351,972 people file through the turnstiles in three days source: CART.com - Robin Miller When Michel Jourdain Jr. inherited the lead in Sunday's Gran Premio Telmex/Gigante Presented by Banamex/Visa and then pulled away from the field, the roar was deafening. Almost 175,000 Mexicans were standing, screaming, waving flags and showing their spirit all the way around the 2.786-mile road course. It didn't matter that most of them weren't aware of the fact he still had to make his final pit stop and had no chance of winning. What did matter is that the largest crowd in Mexican sports history turned out for the first major motorsports event in Mexico City in 10 years and CART made a whole flock of new fans. From the time the field pulled away to the flying start to Jourdain's noisy run at the front to Kenny Brack's winning doughnuts to the podium celebration, the folks at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez looked and sounded entertained. But no more than the drivers. "Monterrey always has a fantastic atmosphere, but this place was like nothing we've ever seen," said Brack after scoring his initial win of 2002. "It's always more fun for us to race in front of people who are really into it like these fans were.
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