IndyCar fans were greeted with sticker shock in October when they found out the cost of attending the series' made-for-TV $1 million challenge at The Thermal Club just outside Palm Springs, Calif. March 22-24.

The price of admission per ticket for a crowd of just a couple thousand inside the gates of the private community? $2,000 (plus $80 in fees).

This week, IndyCar reached out to its “IndyCar Nation” members offering $500 weekend tickets to the first 100 members to claim them for the Thermal All-Star race weekend.

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That's quite a haircut off the original price, which was widely criticized as being out-of-touch, especially when you could have attended the Las Vegas Formula 1 race weekend for the same or even less.

The steep prices for access to the event weekend seem to reflect the exclusivity of the venue as a famed gated community filled with $5 million homes and a lavish facility that its owners, Tim Rogers and his wife, Twanna, have spent $275 million to bring to life. As of 2023, The Thermal Club had 210 members and currently included 75 homes and 135 lots sold — each large enough to accommodate a 30,000 square-foot home that purchasers have to promise to build within five years of buying. Monthly membership fees are well over $2,000, on top of a $175,000 initiation fee.

Following the announcement of IndyCar’s $1 Million Challenge the day of the 2023 season-finale, Penske Entertainment officials did emphasize fans would be permitted in the series’ second trip to The Thermal Club, but there was a clear emphasis the purported All-Star event was being billed as a ‘made-for-TV event’ not meant to be seen or compared to just another race on the calendar.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IndyCar offers $500 tickets for $1 million challenge at Thermal Club