Best place to sit at Indy?

We're chewing on the idea of going to the Grand Prix at Indy since the dates would coincide nicely during our journey west...well, a slight detour heading back east from Kansas City...

Anyway, I'm looking at the map of the track and would like some input from you Brickyard veterans as to the best place to get seats.

Would the penthouses be the best place? Is it worth spending $300 for both? Or can we still get a big bang for our buck in another section?

Thanks!

https://imstix.brickyard.com/inettix...Ticketing.aspx

Originally Posted by Melissa

The only seats I'd pay big bucks for are in stand H, you get views of the front straight, turns 1,2,3,4,5,6. Sitting on top of Turn 1/2 alone is worth price of admission!

The only day you really buy assigned seating for, is race day. All other days, you can sit almost wherever you find a spot. When I went last, I got General admission tickets or all 3 days for a whopping $50/person! Up to raceday, we sat in just about every venue. Race day we were restricted to the grass, but it really wasn't bad at all for the price. Next time tho I'm going for stand H.

Overall, Indy is fabulous track to visit. The getting in/out is very easy and the locals are great. I could not have had a better time.

btw that place is massive, so bring your walking shoes and Enjoy!


ps. Tix are usually sold a year in advance and hotels, retals, airfare, etc are really hard to nab so decide quick!

Thanks for the info, elwood!

I'm also confused....I thought I heard during coverage that pitwalk access is included if you buy tix for all three days, but I'm not seeing this info anywhere yet.

Anyone know anything about this?

Originally Posted by Melissa

I'm also confused....I thought I heard during coverage that pitwalk access is included if you buy tix for all three days, but I'm not seeing this info anywhere yet.

The walk thru is only on Thursday.

I think the best day to go is actually Saturday (the best way to actually know what's going on at the race is to watch it on tv). You can go almost everywhere and the track, as Elwood said, is huge. And there's enough going on all day to make it worthwhile--qualifying, and Porsche and Ferrari cup races (at least when I went a couple years ago).

It's an interesting spectacle--there will be people wearing ties and blazers, and there will be Eurotrash. Never seen so many MB S600's in one place.

I think the general rule for the race is to get as high as possible...in the grandstands that is. If you sit in any of the lower levels along the start/finish straight you won't see much at all. There is lots to happen in turn one area as elwood has said. The view from the Vistas are awesome though. I've got a picture from the E-Vista during qualifying in 2001, it was a great place to watch from. Accommodations could be a problem, move fast.

Originally Posted by elbert

It's an interesting spectacle--there will be people wearing ties and blazers, and there will be Eurotrash. Never seen so many MB S600's in one place.

Ah yeah, Eurotrash. If it's anything like Trulli's girlfriend, then I AM THERE WITH BELLS ON!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Best seats are in H, J...or the best IMO is NW vista. In NW vista you get the see the cars coming down the main straight that you can't see in H and J. We sat there in qualifying and the sound was amazing. We were in H right at the braking zone and turn in for 1.

I went the first 3 years. Skipped last year after the "finish" of the previous year. Jonesing to go back this year...

Best seats are, as others have said, in H and J (in that order). Far end of H (towards J) and up as high as you can get. Or the H end of J, high up. You'll be happy with either. That will get you bird's eye view of the turn one action plus most everything to the exit of turn 6. H keeps you closest to the track.

NW Vista isn't bad, but IMHO you are too far from the track.

I've tried all of these over the years during qualifying and practice. I've paid for H every year.

So who all is going to be in town for the race?

I haven't decided if I'm going or not (it's pretty close by for me). I've got lots of potential plans that weekend- driver school, out of town guests, watching the race, work... Not yet sure what I'll be doing.

re: huge - yeah, I think you could fit Daytona (grandstands and all) in the infield. It's amazing.

Definitely book your hotel and (often harder) rental car ASAP.

After posting my original reply I checked ticket availablity... nothing in H, row B in J (earthworm's view), and several options in NW Vista. If I go I'll buy scalped on the day of the race. Not as bad as it seems, really - prices are very reasonable.

First year I ordered tickets and got utter crap. Before going to the race I bought some less crappy seats for big dollars from a ticket source. The morning of the race I traded all those tickets and $50 or so for H seats. I could have skipped the first two steps and saved a lot of money.

Thanks for the additional info gents! Our only real experience with tracks is San Marino (not the one they raced y-day, tho) for World Superbike and we found that some of the best seats were infield on grass.

Lodging still appears to be plentiful for that weekend. We're still debating since it would cut into our cross-country journey to Alaska, but we might say "what the hell" and do it anyway.

If we do, hopefully we'll get to meet some of you!