This IMSA.com Contributor Is Elated Attendance at Races Is Reopening
By Jeff Olson
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – A few years ago, after a long day covering the Daytona 500, I began walking to my car. I’d parked outside the track to cover the start of the race from the press box, then took a tram to the media center in the infield to catch the finish.
It was dark when I finished working, the tram long since parked for the night, so I started the long walk to the other side of the track. When I reached the Turn 4 tunnel, I discovered it was closed. The only remaining exit was the Turn 1 tunnel, nearly a mile away, then back to the car, another half-mile.
At that rate, give or take a few blisters, I’d be home by 6 a.m.
The tunnel cop, bless his heart, flagged down the next driver trying to get out through the blocked tunnel and asked if he’d give me a lift to the outside of Turn 4. He did, and it was a hitchhike I’ll never forget.
In that short drive, the driver and his buddy talked about the race, exchanged stories, and discussed drivers, owners and strategy. I told them they could drop me off outside the Turn 1 tunnel and I’d walk the rest, but they insisted on taking me all the way to my car. When I offered a few bucks for their trouble, they laughed me out of the car and waved goodbye.
Race fans are exceptional. And, for a time, they were absent from races. Gradually and in increasing numbers, though, they began to return. And, finally, they’re back in full capacity. Next week’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix will mark the first full-grandstand event for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and IndyCar Series since COVID interrupted racing in March 2020.
It’s welcome news for fans and racers alike.
“During the walks between the pit lane and the paddock area, we’ve missed the atmosphere of having fans,” said Tommy Milner, who will co-drive the No. 4 Corvette Racing Chevrolet Corvette C8.R in a non-points exhibition role at Detroit in the WeatherTech Championship’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic. “Fundamentally that’s why we go racing – to showcase these amazing Corvette race cars and allow the people to get up close and see how cool they are five feet away.
“For the fans who have been around sports cars so long to get back the access is pretty special. The next generation of sports car fans and owners and the kids that can see the cars up close, that’s obviously been missing. For us, that’s something that is fun to see.”
It’s as close as the WeatherTech Championship has been to normal in more than a year. Full grandstand and paddock, full atmosphere, back in the business of interacting with the people who pay the bills.
Like racing, other professional sports carried on without fans during the pandemic. Basketball, baseball and football had piped in crowd noise and cardboard cutouts of fans. But the relationship between racing and its fans is different. Fans are the show in racing. They can’t be replaced by fake noise and cardboard.
Tracks have different personalities because of their audience, and that’s notably true of road and street courses. The Rolex 24 At Daytona is a carnival. Sebring is spring break with fast cars. Elkhart Lake and Watkins Glen are campouts. Detroit is a spectacle in the shadow of the Motor City.
Without fans, racing has no personality. The product is there, but it has no flavor. The beauty is in everything that happens at the track beyond the racing. Ferris wheels, vendor displays, other fans and car enthusiasts, food and drink. The entire show, not just the race, is the attraction.
Finally, it’s back, and that’s the best story of the year.