This seemed like a harmless story from Suburban Chicago News about the two drivers leading the race for the series championship right until the final paragraphs - where they explain while there may be so few people at Chicagoland.
(Scott) Dixon is a former series champion, but is not considered one of the big names in IRL. (Dario) Franchitti has raced in CART and IRL for 11 seasons, but he's still best known as the husband of actress Ashley Judd.Yikes! Nothing like taking on the NFL and the PGA in the same weekend. Is it too late to push this back a week? Maybe bump the event to Saturday? Anything? Anyone?
That is not exactly star power to compete against the opening of the NFL season. While the Bears aren't at home that day, their 3:15 p.m. start Sept. 9 will mean kickoff will be at approximately the same time as the drop of the green flag.
Also, the PGA Tour comes to Cog Hill in Lemont that weekend. With high school and college football in full swing by then, it remains to be seen just how much interest there will be in a race at a track that had empty seats for its NASCAR event.
You'd think somebody who owns a racing league in Indianopolis would have the common sense to not have let this happen. I'd be hard pressed to not watch the Colts vs The Saints if the points battle is decided by then.
I saw a lot of empty seats at IMS last Sunday. It was pretty obvious to anyone watching on TV.