KW is the exception. Back in the mid-90's, US Offshore tried to put on a race off of Sea Pines on Hilton Head Island, SC. I offered to assist Bill Gifford make it happen because it is a gated community and would be a great way to track who is honestly there for the race, and who just happened to be on the beach anyway. Never happened, for a variety of reasons.
It has been the biggest argument against "NASCAR on the water". NASCAR accurately tracks attendance, which gives sponsors a benchmark for return on investment. Not to mention the income from the gate as well. Apples (NASCAR) and oranges (offshore). If there are 25,000 people on the beach during an offshore race......how many just happened to be there? I'm just playing devil's advocate here - trust me, I love our sport.
I bet Sarasota,,,,,95 % of the people are there because of the race.
U can't even get a parking spot @ Lido after 8:30 in the morning becasue of the event.
The parade is there becasue of the boats,,,biggest i have ever seen .
Clearwater is going to be big as well,,,maybe not like sarasota but who knows?!
KW is always big but last year the econimy showed ,,the year before allot more spectators where there.
Michigan City i heard will be good ,,all the people up there are looking forward to it,,so most of them will be there for the event.
I also think the citys that are not major boating citys ( like most of them in FL ) are the ones we would need to look at because in FL it realy is a all day thing seeing boats and fast ones aswell,,,not like mine .LOL:driving: