Report: Pocono IndyCar future threatened by poor ticket sales

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The return of Indy car racing to Pocono International Raceway last year (ABOVE) for the first time in in 24 years was widely celebrated by fans – but that enthusiasm hasn't translated into enough ticket sales to satisfy Pocono CEO and President Brandon Igdalsky, who told the Associated Press that sales for Sunday's INDYCAR 500 at the track "were kind of scary" compared with last year, when an estimated crowd in the 35k range turned out. This year's event is the second in a three-year contract, but Igdalsky told the AP he might have to break the contract.

"As of right now, I can't say yes or no," he said. "We can get out (of the contract). If we have to, we'll do it. No sense in losing money, especially a significant amount of money."

Although a race date on July 4 weekend was suggested as problematic, that date was also used in the 1970s during Pocono's long stint on the Indy car calendar. Extension of this year's race to a 500-miler, to include it in a recreated Triple Crown, also doesn't seem to have generated additional interest, according to Igdalsky.

"The fans begged us to bring it back," he told the AP. "Every study and report we did, they all said they'd come. But they're not coming in the numbers we need them to come in. Are these fans really here? In Pennsylvania? In the Andrettis' backyard? Why aren't they coming out? Where are they?"

Pocono also schedules two NASCAR Sprint Cup races each year in June and August, and Igdalsky told the AP he is satisfied with attendance for both those races. So, the onus is clearly on IndyCar fans to put their wallets where their mouths are if the Verizon IndyCar Series is to continue at the Long Pond, Pa., tri-oval.