Solutions for the Brickyard 400's Lackluster Attendance

In 1994, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held the first official running of the Brickyard 400 in front of a crowd that was allegedly approximately 250,000.

In 2016, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway held the 22nd (if my math is right) running of the "Crown Royal 400 at the Brickyard" in front of a crowd that was perhaps 1/4 the size.

What happened?

I will admit that I am not a racing aficionado, so most of my analysis is "from the hip," as they say. However, the people with whom I've spoken have simply said that the Brickyard is a boring race . . . like watching cars play "follow the leader" until they pit, and then having a pit-stop competition.

Boring.

Those in the know have said that because IMS is such a large track (2.5-mile oval), it does not have nearly as much racing action (i.e. passing, bumping, etc.) as other tracks, such as Bristol and Martinsville (roughly 0.5-mile ovals). Certainly, someone who watches racing, and NASCAR, regularly would be able to offer better commentary on why the NASCAR race in Indianapolis is so boring. Nonetheless, that is the general consensus I have heard.

Well, we can't very well rebuild the oval at IMS. However, there is a solution to this staring us in the face: the road course. So far as I can tell, there are a handful of other road races in the NASCAR season, and adding one more, with the possibility of improving attendance at the Brickyard, certainly couldn't hurt.

Add to that the necessity of lowering ticket prices. After all, I can't imagine dropping $100+ on a ticket for a race that can't sell out more than half the stands. NASCAR could take a page from the MegaBus pricing, and sell the first 10,000 tickets for $1 or some other nominal price. Assuredly, those tickets would sell out almost immediately. Perhaps the next 10,000 tickets go for $10. Suddenly, we've got a rather large crowd of people who've paid a small amount for the race; this would enable people to bring their kids (something they really can't do at $100/head) and possibly create lifelong fans.

This is merely a muse, of course, given that the Brickyard is nearly upon us. I do hope that they have better attendance, but I am not optimistic.