Road America to bring back $100 IndyCar ticket

The mark of a great event is when you have a good crowd and people want to talk about how much it was off from the previous year. That was the scenario last weekend at Road America. It was a strong turnout and will easily be one of the two best on the 2017 Verizon IndyCar circuit (besides the Indianapolis 500) but it wasn't the mob that showed up a year ago.

Perfect weather led to a strong walk-up and last Sunday's crowd looked to be in the 30,000-35,000 range but was shy of the estimated 50,000 that attended last year's IndyCar show. So George Bruggenthies, the president and general manager at RA, is going back to the popular $100 ticket in 2018 in hopes of bringing back the estimated 100,000 that turned out for three days in 2016.

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"It was a good crowd but down a little bit," said Bruggenthies, who has spent big money upgrading the campgrounds, roads, victory lane, paddock and overall look of the gorgeous, 4-mile road course in Elkhart Lake, Wis. "Last year was nuts but we didn't offer that $100 ticket this year, so we're going to bring it back next year because I think it's the best bargain in racing."

For $100, a fan gets a four-day ticket next year that includes gate admission, access to the IndyCar paddock and free parking. Bruggenthies expects the offer to start by Wednesday at RoadAmerica.com and it will be available until Sept. 1.

"That's a lot of racing for the money," he said of the program that included doubleheaders in all three categories of Mazda's Road to Indy in addition to a tripleheader with the Pirelli World Challenge.

By comparison, single-day tickets last week were $30 for Thursday, $40 for Friday, $70 for Saturday and $80 for Sunday.

There was some grumbling that campers weren't pleased with the price increase (a $65 wristband fee was added to the $100 for a ticket and $100 for a motorhome space) but Bruggenthies said camping was actually up and campers were allowed to stay until Monday.

"I was totally pleased with everything," he said. "It was a good IndyCar race, lots of good stuff from the support series and a good turnout. We'll have the same date (June 24) next year and the same starting time (just past noon)."

And that popular $100 ticket is back until Sept 1.