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.

Going (Back) to California (Speedway)

It was announced last week that Indycar will return to the oval at California’s Auto Club Speedway (the Track Formerly Known As Fontana, or California Speedway). This is good news for several reasons. It’s another oval race, something most fans seem interested in keeping for at least half the schedule. It’s a track that, despite its relative youth, has some open-wheel history: Both the world closed-course speed record and the fastest 500-mile race in history came here. It’s also a track owned by ISC, indicating that at least some part of that company is interested in investing in Indycar’s product.

I’d like to see it run as a 500-miler, but I’m not sure that will happen since it was also announced that it would be a night race. I think the area’s climate would make the race a good fit either early or late in the season-but the night race part of that might mean that Indycar has other ideas. Adding Auto Club to the schedule is also a good move since it only hosts a single NASCAR Cup race. This means that there is less competition for ticket sales than somewhere like, say, Phoenix that hosts two NASCAR weekends per year.

This announcement raises other questions. Open-wheel racing at California under IRL sanction had trouble drawing enough fans to fill up a small track like Milwaukee. One hopes Indycar has learned a lesson and will hire a promoter willing and able to sell enough tickets to make the track at least look full. ISC had been so lax in promoting Indycar events at their tracks that they disappeared from the schedule in 2010. The return of an ISC track would seem to indicate that they are, in fact, interested in Indycar and would presumably be interested in investing in advertising and promotion.

After next season (and the 2012 Dallaras have ample test and race miles to sort out teething problems), I’d like to see a 500 mile race run in early February-before the Daytona 500. Whether or not this would be allowed to happen at an ISC track remains to be seen (especially with a NASCAR Cup race run a month or so later), but I’d pitch it as a chance to feed hungry race fans early in the year and to steal some attention from NASCAR.