US Grand Prix visitors: how was your day?

[Gerard]

I would like to invite everyone who visited the US Grand Prix to tell us how they experienced the event.
Did your journey to and from Indianapolis go well, did you have a good view of the race, how did the American spectators react to what they saw, did you enjoy yourself and do you consider the US Grand Prix a success?
Please tell.

[Redneck]

All of the F1 fanatics had a wonderful "coming-out-of-the-closet" day.

I have followed F1 almost all of my life, but never really had the chance to go to a race. When I first learned about the possibility of a USGP I made the decision to go. I FedExed my application in order to get first crack at seats, and it paid off. I got what turned out to be the most coveted seats in the house. Section H, at the end of the front straight, right where they slam on the brakes for Turn 1. INCREDIBLE!!!! I could see most of the front straight, all the way to where they turned to go down the back straight.

I knew there would the big Jumbotron video screens and hoped one would be in viewing distance. Turned out there was one right in front of me. My buddy had a scanner and we listened to all of the television coverage. It was especially interesting to hear the things they talk about off the camera. They were not too kind after Mika's snippy interview.

The fan turnout was incredible. Friday's practice probably brought out 40,000. Qualifying day brought closer to 50-60,000. Raceday was sold out at 250,000. I saw a few bare seats, but not many. Sunday morning was cold and wet. Some weak kneed fans probably chickened out. I took along my large Ferrari flag for all 3 days. The first day many fans stopped me to ask where they could get one. Saturday, more Ferrari flags were on display. And Sunday even more. But what was truly incredible were all the Ferrari flags after Mikeee won. There must have been a thousand Ferrari flags out. The vendors better bring more flags next year.

I am still nursing my 19,000 RPM hangover, and my voice is shot. My buddy and I spent close to 30 hours over 3 days at the track. Next year will be even better. We both vowed that we were going to get the fans as rowdy on the evenings prior to the race as they get for the Indy 500 and the Brickyard 400. It's amazing how much tolerance the Indianapolis police have! The people I was with told some pretty crazy stories of Indy 500 nights. They also seemed to know the limits of the Indy cops. They knew that bail would cost $110.

All in all it was a dream come true for me. The facility was fabulous. The racing incredible. The experience was one-of-a-kind. If I was just dreaming... don't wake me up.

[Murph]

Hi Gerard

Once I organize my notes & get my photos developed I will cobble together a more detailed "rambling" of my impressions of the USGP at Indy. I can tell ya this.... I thought I'd NEVER....EVER.. say anything complementary about one Tony George.... but here goes.... THANK YOU.... and A JOB WELL DONE! There are a few "rough edges" to be smoothed out, to be sure, but I sure was impressed especially with the access one had to the track. It reminded me of how "open" Montreal was for fans in the '80's..... those days are long gone there. I talked to a lot of people over the weekend and all were very impressed with the weekend....... from foreign fans (estimated 25,000+), "locals", some "old farts" as myself who were hanging around the historic F1 cars tent and re-living the days at the Glen when these machines provided "Thunder in the Glen" in the 60's and 70's, and even a couple of NASCAR fans from Western Pennsylvania who were babbling about those "screaming bad a** machines"... and those comments came from the females! On Sunday.... talked to a couple of police officers who worked Indy on Saturday.... the police estimated the crowd at 125,000-150,000 for qualifying. Also they stated there was a major difference in the "clientle" for the USGP compared to the many "rowdies" (a policemans term.... not mine) who come to the 500 and the Brickyard 400 to simply drink & puke.

Hey Gerard.... you should give this a thought.... since it looks like we will never stand together at Tarzan for the Dutch GP.. come on over and we will stand together at turn 9 at Indianapolis on September 30,2001 Guaranteed... I will be there.

take care all

Murph

[Gerard]

I'm glad you guys had such a great time. Well, what else could it have been. It was great to watch it on television and I guess it must have been awesome to be there.

Murph, I think I'd better move to the States for a couple of months next year since the US Grand Prix has made my dilemma even greater.
I've promised myself that before I die I definitely want to see the Indy 500. I'm also a Nascar fan since a couple of years, so I wouldn't like to miss the Brickyard 400.
And now there's the US Grand Prix.
Ah, so much to do and so little time.

[Jay]

I have critisized the Indianapolis facility before, but I must say they put on a good show!

I still maintain that they need to redo the infield track, but the long straight and banked turn really does add something that is found in few other places. I just wished JV had setup his car with a little less downforce .

The crowds looked much more enthusiastic than I expected. There were so many Ferrari flags, one would think it was Monza. On second thought, I hate the look of the crowd .

Can't wait to hear the rest of your stories.

(I wonder if next year they will have a full house for qualifying, at most tracks quali is often more exciting than the race!)

[Liz]

Next year they will have Juan Pablo Montoya, who has something of a following at present. If he is good next year he will draw quite a crowd to cheer him. If not, the reverse.

I'm interested in hearing about the amenities. How as the traffic, how was the parking, how were the facilities in general? Were the prices reasonable? (At Fontana there are no water fountains and they were charging $3.00 US for a 79 cent bottle of water.)

And what about the support races?

[Murph]

Liz

I will cover this in my "report" to you. But here are the answers to your questions.....(1) very nice, (2) ok on Friday & Saturday... Sunday was a mess, (3) No problem, (4) super, (5) $$$ for race weekend was relatively cheap... my seat was just up from the s/f line by the Pagoda... I was about 50 yards from the podium. cost was $85.00 a little cheaper than the $350 I paid for seats in the Gold section across from the Minardi pits at Montreal in '97. (5) prices were high.... but I learned my lesson on Friday and did what the locals do... bought a cooler and loaded it up with food & adult beverages. (6) Porsche Cup races... Sat. after qualifying and a second race after the Sunday warm up.... Ferrari Challenge race held about 1 1/2 hours before the Gran Prix.

Jacques got the the biggest cheer during introductions.... I exprct Juan to be very popular next year as well.

Murph

[downforce]

Murph,
would u have a pic of Ferrari No.3 on the banking [curve]approaching the s/f straight????
If u do, could you please mail one over?

[Murph]

Hi Downforce

Most of my pics were taken in the infield section..especially at the turn 8/9/10 section..... many have criticized this section but it was by far the best place to get photos... especially on the "exit" of turn 9 as there was NO FENCING in the way. I also was very surprised that I could get some "panning" shots at the S/F line... hope a couple of them work out. When I get my stuff back from the camera shop (hopefully by the end of the week).... I will e-mail ya and let ya know what I have of Ferrari #3 that might be of interest to you.

take care

Murph

[downforce]

danke!danke!danke!

[Fiorentina 1]

Liz, Indy prices were not out-of-control!

It was raining & I bought an umbrella for $10 bucks on race day! A good one, too. In NY or L.A that would be $25 easy, at any store, and $50 if it were raining on the street....

$85 Tickets were available for $35 2 hours before the start...

But, it's all about Turkey Legs!

[Redneck]

All of the scalpers at Indy are licensed by the city. Ticket prices steadily went down by the hour over the three days. One scalper on Friday had 133 tickets and seemed frustrated. He said something about he should have gone to Australia.

We had an extra set of $85 tickets that we sold on Friday for $70 each. They were right in front of turn 1. We were able to get Friday/Saturday tickets for $20 each.

[Liz]

Then next year it should be possible to get walk-up tickets?

That's encouraging about the prices though, I wonder if it will be the same next year? The prices at Monza were outrageous, even in lira, but the prices at Le Mans were quite reasonable, so it sounds as if the USGP stayed right in line. Water is very expensive at the Molson Indy, but as you say, locals learn to bring their own. Other stuff appears to be reasonably priced - Jay can confirm that I think.

How did the public transport work? Who won the support races?

[Redneck]

Don't know about the public transportation. I slept in my van in the front yard of a friend about a 15 minute walk from the track. Ohhh... I know... you must be talking about the helicopters that woke me up at 6:00 A.M.

The support races... the Porsche Cup series (there were actually 2 of these) and the Ferrari Challenge. The Ferrari Challenge was made up of amateurs, no profs allowed. Thus it was doctors and lawyers with too much money. They seemed to be afraid to mix it up in the rain. Some doctor out of Texas won it. The Porsche Cup race on Sunday was run in the rain and was great. Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Jr., Damon Hill were in it. They didn't do much, but they were in it. A series regular won it, can't remember the name. Too many beers I guess.

They did have an historic F1 car parade made up of 60's and 70's era F1 cars. They paraded around behind the pace car. Loved watching the a Lotus and the TAG slow down at the back then charge through the last turn wide open.

[IAM]

Hi everyone!

I went out on the Wednesday and came home on Tuesday. All the seats around turns 1, 2, 3, 4 are great! A couple of guys in front of me were locals having a good old time. Nascar and CART fans who asked lots of questions about F1, while drinking there beer(lots of it) and complaining that turn 1 had taken away their "snake pit". Thats another story.

I took approximately 200 photo's over the weekend. I have managed to get 24 of them up on a web site called zing.

If you want to look it's www.zing.com/album/?id=4293567751

Brought back plenty of souveniers, too many! Had a great time and no trouble parking or getting to and from the track any day. I rented an apartment that was about 5 miles from the track. I plan on attending next year.

Ian