Apparently, I'm an incurable optimist. I suspect you wouldn't think so if we met, but I'm always searching for the upside in every situation. I don't know how this happened. It's the sort of thing that makes people nauseous. I'm guessing it's a coping mechanism. Why work hard at something if you're certain it's going to end in failure?
It's been a good trait, I think, to have as a race fan. Even if it has created some delusions.
I believed well into 2004 that Champ Car represented the future of American open wheel racing. It took until 2009 to realize that sports car racing just wasn't going anywhere.
As I've spent the last few years thinking about Indycar and its future, I've developed other hopeful, forward-looking thoughts.
Dallara was the right choice to build the 2012 car, even though I proclaimed the DeltaWing concept to be the last, best hope for Indycar.
The series will be stronger without Danica Patrick. (Even though I once wrote something like the opposite of that statement on this blog.)
The Lotus engine will be the equal of the Chevrolets and Hondas by mid-season.
Last October's events will bring the series, drivers, and fans together and make all of us stronger and raise the profile and image of Indycar in the public eye.
June's Milwaukee Indyfest will rile a now-dormant race fan hotspot and become a tradition all over again.
Coverage on NBCSNCNSN-er, NBC Sports, will pull in and keep new fans who won't be confused by the name or location of "Vs" any more. It will even spur ABC to improve its coverage.
Channel surfers and casual viewers will be pulled into said broadcasts, and be made fans for life.
Am I right? Wrong? Dangerously misguided? And please share what about the future of Indycar you're optimistic about.
Racing Opinions and Commentary!
Showing posts with label Milwaukee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Milwaukee. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
See! I'm Still here!
Wow, uh, yeah, I'm back... I know I promised to update more frequently, but that hasn't been happening. I'm very sorry, but things will change. It's been a tumultuous past few months. BUT, Wisconsin's typically frigid winter, well, hasn't been. There are some interesting irons in the fire here, and as I've been promising since this blog's very first post, some very exciting news is coming. I swear.
In the meantime, a lot has happened in the world of Indycar. Newman-Haas closed, Dragon re-opened, Milwaukee might be back on the schedule, the DW12 might not be a turd on the ovals after all, Lotus got some engines in cars, Oriol Servia and Sebastian Bourdais have jobs, Brian Barnhart doesn't, and so on. Oh, and it seems there might actually be too many entrants for the number of available engines. Is this a problem? Definitely. But I'm going to throw out there that I'd rather have more entrants than engines than the other way around.
I'll have plenty to say about all these events (and more) in the coming weeks, but for now I'll focus on one subject. It would be great if the rumors of Milwaukee's return to the schedule are true.
1. The 2012 schedule, at 15 races, is on the light side.
2. The 2012 schedule is light on oval races. Indy, Texas, Iowa, and Fontana. I'm not an oval purist, but the right oval tracks have a place on the schedule and are (allegedly) popular with the fans. Now, if only every fan who claimed to want more oval races would actually go to them, maybe we wouldn't have these problems.
3. Milwaukee produces great Indycar races. I attended twice, in 2009 and 2011. The series was at a low point in 2009, when drivers would actually apologize for boring events. Still, there was a real, live, actual, on-track pass for the lead at Milwaukee that year and it was interesting start to finish. The 2011 race was a great one, with close competition, leaders throwing it away, pit road insanity, incompetent officiating (oh, wait, that was every race in 2011), and the best, fastest driver showing the field how it's done.
4. It's in a large metropolitan area FULL of racing enthusiasts. It becomes a huge metro area when Chicago is factored in.
5. Summer in Wisconsin is a good time and place to spend an afternoon outdoors.
6. Beer. Brats. And Beer.
7. The history. This track is older than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The list of winners is about as storied, too, plus 50+ years of stock car races, too.
8. Finally, selfishly, it's close to home. I think it's actually a shorter drive to the Mile than to my workplace, which gives me another chance to share my impressions of a real, live Indycar race with you.
More coming soon, thanks for reading!
In the meantime, a lot has happened in the world of Indycar. Newman-Haas closed, Dragon re-opened, Milwaukee might be back on the schedule, the DW12 might not be a turd on the ovals after all, Lotus got some engines in cars, Oriol Servia and Sebastian Bourdais have jobs, Brian Barnhart doesn't, and so on. Oh, and it seems there might actually be too many entrants for the number of available engines. Is this a problem? Definitely. But I'm going to throw out there that I'd rather have more entrants than engines than the other way around.
I'll have plenty to say about all these events (and more) in the coming weeks, but for now I'll focus on one subject. It would be great if the rumors of Milwaukee's return to the schedule are true.
1. The 2012 schedule, at 15 races, is on the light side.
2. The 2012 schedule is light on oval races. Indy, Texas, Iowa, and Fontana. I'm not an oval purist, but the right oval tracks have a place on the schedule and are (allegedly) popular with the fans. Now, if only every fan who claimed to want more oval races would actually go to them, maybe we wouldn't have these problems.
3. Milwaukee produces great Indycar races. I attended twice, in 2009 and 2011. The series was at a low point in 2009, when drivers would actually apologize for boring events. Still, there was a real, live, actual, on-track pass for the lead at Milwaukee that year and it was interesting start to finish. The 2011 race was a great one, with close competition, leaders throwing it away, pit road insanity, incompetent officiating (oh, wait, that was every race in 2011), and the best, fastest driver showing the field how it's done.
4. It's in a large metropolitan area FULL of racing enthusiasts. It becomes a huge metro area when Chicago is factored in.
5. Summer in Wisconsin is a good time and place to spend an afternoon outdoors.
6. Beer. Brats. And Beer.
7. The history. This track is older than the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The list of winners is about as storied, too, plus 50+ years of stock car races, too.
8. Finally, selfishly, it's close to home. I think it's actually a shorter drive to the Mile than to my workplace, which gives me another chance to share my impressions of a real, live Indycar race with you.
More coming soon, thanks for reading!
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Who Will Go To Milwaukee?
A question was Tweeted this evening by the one and only Pressdog about the state of the Milwaukee Mile race track and what could be done to attract fans. I understand that the track is owned by the state, as part of the State Fair Park complex. The past couple of years have been tumultuous for the century-plus old facility: After successful events in 2009, NASCAR and Indycar stayed away in 2010 when sanctioning fees went unpaid. I still don't know exactly how or if anything was resolved, but the NASCAR Nationwide series has moved on to Elkhart Lake's Road America road course, the Camping World Truck series has moved on, and Indycar ran a great race last month. Trouble is, few showed up to see that great race.
Drivers and fans love the Milwaukee Mile. In contrast to the Charlotte Motor Speedway clones that dot the countryside, the Mile requires braking and real handling finesse to successfully negotiate. Its long, long history also give it a special pedigree.
The question was posed, if a private company were to clone the track, set it elsewhere in the greater Milwaukee area, and add parking, luxury boxes, and fan amenities, would attendance improve? After all, the existing goodness of Milwaukee (challenging track to drive) is retained, while modern race fans (and sponsors!) get everything they're accustomed to.
I believe the answer to that question is "No." After all, the 2009 races were well attended, and there were no suites then, either. So why did fans show up in 2009, but not in 2011?
Was it promotion and marketing? I doubt it. Looking back, I think I heard less about the race beforehand in 2009 than I did this year.
Was it the weather? Possibly, race day this year was cold and rainy until a couple of hours before race time. A less intrepid (or more distant) fan may not have risked the trip for a wet, raceless day.
Who attended in 2009? The guys I bought my ticket from were servicemen who got freebies. A co-worker said he used to go every year-when his buddy got freebies from Marlboro.
Was it the quality of racing? The 2009 race wasn't nearly as exciting as the 2011 race.
Maybe it was promotion during prior races. In '09, the race was held less than a week after a relatively dull Indy 500. In '11, it was three weeks after the most exciting and interesting 500 in recent history and one week after a buzz-heavy doubleheader at Texas.
Most things point to the '11 race as one that should have been better attended. Maybe "promotion and marketing" are to blame... Yes, some was done, but maybe the wrong kind. I recall the days of the "Detroit Grand Prix", whether or not it was held on Belle Isle. That was a big, big deal in the Detroit media market. The buzz cranked up more than a week ahead of time, and local TV and newspapers kept everyone abreast of all the news, developments, and what the stars were doing. Everyone could go to practice on Friday's "Free Prix Day" for no charge. There were races all weekend, with Saturday's action capped by a Trans-Am race. One might also see stars of tomorrow in smaller Indy-like cars, cars like one drove on the street in the NATCC or World Challenge races, or your favorite radio or TV personality in the Neon Challenge. I saw or heard nothing like this in the lead-up to either Milwaukee race.
Somehow I think the race and the surrounding activities (lots of on-track action, for instance-something done well in 2011) need to be assimilated into the annual summer activities here. We have the Summerfest Music festival, numerous ethnic festivals, the State Fair, the Brewers, several racing weekends at Road America, even June's annual Bead and Button show gets a fair amount of press. Local media has to get talking about the race and let the population know about it. I'm no marketer, but I'm guessing there are defined ways to do this sort of thing? Can they distribute videos to the media outlets? Run drivers and personalities through every major TV and radio station? Give away (or discount) tickets at every turn?
I hope something happens and the race at the Milwaukee Mile becomes an annual institution once again. Not only because it's my "home race," but because it's an interesting, historical track located in a hotbed of racing enthusiasm.
Drivers and fans love the Milwaukee Mile. In contrast to the Charlotte Motor Speedway clones that dot the countryside, the Mile requires braking and real handling finesse to successfully negotiate. Its long, long history also give it a special pedigree.
The question was posed, if a private company were to clone the track, set it elsewhere in the greater Milwaukee area, and add parking, luxury boxes, and fan amenities, would attendance improve? After all, the existing goodness of Milwaukee (challenging track to drive) is retained, while modern race fans (and sponsors!) get everything they're accustomed to.
I believe the answer to that question is "No." After all, the 2009 races were well attended, and there were no suites then, either. So why did fans show up in 2009, but not in 2011?
Was it promotion and marketing? I doubt it. Looking back, I think I heard less about the race beforehand in 2009 than I did this year.
Was it the weather? Possibly, race day this year was cold and rainy until a couple of hours before race time. A less intrepid (or more distant) fan may not have risked the trip for a wet, raceless day.
Who attended in 2009? The guys I bought my ticket from were servicemen who got freebies. A co-worker said he used to go every year-when his buddy got freebies from Marlboro.
Was it the quality of racing? The 2009 race wasn't nearly as exciting as the 2011 race.
Maybe it was promotion during prior races. In '09, the race was held less than a week after a relatively dull Indy 500. In '11, it was three weeks after the most exciting and interesting 500 in recent history and one week after a buzz-heavy doubleheader at Texas.
Most things point to the '11 race as one that should have been better attended. Maybe "promotion and marketing" are to blame... Yes, some was done, but maybe the wrong kind. I recall the days of the "Detroit Grand Prix", whether or not it was held on Belle Isle. That was a big, big deal in the Detroit media market. The buzz cranked up more than a week ahead of time, and local TV and newspapers kept everyone abreast of all the news, developments, and what the stars were doing. Everyone could go to practice on Friday's "Free Prix Day" for no charge. There were races all weekend, with Saturday's action capped by a Trans-Am race. One might also see stars of tomorrow in smaller Indy-like cars, cars like one drove on the street in the NATCC or World Challenge races, or your favorite radio or TV personality in the Neon Challenge. I saw or heard nothing like this in the lead-up to either Milwaukee race.
Somehow I think the race and the surrounding activities (lots of on-track action, for instance-something done well in 2011) need to be assimilated into the annual summer activities here. We have the Summerfest Music festival, numerous ethnic festivals, the State Fair, the Brewers, several racing weekends at Road America, even June's annual Bead and Button show gets a fair amount of press. Local media has to get talking about the race and let the population know about it. I'm no marketer, but I'm guessing there are defined ways to do this sort of thing? Can they distribute videos to the media outlets? Run drivers and personalities through every major TV and radio station? Give away (or discount) tickets at every turn?
I hope something happens and the race at the Milwaukee Mile becomes an annual institution once again. Not only because it's my "home race," but because it's an interesting, historical track located in a hotbed of racing enthusiasm.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Milwaukee Review
I attended my second Indycar race of the season at the Milwaukee Mile today. Overall: A great race, and it sounds like more even more drama has come to light since I got home.
I waited to buy my ticket, keeping my eye on the promotions and available tickets. It didn't seem like much had been sold even up until last Thursday, when I went to take advantage of one of the promotions and got pretty much the exact ticket I wanted (South Terrace, bleacher FF, row 18).
Both the fact that most seats were unsold and that the people selling the tickets seemed very confused about when their own promotions began and ended were troubling. It also bugged me that, aside from some radio ads, I saw about zero promotion for this race. Hopefully everyone (ahem, Randy B.) sees this as a building year and will come back bigger and better in 2012.
I enjoyed following the buildup to the race in the usual media outlets. It was especially fun seeing the drivers tweet about the local places I know about.
In unsurprising developments, Dario won the pole. Helio qualified in second, with Dixon in third. Lest you think this was more domination by the Galactic Empire, starting spots 4 through 6 were taken by the KV Racing entries. Championship leader and three-time (so far) winner this year Will Power started a surprising 17th. Simona De Silvestro made yet another trip to the hospital when she wrecked in qualifying.
Sunday morning broke rainy. At least in my neighborhood. Checking the weather turned up a window in the weather that would be open at least until the race started. I was worried about rain all day, but no more came.
I parked right outside the main gates of State Fair Park, near many other enthusiastic race fans. Good for me (especially when I figured out how to leave quickly), but worrisome that these prime parking spots were available just a couple of hours before race time.
First up was a tour of the usual merchandise trailers and souvenir tents. (Great to see one for Newman-Haas drivers Hinchcliffe and Servia) I think the caliber and quantity of apparel has improved since even Indy. This is a subject I'll be tackling further in the near future...
I scored a Spotter's Guide (great for new fans and a perfect souvenir for myself) at the Izod area, and checked out the 2012 Dallara oval car mock-up. I still like it and hope that something with its wheel shields and shark fins makes it to the grid in 2012.
Pippa Mann was onstage for a Q & A session, and demonstrated why she should be a star in the series. Her bubbly personality came through, and she actually suggested taking questions from the audience.
Up here, Danica Patrick still gets the loudest cheers during driver introductions. Simona, Kanaan, and Castroneves were far behind. Interestingly, the only driver to get no applause whatsoever was EJ Viso.
Finally, the start of the race. Immediately the intimacy of Milwaukee compared to, say, Indy was apparent as the field thundered into turn one. Unfortunately, Ryan Hunter-Reay didn't make it very far past turn one after spinning by himself and backing into the wall. At least no one would confuse he and his GoDaddy colors with Danica Patrick and her goDaddy colors for the rest of the day.
Dario quickly asserted himself as the car to beat, though the rest of the field was up for grabs and positions changed hands often. I hope there was no complaining about the racing today... Sebastian Saavedra and Vitor Meira took turns being "uncharacteristic guy in the way of the fast cars." Vitor would eventually park the car with handling problems (Did someone at Foyt misplace the Milwaukee notebook? Paul Tracy's car in 2009 was notably awful, as well). Saavedra would end up being in the wrong place when Alex Lloyd spun later. All three KV cars were in the mix, at least until the first pit stops.
First, I'm finding that I need more practice watching live pit stops. For all the open-wheel races I've been to, I realize now that the pits were clearly visible at only a few. Second, a lot happened in the pits in this race. Takuma Sato ("The KV Racing Driver Who Wrecks a Lot, But Not As Much As Viso") looked like he wanted to pit in Scott Dixon's stall. One result was a loose tire that made everyone downstream on pit road thread the needle to avoid it. I think he also hit one of his own crewmen and may have made Dixon's spotter drop an F-bomb on ABC. Unmitigated disaster, in other words.
I'm not sure happened with the Will Power tire and Dario on the second pitstops, though I have an interesting photo that might shed some light on it... I'll have to wait for the video.
Tony Kanaan passed Franchitti for the lead late in the second stint, and promptly left him behind.
On final pit stops, Helio Castroneves got past the leaders to control the race for himself. He raised Dario's ire by his behavior on the restart (again, I'll have to see the video), but word soon spread that he had a left rear tire going down. Before he could pit and give away his lead (and a lap or two), Tony Kanaan spun by himself in turn 4 and knocked a couple of corners off of his car. Helio could now pit to replace his tire with minimal loss of position and Dario was relieved of his primary competition for the lead.
The last restart had the leaders lined up: Dario, Graham Rahal, Will Power, and Oriol Servia. When the green flew, Rahal's efforts were for nought as Dario held his lead. Servia capitalized on the opportunity and passed Power for third. Helio tried using his fresh tires to advantage, but really didn't make much progress. Dario pulled out about a 1.6 second lead on Rahal that he would hold for the rest of the race (I timed the interval every lap-Rahal had nothing for Dario).
The finishers:
1. Dario-the class of the field. Dominated without running away, if that makes any sense. I think he has a lot of legitimate complaints, but maybe he should air them in private, especially after winning. I'm a big Dario fan, but sometimes its hard to spread his gospel...
2. Graham-Had a quiet day of slowly moving up. Almost surprised to see him up this high at the end. If I'm counting right, that's 3 top 5s in 4 races. Won't be long before he wins a few of these.
3. Servia-Another guy who was in the hunt all day. One wonders how much better he could have done without the pit stop that dropped him to ninth mid-race. Again, I'd like to see the video.
4. Power-Again, quietly picked his way to the front position-by-position. Did exactly what he needed to in order to pick up points.
5. Patrick-What? Where did she come from? I'm not even sure she was in the top ten for most of the day. On the lead lap, sure, but silent otherwise.
6. Hinchcliffe-He hung around in the top 10 all day, finally getting up to sixth as the best-finishing rookie.
7. Dixon-For every bit of good luck Dario gets, Dixon gets a bit of bad. I heard he had a broken front wing today, and there was the pit incident with Sato.
8. Sato-What? The sole surviving KV car, yet he still suffered through plenty of problems.
9. Helio-I feel a little bad for him, but if Dario is right I'll change my mind when I see the video.
10. Justin Wilson-Looked racy early on, but had to settle for 10th. For someone who is supposedly only good on road courses, he acquitted himself well.
Overall, I thought it was a great race, even if the drama wasn't (usually) about the leader. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about after watching a replay, but for now I'll go to bed happy and hope that my next Indycar race will be sooner than 11 months from now...
I waited to buy my ticket, keeping my eye on the promotions and available tickets. It didn't seem like much had been sold even up until last Thursday, when I went to take advantage of one of the promotions and got pretty much the exact ticket I wanted (South Terrace, bleacher FF, row 18).
Both the fact that most seats were unsold and that the people selling the tickets seemed very confused about when their own promotions began and ended were troubling. It also bugged me that, aside from some radio ads, I saw about zero promotion for this race. Hopefully everyone (ahem, Randy B.) sees this as a building year and will come back bigger and better in 2012.
I enjoyed following the buildup to the race in the usual media outlets. It was especially fun seeing the drivers tweet about the local places I know about.
In unsurprising developments, Dario won the pole. Helio qualified in second, with Dixon in third. Lest you think this was more domination by the Galactic Empire, starting spots 4 through 6 were taken by the KV Racing entries. Championship leader and three-time (so far) winner this year Will Power started a surprising 17th. Simona De Silvestro made yet another trip to the hospital when she wrecked in qualifying.
Sunday morning broke rainy. At least in my neighborhood. Checking the weather turned up a window in the weather that would be open at least until the race started. I was worried about rain all day, but no more came.
I parked right outside the main gates of State Fair Park, near many other enthusiastic race fans. Good for me (especially when I figured out how to leave quickly), but worrisome that these prime parking spots were available just a couple of hours before race time.
First up was a tour of the usual merchandise trailers and souvenir tents. (Great to see one for Newman-Haas drivers Hinchcliffe and Servia) I think the caliber and quantity of apparel has improved since even Indy. This is a subject I'll be tackling further in the near future...
I scored a Spotter's Guide (great for new fans and a perfect souvenir for myself) at the Izod area, and checked out the 2012 Dallara oval car mock-up. I still like it and hope that something with its wheel shields and shark fins makes it to the grid in 2012.
Pippa Mann was onstage for a Q & A session, and demonstrated why she should be a star in the series. Her bubbly personality came through, and she actually suggested taking questions from the audience.
Up here, Danica Patrick still gets the loudest cheers during driver introductions. Simona, Kanaan, and Castroneves were far behind. Interestingly, the only driver to get no applause whatsoever was EJ Viso.
Finally, the start of the race. Immediately the intimacy of Milwaukee compared to, say, Indy was apparent as the field thundered into turn one. Unfortunately, Ryan Hunter-Reay didn't make it very far past turn one after spinning by himself and backing into the wall. At least no one would confuse he and his GoDaddy colors with Danica Patrick and her goDaddy colors for the rest of the day.
Dario quickly asserted himself as the car to beat, though the rest of the field was up for grabs and positions changed hands often. I hope there was no complaining about the racing today... Sebastian Saavedra and Vitor Meira took turns being "uncharacteristic guy in the way of the fast cars." Vitor would eventually park the car with handling problems (Did someone at Foyt misplace the Milwaukee notebook? Paul Tracy's car in 2009 was notably awful, as well). Saavedra would end up being in the wrong place when Alex Lloyd spun later. All three KV cars were in the mix, at least until the first pit stops.
First, I'm finding that I need more practice watching live pit stops. For all the open-wheel races I've been to, I realize now that the pits were clearly visible at only a few. Second, a lot happened in the pits in this race. Takuma Sato ("The KV Racing Driver Who Wrecks a Lot, But Not As Much As Viso") looked like he wanted to pit in Scott Dixon's stall. One result was a loose tire that made everyone downstream on pit road thread the needle to avoid it. I think he also hit one of his own crewmen and may have made Dixon's spotter drop an F-bomb on ABC. Unmitigated disaster, in other words.
I'm not sure happened with the Will Power tire and Dario on the second pitstops, though I have an interesting photo that might shed some light on it... I'll have to wait for the video.
Tony Kanaan passed Franchitti for the lead late in the second stint, and promptly left him behind.
On final pit stops, Helio Castroneves got past the leaders to control the race for himself. He raised Dario's ire by his behavior on the restart (again, I'll have to see the video), but word soon spread that he had a left rear tire going down. Before he could pit and give away his lead (and a lap or two), Tony Kanaan spun by himself in turn 4 and knocked a couple of corners off of his car. Helio could now pit to replace his tire with minimal loss of position and Dario was relieved of his primary competition for the lead.
The last restart had the leaders lined up: Dario, Graham Rahal, Will Power, and Oriol Servia. When the green flew, Rahal's efforts were for nought as Dario held his lead. Servia capitalized on the opportunity and passed Power for third. Helio tried using his fresh tires to advantage, but really didn't make much progress. Dario pulled out about a 1.6 second lead on Rahal that he would hold for the rest of the race (I timed the interval every lap-Rahal had nothing for Dario).
The finishers:
1. Dario-the class of the field. Dominated without running away, if that makes any sense. I think he has a lot of legitimate complaints, but maybe he should air them in private, especially after winning. I'm a big Dario fan, but sometimes its hard to spread his gospel...
2. Graham-Had a quiet day of slowly moving up. Almost surprised to see him up this high at the end. If I'm counting right, that's 3 top 5s in 4 races. Won't be long before he wins a few of these.
3. Servia-Another guy who was in the hunt all day. One wonders how much better he could have done without the pit stop that dropped him to ninth mid-race. Again, I'd like to see the video.
4. Power-Again, quietly picked his way to the front position-by-position. Did exactly what he needed to in order to pick up points.
5. Patrick-What? Where did she come from? I'm not even sure she was in the top ten for most of the day. On the lead lap, sure, but silent otherwise.
6. Hinchcliffe-He hung around in the top 10 all day, finally getting up to sixth as the best-finishing rookie.
7. Dixon-For every bit of good luck Dario gets, Dixon gets a bit of bad. I heard he had a broken front wing today, and there was the pit incident with Sato.
8. Sato-What? The sole surviving KV car, yet he still suffered through plenty of problems.
9. Helio-I feel a little bad for him, but if Dario is right I'll change my mind when I see the video.
10. Justin Wilson-Looked racy early on, but had to settle for 10th. For someone who is supposedly only good on road courses, he acquitted himself well.
Overall, I thought it was a great race, even if the drama wasn't (usually) about the leader. I'm sure I'll have more to talk about after watching a replay, but for now I'll go to bed happy and hope that my next Indycar race will be sooner than 11 months from now...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Milwaukee Preview
This weekend, the Izod Indycar series returns to the venerable Milwaukee Mile after a year’s absence. Its return to the schedule was requested by fans, series CEO Randy Bernard, and (especially) the drivers. Unlike the cookie-cutter mile and a halfs, Milwaukee is a bullring that cannot be taken flat out and requires more driver activity and skill.
Before moving to the greater Milwaukee media market (I don’t think my current municipality of residence can be considered ‘suburban’), I honestly hadn’t given the race much thought. I’d been aware of its place in history, but aside from a couple of ghastly incidents, I don’t think I ever paid much attention. Even after moving here, personal turbulence kept me away from races. In 2009, I was suffering through the middle of a period of extended unemployment when attending the Indy 500 after a six year hiatus proved therapeutic. I debated off and on attending the Mile race before finally deciding that a half hour drive and a parking-lot ticket were small prices to pay for another great time at the races. The race did not disappoint, and I now always make an effort to attend whatever races I can.
I think this race has real potential for being a community event and a highlight of the calendar. And I’m not just saying that because it’s my home track. Milwaukee (like Indianapolis) is that rare major race track that’s actually located well within a city. As part of the state fairgrounds, it is surrounded on all sides by business districts and residential areas. Those potential spectators and profit-making businesspeople stand to benefit in ways not possible for even neighbors of downtown street circuits. They have a literal home race, one that could actually be in their backyard. And it’s an oval-arguably the easier race for the new or inexperienced fan to get into and follow. Hopefully the current promoters will be able to exploit the track’s advantages in location, layout, and race-loving residents and return Milwaukee to a place of prominence on the schedule.
Since May began with a fly-away event in Brazil and continued with the extravaganza that is the run-up to Indianapolis, and was followed by the experimental Texas Twin 275s, Milwaukee is the first “normal” race in more than two months. There will be no Byzantine qualifying procedure, no parade, no halftime show draw, nothing fancy-just a race. Which is kind of refreshing. After a month of May most of them would rather forget, the five Penske and Ganassi drivers showed last week that the world is not ready to spin off its axis. With two wins and seven top fives between them, the paddock was reminded who the dominant forces in the series are.
Will Power has to remain the favorite after tossing the oval monkey off his back last week. I’ll spare my readers further discussion of the other Galactic Empire drivers. Graham Rahal qualified on the front row here in 2009 and finished best-in-class (4th) in a Newman-Haas car. I’ll make the logical extension and mention current Newman-Haas pilot, veteran Oriol Servia, as well. Danica Patrick strikes me as the most likely of the Andretti Autosport drivers to have a good day. Tony Kanaan can’t ever be counted out (and is a two-time winner here), and it’s entirely possible the Sam Schmidt Motorsports stable will surprise again. Most wins among active drivers is Paul Tracy with 4, but it remains to be seen if his team can keep up with Penske and Ganassi on an oval.
I’m looking forward to a good race, with double-file restarts, some passes for the lead, and a lot of action through the field.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)