You would be lying to yourself if you thought the Indianapolis 500 and Month of May has the same stature as it did at the beginning of the 90s. All you need to do is look at the simple facts. The race used to be an automatic sell out days after a 500 was over for another year. That is no longer the case.

May at Indy was so big, the first day of qualifying was almost a sell out too as many fans loved the pure excitement of qualifying. It also provided many a new fan a chance to get into IMS to get a feel for the track and event. The other three qualifying days were similar in popularity with “Bump Day” often equaling the first day crowd. The whole month was that special.

Another indicator is the lack of national media coverage compared to the past. It was so big many newspapers and TV networks had special content just for The Month of May.

Look at the image in the front page graphic; notice all the empty seats at the start of last year’s race. That was unheard of in the past. Sure they got a decent crowd for the nostalgia of the 100th running, but it has gone down again every year since. And, seats have been removed further reducing crowd size.

It is understood that it still draws a decent crowd. But is it a race crowd or an event crowd? I think that can be answered by how much it really has fallen in the eyes of true auto racing fans. It is not the teams and drivers fault, they can only provide so much with spec racing cars.

Let’s be realistic, the race is not what it used to be and it is doubtful if it will ever be again.