Attendance was huge!

They had to be counting both pit passes and general admission.  The turnout was huge but couldn't have been over 130K.  When I walked around Friday I wondered where they were going to put all the people.

Regular nationals are usually around 15k-25k... 135k sounds astronomical. I would have a hard time believing there were over 40k. The crowd did look full from the TV! Luongo's cash out once again. 

Edit: I misunderstood the math, 135k was for the entire weekend (3 days). 135k/3=45k/day. That's a killer weekend!

I bet money it was 135K For example, the GNCC pulls around 60K, and the lots are never that full for that event.

I heard the 130k number as well.  I'm betting that was weekend attendance.  That is how they promote the attendance at F1 and MotoGP events.  Sunday was attendance was a significant increase over Saturday.  

Sunday I would guess close to if not over 50k.

The place was FULL from what I could see! 

130k is ticket sales.  A weekend pass is 3 tickets (1 Friday 1 Saturday 1 Sunday.  

Some people only buy 1 Sunday ticket

Probably 50k ish on a given day so that 130k number makes sense 

I think it was the largest MX crowd I've ever seen, except possibly Namur in '01.  Spectacular weather did not hurt.

Was that photo from yesterday?

The real winners were anyone using the facilities because Anytime Outhouse was absolutely on it all weekend. 

I’ve never in my life seen anything as clean as those all weekend. 

I was wishing I was 6’10” fo sho. Viewing was difficult

I just posted that in the thread about the Godzilla jump. Immaculate! My buddies gf was like, I've never seen porta johns so clean! Major props. 

It was a great event.  We had excellent viewing from the cooler, shady edge of woods section.

My friends who had never been to any MX event before had great time and we all noted the immaculate Porta-Johns.

Needed improvement:  beer lines, the Friday parade was unorganized chaos, another viewing screen faced to Godzilla, more commentary/point status during down time between races.

I was in disbelief on how few beer tents there were selling beer. My friend and I were planning on buying beers and not sneaking them in like usual. But after waiting in line for 45 min two different times on Saturday we gave up on that. Just snuck in beers on Sunday. They grossly underestimated how many people would be buying beers for the race. 

Got there Thursday night and left just after the motos on Sunday, was very impressed with how well the event was ran, very clean potra John's, plenty of vendors, and the crowd was definitely massive, I been to several nationals there and crowd wise it didn't compare, every spectator spots were absolutely packed

Everything was very organized and mostly well planned. We watched from several places on Saturday, but Sunday watched all 3 motos from the main grandstands. They were never over crowded or even entirely full, I think everyone else just assumed no chance at getting a spot in them. 
Did anybody pay attention to the crazy lady with the megaphone at the main entrance, talking smack? Yaeh that was Rita Coombs.

130k x $50 = 6.5 million bucks 

$50?!? I went Saturday and Sunday and had Pro Paddock wrist band and I paid $266.23. Pro Paddock was $70. Were the single day tickets only $50 on Sunday? So going on Saturday essentially cost me an extra $150?

I also think it was really cool of Ironman to not charge for parking in the field. Not only was it cool to save a little money there but it sped up the entry process a ton. My friends and I talked a few different times about how well organized and smooth everything went this weekend. 

 

I saw that in Chicago wed the weekend was supposed to be in the low 80,s.  10 day forecast now is Much cooler. EL paso is still Hot

This sounds like a crooked political vote count.

135,000 for Sunday…..don’t count the same person 4x 

Maybe the whole weekend.

“We are going to invade your privacy so come over here and show us your junk!” She had everyone cracking up. 

Out of all the staff and security I encountered only one who was rude and nasty. But he got yelled back at by me and several other strangers who were sticking up for me. (Nothing serious.  I was crossing the main road from the camping area to the walking lane and this dick cop starts screaming at me to get in the walking lane…that I was actively going towards.)

There was no way to count people coming in. They only looked for wristbands and checked bags really quick. I was in and out multiple times during each day.  Only way of knowing is actual tickets redeemed for wristbands. 

YES! No extra charge for parking! Yeah my tickets for the weekend with pits passes was $530 cash for me and my gf. Another cool thing my buddy was with us with his wife and 12yr old daughter. They told him we're giving out a free entry and you get it. He got a free weekend entry WITH the pit pass! Everything about how the event was run and the facilities was top notch. I've seen criticism of the lack of beer tents but none of our group drink so that didnt affect us. So with all that being said, it pains me to say I think I'd rather it go back to Red Bud. Just because the spectating is so superior. No 

Drone Photo from sunday at about 2-3 PM. 

She was great! Really pumping up the crowd. Spoke with her briefly. Said her name was Carrie. Must have been Carrie Coombs-Russell?

More than Lakewood 2010, less than Budds 2007, same as Red Bud 2018.

Some things they could improve:

They need to figure out better ways to get the crowd to be able to roam..  You basically get corralled.  Lots of lessons to be learned from Redbud and Washougal on how to do this right.  It is really hard to move around to see the track, which they have the fences really dang far back from.

There was a huge section of the track (finish line area) that you could not access without pit passes, you could not get anywhere near the finish line.  I don't know the reasoning behind it, I hope it wasn't to boost sales of pit passes, but lame when you can't see the finish line.

The VIP sections and vendor sections are out of control.  They consumed way too much viewing area along the track.  And I am pretty dang sure they took out the Godzilla jump because it was the only other place that FLAT and large enough for a VIP tent of that size to be trackside.  It sucks when they take out a major feature of the track for yet another VIP tent.

They could use another beer vendor.  They technically had 2, but the vendor in the woods was about dry by Sunday.  I do not go to these to get drunk, but if I did want a beer, the line steered me to not bother.

I don't think there is a solution to this, but with the parking lot being a field, getting out of the parking lot to the road after the race was a cluster...  LOL.  There was roads in the field you were supposed to use, but a lot of people were going full Dukes of Hazzard flying across the fields trying to force their way on the roads nowhere near the actual entrance/exit.  It just made it a lot worse getting out.  I think it will probably always be that way, but some just showed their true colors, kind of a dick move.

Anybody else here sitting on the hill between the trees near the start that got stuck behind the large pack of guys from The Netherlands wearing their orange printed shirts?  I learned folks from the Netherlands are really freaking tall, and can drink and smoke like a retired Navy truck driver.  It would have been an investment for the weekend to have bought an extra 20 chairs for those guys, we got there at 7AM for a good spot, that ended up being not so good.  LOL

Some good things:

The weather was epic.
The track was beautiful, with soil that was artwork (close to Redbud kind of good).
There was plenty of food vendors, lots of variety, and for a crowd that size, the lines were never bad.
The souvenir stands were plenty, and it was cool they kept items displayed they sold out of with the option to buy online.
The international crowd was awesome..  Always a treat to see everyone coming together from around the world.
Announcing and pre show and post show was great, the presentation of MXGP is always fantastic.

All in all (if anybody still reading this) was a great time!  I can't wait to see where the race comes in 3 years..  West coast folks are due, but being even further for the GP guys, could come into play?  Washougal would be an epic place for this race...  Except for getting in and out.
 

Lakewood 2010 was pretty empty, great viewing though.