u/hwf0712

SMX Friday Live, 1:00 PM Eastern (WMX Moto 1): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lp9O8FlsfQ

Otherwise, normal predictions, random musings, whatever you want that isn't rule breaking but doesn't need its own thread

I know I'm adding onto what'll likely be a large number of these types of posts, so I'll quickly cut to the chase:

Awful experience! 2/10

I will start with the few good bits, and say that it was nice that it was free. Seeing cool racecars for free is at least cool, it was cool when I was much younger and went to Pocono for the free open test before they made their comeback, and it was cool then. Additionally, getting in and out (came in at 8:45ish and left quickly after) was a total breeze.

For the bad, however, there is so much to say. The easiest way to sum it up is that the organizers somehow did not expect a motor race, the only one of its type in this country that is reasonably close to the 1st, 9th, and 11th largest metro areas, to be comprised of race fans desperately trying to watch. The picture attached was taken a couple minutes before the command (1:03, to be exact) from the inside of the exit of 4. At this point, none of these people are attempting to walk down the sidewalk. The entire thing is blocked with a mass of humanity that would take minutes to clear. I got there decently early, and took a spot on a back kerb type thing on the sidewalk, figuring that the event was not so insane to allow this sort of thing to happen. Back there, when it was 2 deep on the fence, I still had a good view of the track (do note: the photo was taken with my arms as outstretched as possible, so the view of the track is pretty good in it. I am not NBA player height) and figured that was a fine trade-off to have a bit of "seat" for FCYs. I expected it to maybe get 3-4 deep at the start, and that I could probably move up to avoid it getting that way for the finish as well, but this was... insanity. It was legitimately dangerous, especially compounded with the lack of ability to follow the race.

I left the area after the first lap because it was baking in the sun, unable to see the track, and unable to hear anything. In our area, we had 0 PA. If something happened, that 10 deep (legitimately, 9 people were in front of me at points) crowd had 0 real way of knowing. We had no screen (which I get), my phone was struggling for service due to the mass of people, and no PA Speaker, and if something did happen, it would've also been impossible to move through the crowd in any reasonable time. Once I did push through on my way out, I went out to check out some other areas and see how bad it was there. I went over to the exit of turn 2, which seemed to be even worse because it was a total dead end. Its a shame the banners were the way they were, because there would've been so much great viewing in the area without the Starlink banners. Instead I found a bunch of people bending over to sneak a peek in the little gap under the banner but above the wall, as well as people standing on giant rocks (sidenote: so many people were climbing things they weren't supposed to, it was absolute anarchy and once again, dangerous) to try and see over it, which still would've happened had the banners not been there, but that would've been happening to see over the people at the fence, which is a lot less bad in my opinion since its not like that would be the only option like it was in reality). The only raised options we had, were as you'd expect, utterly packed. The Turn 3-4 viewing platform was completely jammed like sardines, and I never even saw the other one. The stand (which I did watch warmups in) was completely jammed with a long line, and it was a pretty shit experience anyway (with it being baked in the sun all day, completely full, only able to see the actual cars for 3 seconds in a straight line), which led me to the fanzone.

I'm sure the fanzone would've been fine if you were a local who just wanted to check out the atmosphere, but even then it kinda sucked as a whole. If you didn't get there early, you were stuck in the sun, which thankfully wasn't as big of a factor as it could've been in DC in August. I was there early enough the concessions were long, but not awful or a mess like I heard they became. Its hard to complain about as a standalone experience, if this was a traditional road course and this area existed, it would've been fine, but this goes back to my original point of the total misunderstanding of who'd show up. If I just wanted to watch a race on a TV, I'd save the money for travel and just stayed home, or tried finding a bar that'd show it or something. The people here wanted to watch race cars, not just a TV.

Eventually, I heard that the area I was in cleared up, and returned to find it... was actually what I expected and hoped it to be. 2 deep on the fence, I was able to find a good spot and do my thing. Which some people may think "oh, then why give it a 2/10, maybe you were just a baby who left the area too quickly", to which I say: I don't think you can divorce how it became decent from the event being shit. I can only guess that the reason it cleared up so much is because it frustrated people with less resolve than me to watch race cars to leave early, which is still bad! I would've much rather had no tickets myself due to a smaller capacity and everyone else having a decent time than what we had. It was fun seeing the cars exit turn 4, I got to it become Palouver in front of me, but it didn't feel like this "Can't miss, will die regretting I never saw it" event if I tried to get in but failed, and I fear for the legacy of IndyCar of everyone who left disappointed.

If anyone has any other questions about my experience in Stars, do ask away.

New, that I didn't get a chance to do for last week (because I prepped early for once and missed it lol) is a Friday pre-show called "SMX Friday Live Presented by Honda", on YouTube. Watch it here!

Additionally, any regular old random ramblings, predictions, whatever you wanna say about this upcoming weekend is welcome here.