I agree with Chris, Chris & Dave.
If someone wants to come watch, there gonna pay the 10 or 15 $.
OK So think about it like this.. say it's $15 on Sun... racing (is supposed to) start at 10:30 and go till ~4:30, with 1 hour break... that's 5 hours of racing = $3/hour. OK, so not really, ya wanna get technical?... then go with 14 races.. that's $1+ per race.
Look at what you pay for an AMA event, the 'per race' or 'per hour' rate. Sure the experience/environment is there... but if you (friends, family) just want to watch a live motorcycle race who cares? The better bang-for-your-buck is a CCS race :) PLUS you're the one racing!
I have friends that came to watch me on my first race weekend in April, my engine seized in morning practice on Sun. I had 8-10 friends come out ~11a just to find out that I wasn't gonna be racing, but they hung out and watched. They liked it so much, that they are now gonna come to all the races @ VIR this year. And every time my one friend comes, he brings another one. Now he loads up his SUV w/ people & beer and drive the WHOLE hour to VIR :)
The gate fee issue is pretty beat. We want it less, CCS wants it same/more.. it's not gonna budge... so instead of making it seem like too much, talk up the races... make people believe that $15 is worth watching 14 races!
It's all about marketing... word of mouth costs nothing, a 30 sec. ad on the networks costs a lot.
Even if you lower the price... how many more people would that draw.. honestly probably not too much... I think laziness/drive/interest is the deterring factor, not the price. Whether it's $5 or $15, ya still gotta make people aware that there's races going on.
How much does it cost you to make up a stupid little flyer and drop it in people's mailboxes, take it to dealers, stores, schools, etc.? not much.
IE: I keep getting this flyer from this dude Henry De Gouw, in FL. It's a color flyer promoting the CCS races at Homestead. I think it looks good. That gave me the great idea of copying/making one for the VIR races and distributing them here.
If you haven't seen it, I can scan it in for ya and post it here.
Whew... sorry, just my .02