Q: I have been going to the LBGP since its inception, and attended about 75% of the events over 48 years. It seemed to me that last Friday was uncharacteristically overcrowded, likely due to a large amount of complimentary tickets that seemed to have been handed out, while Saturday and particularly Sunday morning were far less crowded than most previous years.
The Expo was also decidedly underwhelming in the number of vendors and booths. The grandstands on Sunday looked about 3/4ths full, at least in the Turn 1 area. What was your feeling? I find it very hard to believe the stated attendance of 192,000 over three days, even considering fans like me likely being counted three times (once for each day), and particularly wonder what the actual paid attendance was.
Given how much it costs to put on a street race like this, and the noticeable decrease in sponsor spending and marketing changing from Toyota to Acura as title sponsor, I worry about the long-term viability of the event. I know the media always says Long Beach is second only to the Indy 500, but the lack of teeming weekend crowds post-Covid was decidedly concerning. What are your thoughts?
Also, to the writers that have complained about sound on Peacock streaming, check the settings of your TV sound system and turn OFF any kind of Dolby or DVX sound processing. On some channels/platforms those features cause audio sub-channels to be dropped, often ones carrying commentary or live stadium audio (Fox Sports over YouTube TV particularly). May not be the culprit all the time, but certainly worth a try.
Greg Naive
MP: Lots of assumptions — mostly negative — being made here. I’m not aware of large swaths of free tickets being given out for Friday. I do know the increased crowd size was a topic of conversation on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday among teams and drivers. It was as vibrant a LBGP as I can recall; one thing that never came to mind while walking throughout the property each day was that it lacked fans. In fact, I used some of the lesser-known short cuts to get to certain places because it was too packed and too slow using normal routes.
I never believe crowd numbers, but whatever it was, it was a lot. Thanks for the sound advice (sorry, couldn’t resist).
Q: I’m curious about your thoughts on the STP-Paxton Turbo car, the gas turbine engine that almost won the Indy 500 in 1967. Do you think USAC was right to ban it? How do you think oval IndyCar racing would have evolved if they had allowed it?
Doug, Stafford, VA
MP: One of the greatest racing vehicles ever conceived. There were a few turbine-powered cars that were sublime, but none of them were as finely executed as Parnelli’s near-winner from ’67.
I hate any sanctioning body that wrote rules to kill innovation, so no, USAC wasn’t right to regulate turbines out of being competitive, but I understand why they did it. New things are scary, and in a form of racing where the automobile — even open-wheelers that look nothing like road cars — are the basis of the sport, I can see how helicopter and airplane technology would be perceived as too far removed from what a Ford or similar might want to get out of racing Indy cars.
Audi brought all-wheel-drive technology to the SCCA Trans Am series in 1988, destroyed the rear-wheel-drive dinosaurs, and were regulated out of competitiveness. They went to IMSA the following year in GTO, mopped the floor with everyone, and were run out of there as well. And like the STP Turbine, those who saw the Audis in action will never forget them because they were so amazing to watch and listen to as they went up against older technology.
The turbine works in limited numbers; it was so crazy and unique that it had to capture the world’s imagination. A full field of them? I’m not sure the fascination lasts for more than a year or two because teams will always gravitate towards the winning concepts and if they were allowed to continue, that’s where everyone would have migrated.
Q: I would like to put out three questions that are on my mind lately. 1) Is there a particular reason that Felix Rosenquist’s Indy livery is in McLaren orange instead of the iconic Marlboro red? 2) What is Cristiano da Matta up to these days, and is he ever seen at IndyCar events anymore? How realistic is it to anticipate a return of the Milwaukee Mile to the IndyCar calendar as early as 2024 (as had been rumored)?
Wiscowerner
MP: On the first question, I’d assume it’s because there are laws against tobacco advertising in sports, and going with the full period-correct Marlboro red and white with the Marlboro chevron made famous by Phillip Morris Inc., would probably get the attention of agencies Penske Entertainment wouldn’t want to show up in the paddock. Also, the team is sponsored by RJ Reynolds, the big and longtime tobacco rival to Phillip Morris, whose VELO product is prominently displayed as a primary sponsor, so there are limits to how far they’d want to go to celebrate McLaren’s Marlboro-era.
Haven’t seen Shorty in a few years but have heard he’s working in the family business. We wrote about Milwaukee as the leading new (old) track to return to the calendar back in December and I’ve heard nothing since to suggest it’s lost its place in the queue.
Q: Couple questions relating to two-time Indy champ Arie Luyendyk. One, I vaguely remember him saying back in 1996 that his Treadway Racing team had planned to try to practice at Indy with the rear wing taken completely off. Has any current team ever thought of trying that next month at the Brickyard?
And second, has Luyendyk had any reactions or comments yet to possibly having his track records from the same 1996 year being overtaken by someone in May?
Matt Embury, South Bend, IN
MP: That was an idea they discussed, but it wasn’t tried. I’m forgetting who, but it was tried once — I’m thinking in the 1980s, possibly at Michigan. Haven’t spoken with Arie about it yet, but I’m sure he’s been prepared for it to fall more than once.