Wednesday, June 29, 2016

Hyperbole Abounds

Fox News ran an article about huge crowds at Road America for last week’s Indycar race. Go read the article and tell me what’s missing. Did you spot it?

There is not one single picture of the “huge crowd” presented. Only one picture of a grandstand is shown, and it was taken from half a mile away so that you might not notice that there are only about twelve people in it. That grandstand is crowded compared to all the rest.

The video clip presents some angles that show groups of people that look like a crowd, but if you watched the race on television you would soon realize that those were nothing more than isolated groups. The parking lots were less than half full, and the stands were worse than that.

There was a NASCAR road race at Sonoma the same weekend, a race which has historically drawn huge crowds to California’s wine country. Crowds were even more pathetic that those at Road America. The grandstand at the start/finish line was less than half full, and the rest of the stand had handfuls of spectators.

Reminds me of the other California race, where the track manager claimed that the empty stands were because, “everyone is under the stands shopping.”  I’ve been to that speedway, and I’ve been under those stands. There is no shopping worthy of the name. How long does it take to buy a beer and a hot dog?

Notwithstanding the hype of its proprietors, motorsport racing is a dying act in this country.

1 comment:

  1. bruce8:17 AM

    I saw the pits and the RV lot. Not much there.

    ReplyDelete