Attendance at Top Auto Series Is Up 1 Million

Attendance at auto racing events in 15 major series in North America increased by more than a million spectators in 1986 over the previous year, according to a report released by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co.

The total increase in the series’ monitored by Goodyear was 1,086,000, or 15%. Total attendance at 253 events was 8,346,000 in 1986, up from 7,260,000 for the same number of events in 1985. The overall average event attendance jumped from 28,696 to 32,988.

The figures reported are compiled from official sanctioning body statistics and reports filed by Goodyear racing division field managers each year. They represent weekend totals.

According to those figures, the NASCAR stock car series continues to be the only racing series in the world to draw more than two million spectators a year, drawing 2,213,000 in 29 events last season. That was up 95,000 over 1985.

The CART Indy-car series, combined with the USAC-sanctioned Indianapolis 500, continues as the North American leader in per-race attendance with an average of 97,294 for 17 events. Two races were added to the schedule in 1986, contributing to a 21% increase in overall attendance to 1,654,000.

The highest per-race motorsports attendance in the world in 1986 is credited by Goodyear to the Formula One grand prix, listed separately because only three of the 16 series events are run in North America. The average Grand Prix attendance in 1986 was 118,500, up slight from the 117,937 in 1985.

Total Formula One attendance was 1,896,000, just a bit higher than the 1,887,000 the previous year.

Other series’ included in the report were NHRA and IHRA drag racing, the World of Outlaws sprint car series, IMSA’s Camel GT, the SCCA’s Trans-Am, Super Vee and American Racing Series, as well as NASCAR’s Grand National, Winston West and Modified series and the ARCA and ASA stock car series.