from Saturday.

"They're fantastic,' he said.

[pchall]

"He's very excited about it,' said Adam Choi of South Korea, who was translating for his friend, Stan Kim, a Korean stock car racer.

"It's a different style compared to Korea,' said Choi, whose friend races Hyundai Tiburons in his home country. "He's never faced one of the largest racing competitions.'



Does this suggest Stan Kim wants a guest seat for the South Korean race? Meanwhile, Kim needs to rename his translator something other than Bok Choy. ;)

[Ankf00]

there could've been more butts in the seats, but there was still a mob of folks, quite crowded

[Corner5]

Does this suggest Stan Kim wants a guest seat for the South Korean race? Meanwhile, Kim needs to rename his translator something other than Bok Choy. ;)

They better take him out in the 2-seater first!
:saywhat:

Kim's translater could have been Dim Sum. :)

[indyfan31]

I didn't wander around too much but I've had the same seats for 5 years, the grandstands in my area haven't changed a bit and nobody from LBGPA has asked us to relocate. With the exception of the bottom rows (as usual) the stands at and around the turn 1/turn 6 complex were packed, in fact, I remember seeing more aluminum last year.

[lateralus42]

I was at the race, Ive heard a few people say there were less seats. There were no empty seats around me in section 30. I have never seen it so packed, and it was even more jam packed at the bottom of the grandstand with all the general admission types.

[Dougrun]

in my pics, you can see some shots of the stands. The early shots were during the atlantics race though.
http://www.phototiming.com/f1/lbo4w/index.htm

I thought the bridges were opposite of before. Some bridges had double wide paths that didn't before so I guess they moved some around. Tons of GA walking around. A lot of people on rooftops as well.

[Dr. Corkski]

I was out by T1 on Sunday and most of the stands I could see were pretty much packed. I think 70k seems about right - the place didn't feel as packed as it did in Toronto when I went there. There were also a lot of people walking around during the race - but if they didn't bother to watch the race after paying for it, I doubt they would bother if it was free. On Saturday I was out by T8 and the most commonly heard phrase was "Hey, this is where they crash!" :shakehead

From what I did notice though, aside from PT, the drivers that got the biggest cheer from the crowd happened to be the American drivers, so obviously the stands were loaded with NASCAR hicks who don't know any better. ;)

[dreamracer]

Oregonian reported 85-95,000.... Don't know if PB was there to see for himself or not...

[Jay]

Sounds about right. There's an obvious strategy the LBGPA is employing that's pissing me off, though. First, many of the grandstands are smaller and narrower, causing the appearance/feel of a crowded race.This has been going on at the Molson Indy Toronto for a few years now. I know the grandstands on the 2nd turn used to be huge, and now they're both pretty small. The others definately look a lot smaller than I remember them as well. That said, they still pack them in there - even when it's raining on a Friday afternoon!

The Long Beach crowd looked very good on TV - only saw a few empty seats - looked very good!!