The NTT IndyCar Series’ return to the Milwaukee Mile after a nine-year absence has been orchestrated by Penske Entertainment, the series’ owner who promotes other key stops on the calendar at Indianapolis, Detroit, and Iowa.
Although the one-mile oval rates as one of IndyCar’s great historical venues – and featured packed grandstands in the days of CART and its predecessors – the last visit in 2015 did not generate high ticket sales, which led to its removal from the schedule. And with the extended gap since the series paid a visit to West Allis, Wis., Penske Entertainment is largely starting from scratch with its Hy-Vee doubleheader this weekend.
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According to Penske Corporation president Bud Denker who oversees the event, re-establishing Milwaukee’s popularity on the IndyCar tour has the added challenge of offering racing and racing alone as the main attraction.
“This is a startup,” Denker told RACER after Friday’s practice session. “The closest thing I’ve compared it to is Iowa Speedway where it was, ‘If we build it, they will come,’ because of the incredible entertainment with musical acts there. With what we’re starting out with in Milwaukee, it’s, ‘If we build it, we hope they come,’ because we just don’t have the same type of entertainment lineup.”
Working in partnership with the Wisconsin State Fair Park, Penske Entertainment has developed local ticket deals to court past and present fans alike. The doubleheader won’t be a sellout in its first run, but Denker is encouraged by the volume of ticket sales that continue to build.
“We sold 790 tickets (Thursday), 780 the day before, and then today (Friday), we’ll probably do 1200,” he said. “I expect (Saturday) in the grandstands, we’ll have about 15,000 and on Sunday, about the same thing right now, we have 13,500 in the bank. (Sunday) will be bigger with an extra day to sell.”
In CART’s heyday, full stands were often achieved by massive ticket giveaways from key sponsors like Marlboro, Target, Miller Beer and other top-tier brands involved with IndyCar teams. Lacking the same sponsor base to fill the entire facility through ticket giveaways, Denker hopes to see the main section of grandstands in front of the pits represented with a healthy crowd.
“The middle section holds 22,000,” he added. “The grandstands in Turn 4, two of them go away next year. We’re looking to condense this thing down here. On top of Turn 1, we built temporary suites. There’s five of them there. Four of them are sold, one open for business development. I think once people see the suites around the track, they’re going to say, ‘I want to move from here to there next year.’
“So my goal next year is we’ll have those suites down in Turn 1, and we’ll build an equal amount in Turn 4 when those grandstands go away. So you’ll have it bookended with suites. And here’s the thing about this year: Would I like to have 24,000 people per day? Absolutely. But and I happy starting out with 15,000 to 16,000, maybe as high as 18,000, to start this off? Yes.”
The event shifts in a few ways in 2025 as it reverts to a single race and is held one week earlier. Denker is confident both factors will drive increased sales.
“We’re coming off the State Fair. We had a (NASCAR) Truck race here last week. So what’s the share of a wallet here? How much can people really share of that wallet?” he said. “And the other thing is, how much did being on Labor Day weekend hurt us? So next year, no Truck race. Next year, no Labor Day. We’re running the week before and we’re going two weeks after the State Fair.
“And there’s two races here. Was it a mistake to run two races? Nothing was a mistake. We had to fill up this calendar with 17 races, because remember the race in Thermal was an exhibition, whereas next year it’ll be at points, and then so we’ll have enough points races to have one race here next year.
“So that’s so back to the point of, ‘If you build up, you hope they come.’ I think they’re coming. I’m not disappointed in 15,000 people because our team has busted their butts to make it happen. So we’re going to build this thing, and we’re patient enough to wait for it to keep growing.”