The conditions were so bad they would've been considered atrocious by even the most hardy sports spectator. The wind was whipping up in gale-force gusts all through the infield of Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with rain pelting down in sheets that went sideways as well as downward. I watched as one spectator had his plastic rain poncho literally blown off his body by a particularly strong wind gust, with the poncho sailing off into the distance as he chased after it in vain.
The wind was so strong that several large blocks of Airfence (inflatable impact barriers) basically rose up into the air against the speedway oval turn two banking's protective fencing as if the laws of gravity had suddenly been eliminated, and they too would've surely taken flight if the anchoring tethers on each end had not held fast. The conditions eventually deteriorated to the point that the MotoGP race was red-flagged with 7 laps remaining, and the 250cc race-which was postponed from its original spot before the MotoGP event to 4:30 pm-was ultimately canceled for the first time in 30 years. Even one of the sturdy-looking manufacturer display tents in the infield collapsed after buckling from the strain of withstanding continuous gale-force winds.
But despite the awful conditions, there was still a significant number of spectators inside IMS' expansive confines, with most of the grandstands around the racecourse looking full and the infield viewing areas appearing well-populated. And it should be noted that there was plenty of advance warning of bad weather via the TV news stations for days leading up to the event, with the remnants of Hurricane Ike slated to run through the area smack dab on race weekend. But that did little to dampen the spirits of MotoGP-hungry Midwestern race fans, who flocked to the Indianapolis area on just as many bikes as automobiles, weather be damned. It was definitely great to see.
Indianapolis Motor Speedway doesn't publicize spectator counts as a matter of policy, but they made an exception for the Indy GP: more than 91,000 people attended on Sunday, with a weekend total of 174,000. This makes the inaugural Indianapolis MotoGP event rank as the largest motorcycle roadrace event in the U.S.A. by a good margin. But this was no accident.
The city of Indianapolis and IMS made sure that there was plenty of PR leading up to the race. The airport had a fully-staffed Red Bull stand replete with race banners and wide-screen televisions running MotoGP race clips greet every traveler at both the baggage claim area and the ticket counters, and the local IMS souvenir shop had one of Stoner's Ducati Desmosedici racebikes on display. Downtown streets were temporarily renamed for MotoGP racing heroes, and the amount of coverage on the race by TV stations near and far was mind-boggling from a typical American standpoint.
We've had more than our share of waiting in traffic snarls both before and after a race, but we were pleasantly surprised at the efficiency and professionalism of both the traffic and crowd control. For instance, on Sunday we thought we'd try to beat the crowd by getting to the track early, only to find that nearly every intersection leading to the speedway was already staffed with police to handle traffic, and we literally breezed our way in. Asking for directions from track personnel was met with a courteous and helpful response (instead of the usual dismissiveness we've encountered at some other well-known venues; one IMS official even offered assistance after noticing us studying an infield map). And there were no backed-up lines leading out after the race; all the lines we saw were in constant movement, a sign that traffic plans were well thought out beforehand. Of course, IMS has a long history of dealing with crowds that would dwarf the GP event, as well as nearly all other sporting events in the USA. It's safe to say that more than 300,000 race fans attend the Indy 500 automobile race every Memorial Day weekend, so this event was probably a vacation for most of the IMS personnel.
As to be expected for hosting a MotoGP event for the first time, there were a couple of issues, mostly with the racetrack surface in the newly reconfigured infield areas. And the rain revealed some water drainage concerns that will surely need to be addressed in order to avoid some of the problems that resulted in the race cancellations at the inaugural event. But these were all really minor problems in the general scope of Indianapolis Motor Speedway's first MotoGP. Even the riders felt that their initial skepticism at the course layout was unfounded after riding it, and the majority voiced approval after the race.
It was difficult not to be impressed by how well the weekend went, despite the bad weather. Kudos to IMS, the city of Indianapolis, and all the spectators who braved the conditions.