Q: Does IMS have any future plans to add more chair-back seats in the lower seating area?
Kentucky James, 22 years in the first turn
DB: As you know, we did add chairback seats in the penthouses in 2016. We have explored it in other areas, but unless we put in the narrowest of chairback seats (which are not comfortable for many people) in other locations, we will lose some number of seats. And, while that would not be a problem 364 days a year – for the Indianapolis 500 it would mean asking customers to either reduce the seats in their orders or arbitrarily forcing that on some customers.
Thanks for the question! And thanks for representing Turn 1!
Q: Since Mr. Penske bought IMS, what’s the most outrageous idea he has come up with to make the track better?
Nathan Gray
DB: Are you trying to get me fired? “Outrageous?” Too funny!
Honestly, what has been the most refreshing thing about Roger is how much time he spends at IMS and how much time he spends walking around the facility and opening every door and walking in every space and really allowing us to invest to make things better. He doesn’t sit in an office; he is out helping us make things better.
Want to hear a crazy story? RP calls on a February afternoon and says he just arrived in Indianapolis (we didn’t know he was coming) and wanted to know if a couple of us wanted to get dinner and talk about what was on our agenda. Of course we did! Great, he’ll pick us up at the back of the admin building and we’ll get dinner. We hop in the car (its maybe 6:15 or so, basically just dark) and he starts driving around the facility. We go through parking lots, stop and go in restrooms, check out grandstands and where we should put more video, look at some things we should paint under the grandstands. In and out of the car. Turning bright headlights on the Tahoe to illuminate areas we can’t see because we don’t have electricity in the full facility in the winter. It’s non-stop. The list keeps growing.
At 9:30, we finally are done on our “make-a-list” tour, and he stops at the door where he originally picked us up. We all had lost track of time. He looks at us and says, “Now that was a great dinner!”
So, the outrageous thing about RP? He loves IMS and the experience like we all do and the work he puts in shows it. And, if you want a project he really made better – the big board on the back side of the Pagoda – that is all RP. We were just going to replace the two boards that were on either end and we were standing explaining that to him in the plaza looking up and he looked unsettled. And, before we could finish explaining to him the plan – he said – “Let’s put a board the entire width of the Pagoda up there. It will transform the Pagoda Plaza.” He was correct.
Q: My question is motorsport-related per se, but about the operation side of the business.
My first experience attending the Indianapolis Speedway was for the U.S. Grand Prix over 20 years ago. What struck me was the organization when it came to crowd management. It reminded me of Michigan Speedway when Penske owned it – almost Disney-like in management from a spectator perspective (not to be confused with Disney’s own track at the time). Both Michigan and Indy were case study models of spectator efficiency; Indy on an even larger scale.
Has the Speedway been approached for their expertise in crowd management by others? Whether it be large festivals/events, or government agencies domestically or internationally for disaster management? And what did the Penske corporate involvement bring to the table in terms of organization skill set?
Mark T., Mississauga, Ontario, Canada
DB: Thanks for the note and thanks for the comparison to the other place that thinks it is the happiest place on Earth!
We share our experiences and learnings with all kinds of events, facilities and event organizers. Kentucky Derby, US Open, Masters, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Disney, concerts, etc. And, we have as much to learn from them as they do from us.
What is unique about IMS and our events, I believe, is our partnership and coordination with law enforcement agencies from the local folks all the way to federal agencies. They all work together leading up to and during the event to help crowd management go smoothly. And, of course, our yellow shirt team is the best in the business in terms of customer service once inside the venue.
Personally, I want us to get better every year. There are always new challenges each year and we can always improve, so for me it is less about us teaching others and more about what can we learn that works at IMS to make the experience better here.
Thanks for the question and thanks for being a fan of IMS from way back in F1 days!