Auto Racing World: A complete roundup
After a long wait, the Indianapolis 500 is finally been taken seriously as “the Greatest Spectacle in Racing” in the world. With eleven rows of three cars in each lane, the Indy 500 has been able to excite and magnetise a huge number of people from all over the United States of America as well as fans from other countries around the world.
However, things have taken a turn for the worse. Many people at Indy along with organisers and racing crew were shocked to see the 2.5 mile oval track on Sunday when no one showed up to watch the race. Thousands of unoccupied seats welcomed the drivers and their teams before the start of the Indy 500 on this Sunday.
Entire sections of the Indy’s famous grandstands were deserted and roaring fans were nowhere to be seen. During this season of NASCAR’s Sprint Cup series, a dramatic drop in attendance was witnessed on the day of the race. The fact could not be ignored that the slumbering economy of America has a lot to do with it. However, in the past, Indy 500 has been able to survive such ordeals without any hassle largely due to its popularity amongst the local public.
Even during the open-wheel civil war that lasted a dozen or so years which was thought to be the darkest days of American economy, the drop in attendance was not so noticeable at the Brickyard, as was seen on this Sunday.
Even the same vacant patches were visible at the souvenir stands, parking lots and camping grounds all around the 16th Street and Georgetown Road. These places otherwise had always been noticed to be super saturated with cars, people and road-side stands. This year, the hawkers had also been heavily hurt by the huge empty spaces in the rag-tag trailer parks. The parking prices for the neighbourhood entrepreneurs had been dropped to $5 per two hours from the pre-set amount of US$ 20 a day, just a few moments before the start of the race. The situation is alarming and the bosses at Indy Car should be concerned about it.
Moving away to other races that took place on this Sunday, the GP3 Series at Istanbul was held quite successfully in Turkey. Robert Wickens and Daniel Morad were the two young drivers from Canada who took part in the race and finished at the opposite ends of the points table. Morad, after finishing at the fifth place, finalised his second points-scoring result of the season. However, the day began frustrating for Wickens, who suffered an on-track confrontation with James Jakes of Manor Racing. He told that he could have passed Jakes while going into the twelfth turn but he was hit by Jakes on his right rear tyre at the exit which resulted in a puncture.
At the O’Reilly Raceway Park on Saturday, the Star Mazda Series Race was marked. Over here, Conor Daly, the son of Derek Daly, the one-time Formula One driver who later turned to become a television commentator, won the series for the fourth time in a tow. He achieved this feat only after one week of graduating from high school. The second position was secured by Mikael Grenier of the Quebec City.
And the news from the auto racing world ceases to stop. An amount of $20 million will be paid to the super driver from the Bruton Smith of the P.T. Barnum. The offer is both amazing and baffling and keeps intriguing more and more people as it says that the amount could be claimed by any driver who wins both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 600 and the Indianapolis 500 and the deal completes with the condition of the same day for both the races. Auto racing of course has seen its fare share of money in the Formula One circuit along with many riches to be earnt through advertisements and sponsorships. On time can tell if the flow of cash in the racing world will continue to go on despite the recession or not.
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