| | Associated Press
BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Falling attendance for the Michigan 500
CART race at Michigan Speedway could lead to its cancellation, race
officials say.
"Yeah, I think it is a concern," Michigan Speedway president
Gene Haskett said Wednesday. "It has that potential that it might
not be back."
One year remains on the contract between Troy-based Championship
Auto Racing Teams and Michigan Speedway, the fast 2-mile oval
owned by International Speedway Corp.
Negotiations to keep the race after 2001 will begin later this
year, The Detroit News said Thursday.
The Michigan 500 is Sunday. It has been among the most
competitive CART races the last few years. Haskett said ticket
sales, despite a prominent multimedia advertising push in the
Detroit market, are down.
The Detroit News 100 Indy Lights race and NASCAR Craftsman Truck
series race will be Saturday.
Since the inaugural U.S. 500 at Michigan Speedway, which drew an
estimated 110,000 and ran opposite the Indianapolis 500 in May
1996, attendance numbers have dropped. Last year's race drew an
estimated 55,000.
Now that the tracks capacity has expanded by 10,800 this year to
136,384 reserved seats, the crowd looks sparse on television.
Bobby Rahal, CART's interim president and chief executive, said
he also wonders about the race's future.
"I should put it this way, it has always been a concern, even
before the position I'm in now," said Rahal He said CART finds
metropolitan venues such as downtown Toronto, which drew a
three-day record 170,000 last weekend, more appealing.
"It's a huge concern," he said. "You go to just about any
other race, you go to the California 500, and its full -- what's the
problem here?
"Is it because it's difficult to get to and from? I know a lot
of our sponsors don't participate because it is."
MIS is in rural Jackson County, about 65 miles west of from
Detroit
"You're either in Ann Arbor or Detroit, and it's not
convenient. Is it that our fan base isn't interested in events like
that, whereas you go to Cleveland or last weekend at Toronto, which
was unbelievable?
"It's great racing at Michigan. So you wonder, what's the
deal?"
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