Cleveland will honor USGP tickets

[Snrub]

BigB, I can't answer your question regarding seating position so I'd suggest you call Champ Car: (317) 715-4100
Here's some info on how F1 ticket holders get a Cleveland ticket. http://www.champcarworldseries.com/N...le.asp?ID=9180 It does say that you can reserve a seat with a fax order. I'd guess you could get a decent seat if you did it that way, but you only have until today to reserve a seat. Just showing up will get you a seat, but where is unknown.

[Mosport67]

Originally Posted by BigB

Anyone know about the kinds of tickets I would get for my F1 ticket? Is the track a good place to view a race? I heard it was pretty much wide open and you can see the whole track from almost anywhere.

It is a great place to watch a race. There isn't a bad seat but the higher up the better. Grandstand F, E or D are the best ones. http://www.ticketmaster.com/seatingchart/41209/13034

[BootsOntheSide]

Originally Posted by jimclark

'Don't mean to be the spoiler here but "nice gesture' smesture. The race wouldn't have been a sellout anyhow, so this is simply great marketing for CC, the promoters, Cleveland, and the vendors. nobody's giving anything away here.
Again i ain't knockin' it, just seeing it fer what it is. If I lived closer and had GP tix, i'd take advantage of the offer too, and contribute to the cause with my purchases while in the area...which is what it's all about.

If the race would have been a sellout, where are they going to fit tens of thousands of extra fans?

[D.R.T.]

Was there room to place extra stands around the track , as a bit of a back up plan. So if they had a good turn up they didnt have to turn people away ?

[Mosport67]

I don't think they are going to get thousands of extra fans out this. Maybe a couple of thousand. Many people can't get to races two weeks in a row (unfortunately I am one of them).

I think it was a great public relations coup. It won't hurt to add to the buzz.

The grandstand are all gone by Monday anyway so I would expect they could add another on fairly short notice if they thought they could fill it. The last thing they want is empty grandstands.

I have always had questions about the attendance numbers produced for Cleveland. Count up the grandstands and you will see what I mean.

We are wishing we were there even though it will be a hot one. Today should be a great day at the track with a full schedule of activities.

[Snrub]

Apparently 1047 F1 fans swapped in their tickets and attended Cleveland. http://www.speedtv.com/articles/auto/champcar/17865/

[macdaddy]

I hope 1047 fans bring their friends and family next year!

[Amar7605]

According to the article, the official attendance was just under 90,000. I don't think it has been like that in Cleveland in a long time! This is one example that Champ Car is coming back!

[Liz]

A nice idea and judging from the number of photos of happy F1 fans turning in their tickets for Champ Car tickets, that I saw, the gesture was not unappreciated. I do confess that my first thought was "Take that, TG" but I am inclined to blame Max for this debacle and to compliment Champ Cars for a quick move to capitalize on the situation.

We'll see what happens at the French GP, but perhaps this may become a regular thing.....

[diz]

I haven't read all the thread, but what happens if the F1 mob decide to - somehow - refund all Indy tickets and these CART fans , who have exchanged, won't have one to refund against. Just a thought.

[Snrub]

Good point diz, I don't know what will happen with that.

Watched Wind Tunnel last night for about 5 mins and the guest (some racing writer) was saying that he was surprised that only 1k F1 fans came to Cleveland.

[Tim Northcutt]

Originally Posted by Amar7605

According to the article, the official attendance was just under 90,000. I don't think it has been like that in Cleveland in a long time! This is one example that Champ Car is coming back!

That 90,000 had to be for the weekend, because today's Indy Star had a nice article on the Race from Steve Ballard that contained a side bar about the redeemed USGP Tickets...

The actual Sunday Race Day crowd in Cleveland was estimated at 40,000....and from shots of the stands and the size of the grandstands they had set up, I would say that the 40,000 estimate is a pretty good one...

Not trying to throw cold water on the numbers OWRS is reporting, but I think that total weekend numbers don't reflect an accurate picture, since some fans will attend more than one day and thus they are counted at least twice, and some even three times...

Just my opinion....


But I do agree wholeheartedly that Champ Car did a great job at trying to capitalize on the USGP fiasco, and that it definitely was both generous and thoughtful gesture with racing fans in mind....

I just wish that more people would have taken advantage of it....because I thought it was a very good race to watch....

[BootsOntheSide]

Discussion of refunds from the USGP probably came soon enough to discourage some disgruntled attendees from trading their ticket in for ChampCar admission, especially considering the cost of attending the event, and from losing faith in F1 altogether. Tim's point about attendance figures involving double-counting is also a very valid one, and has been for several years.

[Snrub]

It seems like race day attendance is typically 1/2 or a little less than the weekend total so ~40k would be in the right ball park. While it's not Mexico City it's certainly a decent and viable figure that will probably keep the race going in the future. Of course a lot of people will be counted 3 times. How many people show up for Friday but don't show up for Sunday? On the other hand, more money is made if they can get people to pay for 3 days worth of tickets instead of just one. We've debated it many times before.

[brightline]

Originally Posted by Tim Northcutt

Not trying to throw cold water on the numbers OWRS is reporting, but I think that total weekend numbers don't reflect an accurate picture, since some fans will attend more than one day and thus they are counted at least twice, and some even three times...

Just my opinion....

This is how Champ Car attendance has been counted for many years, we should just be very thankful that we've got loyal fans that will show up the entire weekend, and with all the races at Cleveland this year, there couldn't have been much down time on the track all three days.

[mitchie]

Originally Posted by Liz

A nice idea and judging from the number of photos of happy F1 fans turning in their tickets for Champ Car tickets, that I saw, the gesture was not unappreciated. I do confess that my first thought was "Take that, TG" but I am inclined to blame Max for this debacle and to compliment Champ Cars for a quick move to capitalize on the situation.

Exactly. Regardless if it was one person, one thousand or one hundred thousand that took Champ Car up on the offer. It was a mighty fine gesture and one of the better PR moves that any race series in the world will pull off this year. Look at all the mentions it got in newspapers and the web, some of which have already been mentioned