Is the Milwaukee Mile Back?

By Dennis Krause

By the looks and the enthusiasm of the fans in the grandstands this weekend, it appears yes. At least, that’s the opinion of those who put on a show in the second year of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES return to the oldest operating speedway in the United States - yes, even older than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Sunday’s crowd was a stark contrast to the embarrassingly sparse crowd at Iowa Speedway just a month ago, which was promoted by Penske Entertainment. The Iowa event struggled without the backing of previous sponsor, Hy-Vee, which also sponsored last year’s doubleheader at The Mile.

Third-place finisher in Sunday’s Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250, Scott McLaughlin, credited the Wisconsin State Fair for its promotion of the event.

“I think Wisconsin is always massive supporters of the sport, as we see at Road America.

“For me, personally I had a bunch of my family here, in the stands, hanging out. Not far from the city. The fairgrounds at the back of the grandstand.

“Massive credit goes out to Wisconsin State Fair Park. I think this is their first time doing it, which it's pretty cool. I think Roger (Penske) and Penske (Entertainment) did it last year. I was really happy to have a big crowd today, seeing them in the grandstands. It was awesome.”

Four-time series champion and race runner-up, Alex Palou agreed.

“I loved it. It was amazing. The atmosphere, I think we had more people. It was amazing. The crowd, the atmosphere... In the car, I could hear them. It was amazing, yeah.”

Palou wasn’t the only one who heard the cheers of the crowd. ECR team co-owner, Ed Carpenter, who raced at Milwaukee a number of times in the past, also heard the crowd, even before his driver, Christian Rasmussen, took the checkered flag for his first career IndyCar series win and executed smoky donuts in front of the main grandstand.

“I was on Alex's (Rossi) radio calling his race, obviously watching Christian as well. I could hear the cheer when he passed Alex like under green even before the donuts.

“Yeah, we'd returned to this track a couple times since I've been doing this. But it seems like it's finally working. The combination and the growth and the strength of here and also Road America, we've got a strong fan base here. We need to keep building on it.

“I'm super proud of the crowd today. I'd love to see when we come back next year that we don't have to have the sponsor covers on the stands coming down into turn one. Want to keep pushing that and getting it better and better. It's a great racetrack, a ton of history. The past two years it's been a great show. So I'm happy is working.”

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, INDYCAR is looking to return to Milwaukee around the same time next year with Snap-on as the race sponsor for year three and is in talks about a 2027 date.

While attendance figures were not released, Wisconsin State Fair officials were pleased with the size of the crowd, up against the Milwaukee Brewers were honoring the late Bob Uecker before a sell-out crowd a couple miles away.

Dennis Krause has spent decades covering all forms of motorsports, including over 40 Indianapolis 500s, with stints at WIBA Radio, PIT PASS - Radio’s Premier Motorsports Magazine and Motorsports Minute. Follow him on X @DennisKrause500 or motorsportsminute.bluesky.social or motorsportsminute on Threads or MotorsportsMinute+ on Facebook.

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