Attendance at New Hampshire International Speedway for
Sunday's True Value 200, the IRL's season opener, was announced
at 24,000. But, the BOSTON GLOBE's Vega & Lessels note "not even
the appearance of Celtics legend Larry Bird, who served as the
race's grand marshal, could bolster sagging ticket sales." NHIS
Owner Bob Bahre: "Naturally, we wished we had more people. But we
knew what was going to happen" (BOSTON GLOBE, 8/19). IRL Founder
Tony George said the crowd was not a setback. George: "The
problem all along has been we couldn't plan an absolute perfect
time to bring our product into the marketplace" (INDIANAPOLIS
STAR-NEWS, 8/19). In Orlando, Mike Dame writes on the IRL,
noting "awareness is lacking, ticket sales are slow and the
media are apathetic" (ORLANDO SENTINEL, 8/18).
THE CART PATH: Meanwhile, according to NATIONAL SPEED SPORT
NEWS, CART has yet to release its 1997 IndyCar schedule. Among
items discussed: Moving the Medic Drug Grand Prix of Cleveland to
Memorial Day weekend with the race likely being held the day
before or day after the Indy 500; moving the U.S. 500 to a
different date on the schedule with the Marlboro 500 moving to
the California Speedway as the season finale (NATIONAL SPEED
SPORTS, 8/14). IndyCar President & CEO Andrew Craig was featured
on CNN's "Pinnacle." Craig on whether both IndyCar and the IRL
can survive their feud: "It's not in the best interest of the
sport to have two leagues. Obviously it fragments the industry,
it causes great uncertainty among sponsors. Bear in mind, we're
in a business that's 95% financed by sponsors" ("Pinnacle," CNN,
8/17).
