IndyCar chief Roger Penske says his goal is to have 250,000 fans at May’s Indianapolis 500, and a decision on the exact admittance number will be possible in early April.
Penske – who purchased the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar in a blockbuster deal completed early last year – continued to make circuit improvements and pump money into the venue despite the onset of the covid-19 pandemic and the postponement of the IndyCar season and Indy 500.
The championship got back under way in June last year and managed a 14-race season, while the organisers of the Indy 500 worked desperately to find a solution to have fans in for the largest outdoor single-day sporting event before admitting defeat and running the event behind closed-doors in August.
“We’re not making any predictions at all because anything I would say today could be completely wrong,” said Penske, who confirmed 170,000 tickets have been sold for the Indy 500 already, also adding that no decision had been made on admittance yet.
“Our goal is to have 250,000. That’s what we want to have.
“It’s outside. We’ve got the biggest stadium in the world here and it’s a matter of where we’re going to be with the CDC and the governor and the mayor, so I don’t have any number that I’d want to hang my hat on.
“It just shows you the interest in the race. We’ve got a lot of people that are waiting obviously, and we have our GA [general admission] and what else we normally do on that weekend, but I think the good news is we’re going to have the race and this will be limited or will be open based on what the [COVID-19] current numbers are.”
He also added: “You hear all sorts of numbers, Kentucky Derby 50% [attendance allowed]. Obviously the numbers are getting much better and certainly going in our favour. Our goal is to hopefully have some indication here as we get into April. We don’t run until the end of May.
“Remember, we have this generational customer I guess, this guest that’s been coming to the track for many years. They have their tickets and I think as we sit here today we’ve got over 170,000 tickets that have already been taken. So we’re in good shape.
“So now do we open up the rest, for GA and some of the other things that have to happen? That’s going to be limited basically to what’s specified by the authorities.”
Penske confirmed that the series would be doing some work on its push to pass system in the next week or so, and he predicts that 28 cars will come to Indianapolis for the open test early in April, which The Race understands will take place on April 8-9.
IndyCar is expected to finalise a number of aero changes for the Indy 500 at that open test, with initial work done on the floor of the car among other areas following last season in a bid to improve the competition on race day by adding front-end grip.
This year’s race is scheduled to take place on May 30, with the IMS website currently showing practice on May 18-May 21 and Carb Day on May 28, with qualifying on May 22-23.
Last year Takuma Sato won the race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda, Sato’s second 500 win.
