Initial Feedback – The Inaugural Grand Prix of Indy

Mug-N-Bun never fails to satisfy

Following the #GPofINDY, and surviving a near brain-freeze from rapidly trying to ingest too much Mug-N-Bun root beer float, I had a three-hour drive home to recount the day’s events. 

It’s my opinion that direct and unfiltered customer-to-provider feedback is a good thing and especially when the experience is fresh in the mind. Upon returning home with sleepy family members in tow, I resisted my usual race-return tradition of watching the TV coverage and sent out only my most vivid impressions via Twitter. The immediacy of approximately five thoughts, I thought, would gather a decent snapshot of my experience. 

Listed below are those tweets in chronological order, which ended up being forwarded by a follower of mine to Douglas Boles, President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  He graciously responded. 

My #GPofINDY impressions: more crowd than I expected, too few food/bev vendors for mounds, nice to open Twr Terrace N end for GA..
— DZ (@groundedeffects) May 11, 2014

…funneling ALL the East mounds only over the walkbridge is bad – need more post-race egress from there..
— DZ (@groundedeffects) May 11, 2014

Nice fan village area. Better location than 500. Ticketing, Yellow shirts, vendors very polite and friendly, every one wished us a good day
— DZ (@groundedeffects) May 11, 2014

Walked GAs from Twr Terrace 78 (main straight/t1) arnd track layout to t9, several good spots, none were significantly btr/worse except for
— DZ (@groundedeffects) May 11, 2014

..proximity of amenities. Plenty of portojohns and rrms, fr too few food/bev vendors.
— DZ (@groundedeffects) May 11, 2014

Overall We enjoyed a beautiful day at the track. #GPofINDY will do it again.
— DZ (@groundedeffects) May 11, 2014

Recalled othr thoughts frm ystrdy’s #GPofINDY @IMS: liked car show and food at Pag Plaza, liked pedcabs, temp vidbrds, merch @jdouglas4
— DZ (@groundedeffects) May 12, 2014

LOVED #MRTI paddock was accessbl/open, heat/direct sun atypical issue – maybe some shade/misters for 5-6, 7-8-9 #GPofINDY @jdouglas4
— DZ (@groundedeffects) May 12, 2014

Who knew a blowhard blogger such as myself can provide useful, concise, and unbiased feedback? 

@alexcain33 @groundedeffects Thanks for your thoughtful observations. They are helpful.
— J. Douglas Boles (@jdouglas4) May 11, 2014

The President of IMS, that’s who. You’re a good man, Douggie Boles. 


I encourage all you reading this to add your own ON-SITE facility experiences in the comments below, and save the racing and TV critiques for other places. I believe that no opinion is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’, as long as you strive to be as fair and honest with your input as possible. 

I’ll be happy to forward all of the input I receive to the uppity-ups at IMS. The more ‘pixels’ we have from the event, the better the overall picture they’ll have.