NOVEMBER 18, 2002

No shortage of racing passion in Mexico

CART's return to Mexico City was a big success with the organisers reporting a race day crowd of nearly 175,000 people and a three-day attendance of 350,000. These figures compare to a popular Formula 1 race such as the Australian Grand Prix which last year registered a three-day attendance of 370,000. The figures are records for CART and, in theory at least, Mexico as well, although some of the races at the circuit in the 1960s probably had race day attendances around the 250,000 mark.

The Mexican numbers helped to take CART to a new annual attendance record of 2,686,640 people, an average of 141,402 at each of CART's 19 events.