Cleveland will honor USGP tickets

lnin0 · 20 Jun 2005, 02:38 (Ref:1333961)

Just heard on wind tunnel that you can take your 2005 USGP ticket to Cleveland and get in for free. Sounds like a great marketing idea but only if they get the word out there - so far this is the first I heard of it and no sign of it on the official Champ Car website.

racefanatic · 20 Jun 2005, 02:47 (Ref:1333965)

from AR1:
Champ Car to honor USGP tickets UPDATE The Bridgestone Presents the Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford has always been a series about its fans, and in support of the international open-wheel racing community, the organizers of the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by U.S. Bank and Champ Car officials have announced that tickets for Sunday's Formula 1 United States Grand Prix will be honored on June 26.

Open-wheel racing fans will be able to see the 750-horsepower Champ Car's battle on the temporary circuit constructed in Downtown Cleveland at Burke Lakefront Airport as the headliners of a full day of racing. Joining the Champ Cars will be the Toyota Atlantic Championship Presented by Yokohama, the Speed World Challenge GT cars and the Formula Ford 2000 series.

Details will follow on www.grandprixofcleveland.com and www.champcar.ws explaining how fans can redeem their F1 USGP tickets for race-day seats at the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by U.S. Bank.

Fans who are unable to benefit from this unique opportunity, the Champ Car Grand Prix of Cleveland Presented by U.S. Bank will be broadcast live on CBS Sports on June 26 at 1:30 pm ET. Champ Car 06/19/05 AutoRacing1.com has learned that any race fan who bought a ticket to today's USGP at Indy will be able to redeem that ticket for a free race day ticket at next weekend's Champ Car Cleveland GP at Burke Lakefront Airport. Champ Car feels bad that the race fans in Indy were cheated out of seeing a full field of cars and have stepped forward with this goodwill gesture. More details to follow shortly from Champ Car. Mark C.

Wow, I thought Cristiano was just kidding on Wind Tunnel. That's amazing - hopefully people will come.

macdaddy · 20 Jun 2005, 04:00 (Ref:1334017)

What are they going to do if 200K people show up? I realize that the number won't be nearly that high, but I certainly hope that they have a plan in place to put up more grandstands. Of course, they are likely to only be GA tickets in the first place.

Still, it's a nice gesture and a clever marketing ploy.

macdaddy · 20 Jun 2005, 04:10 (Ref:1334026)

"Official word" is coming from the ChampCar camp:

Quote:

"We want to encourage all the open wheel fans in the midwest who didn't get to see a race at Indianapolis to come to Cleveland," said Steve Shunck, director of public relations for Champ Car. "The USGP ticket will be honored for our race in Cleveland on race day."

marcus · 20 Jun 2005, 06:19 (Ref:1334084)

thats excellent news , and a very clever ploy by the powers that be.

its a shame what happened at Indy but at least Champcar are trying to make a positive out of a very big negative for motorsport in general

mueber · 20 Jun 2005, 12:42 (Ref:1334458)

Great idea.

Silk Cut Jaguar · 20 Jun 2005, 13:35 (Ref:1334511)

That's a genius piece of marketing on Champ Car's part. It's commendable they're trying to make it up to fans when it wasn't even their mess.

N I Tram · 20 Jun 2005, 14:06 (Ref:1334553)

Compare that to the way everyone in F1 has blamed each other and refused to take responsibility by offering a refund. I hope the fans who go to Cleveland become hooked on US OW as a result.

Uesque · 20 Jun 2005, 14:49 (Ref:1334604)

New Champ Car slogan:

"All Bridgestone, All the Time!"

Uesque · 20 Jun 2005, 14:51 (Ref:1334609)

Quote:

Originally Posted by N I Tram

Compare that to the way everyone in F1 has blamed each other and refused to take responsibility by offering a refund. I hope the fans who go to Cleveland become hooked on US OW as a result.

Hey, maybe this could be a first step to unification, ditch F1, and run CC on the Indy road course.

jjspierx · 20 Jun 2005, 16:13 (Ref:1334743)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uesque

Hey, maybe this could be a first step to unification, ditch F1, and run CC on the Indy road course.

Ha! No offense, but that will never happen. Champcar offering USGP ticket holders free admission is a slap in TG's face, not a complement that will make him consider unification.

luke · 20 Jun 2005, 16:14 (Ref:1334746)

Great move by Champ Car without no doubt.

BootsOntheSide · 20 Jun 2005, 16:16 (Ref:1334750)

I feel for Tony George in all of this - the expense 0of handing out refunds is huge, and he is compeltely blameless in all of this - and I think you have touched on the real reason why OWRS have done this. All the same, it's some recompense to the cheated fans who went to Indy, and should be applauded on that basis. Maybe something positive can come from all this.

Uesque · 20 Jun 2005, 18:33 (Ref:1334910)

Quote:

Originally Posted by jjspierx

Ha! No offense, but that will never happen. Champcar offering USGP ticket holders free admission is a slap in TG's face, not a complement that will make him consider unification.

I believe you may have missed the sarcasm inherent in my statement. The egos would never allow it, but were it any other location, CC would be well positioned to jump in and take over the venue.

Snrub · 20 Jun 2005, 18:41 (Ref:1334913)

Bridgestone/Firestone is having the same promo for at least one IRL event, so it's not intended as an insult to TG.

As for the F1 ticket refund, the IMS is suggesting to all fan inquiries that they contact the FIA, F1 and Michelin for their refund. It doesn't sound like TG is paying back anything, at least not yet. The FIA just couldn't be reasonable to provide a race, but give all the points to the Bridgestone runners, so I don't think the fans are going to get anything from F1, it'll end up being TG footing the bill...until he sues F1.

F1 has a surprising number of US fans. Oddly I think a lot of them aren't into CC or the IRL. This is a big chance for both US OW series to grab some new fans and not just for Cleveland race attendance, TV too.

Uesque · 20 Jun 2005, 18:56 (Ref:1334929)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Snrub

F1 has a surprising number of US fans. Oddly I think a lot of them aren't into CC or the IRL. This is a big chance for both US OW series to grab some new fans and not just for Cleveland race attendance, TV too.

I'm less than surprised at this, actually. The camaraderie of the drivers and the accessibility to the fans with CC is basically the opposite of F1, therefore drawing two distinctly different types of fan.

Tailwind · 21 Jun 2005, 01:49 (Ref:1335375)

This is great move by Champ Car. I imagine we will hear that attendance is up at Cleveland this year. That can't hurt. Champ Car has a great chance to show their product to a few fans that feel unappriciated by F1.

Omega99 · 21 Jun 2005, 02:24 (Ref:1335389)

And Cleveland is a great track to showcase the series!

Amar7605 · 21 Jun 2005, 07:13 (Ref:1335501)

What I am hoping for out of all this is a greater apprieciation of what we have here in the US. Being here in liberal California, I keep hearing tidbits on how America is full of crap and that the rest of the world is better. Now, watching the F1 race and hearing about how the drivers blamed Michelin and the FIA for the tire problem, I was disgusted to see that not one driver went up and apologized to the fans who paid good money to see a race on Father's Day. At least with the CART/Texas Motor Speedway debacle there was an apology to the fans.

I know that I am painting a very broad brush, but for those who are gonna take advantage of the CC offer, please do so and really apprieciate the fact that American series are more fan-friendly and welcoming.

We're not a perfect country by any means, but at the very least when there is a crisis of some sort Americans pull together and help each other out.

And with this gesture that CC is offering, this is making me even more proud to be a Champ Car fan. I love this series more than ever!

jimclark · 22 Jun 2005, 00:27 (Ref:1336630)

'Don't mean to be the spoiler here but "nice gesture' smesture. The race wouldn't have been a sellout anyhow, so this is simply great marketing for CC, the promoters, Cleveland, and the vendors. nobody's giving anything away here.
Again i ain't knockin' it, just seeing it fer what it is. If I lived closer and had GP tix, i'd take advantage of the offer too, and contribute to the cause with my purchases while in the area...which is what it's all about.

**Woolley** · 22 Jun 2005, 01:08 (Ref:1336648)

A very astute piece of marketing, and a very nice goodwill gesture to boot. Sure, it's got a strong business reason behind it, but in comparison with the ungracious conduct of F1 this is excellent. F1 fans will remember what it did to them and remember what CC was prepared to do for them. Well done.

Snrub · 22 Jun 2005, 16:46 (Ref:1337398)

Amar7605, that is an interesting point. Apparently DC begged Red Bull to let him race. Over DC's garage Red Bull errected a homemade sign on a sheet reading "Sorry fans." He said in an interview that he felt sick about not racing. Sato apologized on the SpeedTV broadcast as well. The bottom line is, where were the big appologies to the fans? A driver saying their sorry really doesn't mean much because ultimately they had the least choice of all. IMO the order of blame goes 1. FIA. 2. Michellin. 3. Michellin messed up but tried to make the race happen in a safe and fair manner. IMO see #1 again.

While it is a good plan to get F1 fans at the CC race, I'm not sure how many are going to travel to Cleveland. If they have more than a couple thousand I'd be surprised. (not that it isn't a good idea to try to convert a couple thousand)

brightline · 23 Jun 2005, 23:51 (Ref:1338851)

Snrub-

Champ Car's goodwill may only be converted into a couple of thousand tickets, but when was the last time Champ Car got such great POSITIVE FREE exposure from the media in the last ten years? Between the split, the unfortunate driver and fan deaths, the cancelled races, the Zanardi accident, loss of engine manufacturers and teams and lets not forget the bankruptcy this is a series that hasn't always had the best public relations.

Whoever came up with this one at Champ Car deserves a good and well deserved pat on the back and to the fans that do make it to Cleveland: enjoy and see the reasons why Champ Car fans are so loyal!

Amar7605 · 24 Jun 2005, 07:45 (Ref:1339000)

We need to keep an eye on how many people come to Cleveland.

Keep in mind, let's hope that those who come this year actually come next year. We'll never know the effects of events until the following year. People will come this year out of curiousity. It is next year when we will see if CC got any converts.

CC better put on one hell of a show this weekend!

BigB · 24 Jun 2005, 15:05 (Ref:1339278)

I'm seriously considering going to Cleveland for this. My first live F1 race was a sham, but being able to go to my 2nd favorite racing series might make it worth while.

Anyone know about the kinds of tickets I would get for my F1 ticket? Is the track a good place to view a race? I heard it was pretty much wide open and you can see the whole track from almost anywhere.

5.5 hours from Chicago ... hmm.

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