Last Sunday, the NTT IndyCar Series held an event in Washington D.C., and television ratings show it was a massive success.
FOX Sports reported that there were 3.282 million viewers for the race, which is a significant increase over a typical IndyCar event.
Viewership has been trending upwards this season, with the network averaging 1.731 million viewers per event including the Indianapolis 500.
At nearly double that average, Sunday’s race was the most-watched race outside of the Indy 500 for at least 18 years.
Including this week’s numbers, FOX is averaging 32% more viewers per race than it did last season when it took over broadcast duties from NBC.
Even with extreme logistical challenges to host a race in the nation’s Capital, the race itself went off without a hitch and was praised for the smoothness of the operation despite only having seven months to move from initial concept to reality.
“We had seven months to do what we did out here in the most complex environment in the year,” said Bud Denker, President of Penske Corp. and architect behind the event.
“1,350 pages of permits. Imagine that. Detroit is like 200. 1,350 pages of permits. All that was done in the time period.
“At one time I saw people coming out over the bridge on 4th Street, the line was four or five blocks long to get out because at the end of the race we open the areas up.
“We counted over 215,000 people here over the last couple days. Not counting you [media] and the teams. 215,000 people, out of 288,000 who requested tickets.
“A lot of people showed up for this race from all around our country and all around the world. Good number.”
It is not yet known if IndyCar will be able to make a race in Washington D.C. happen each year, or if this race to celebrate 250 years of the United States will be a one time event.
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