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After a year off the calendar, the Milwaukee Mile made its triumphant return to the schedule yesterday. Only thing is it was not that triumphant. While the on track product was excellent, the promotion and attendance was pathetic for a race that HAD to return to the IICS calendar by many critics opinion. If it HAD to be there, then where were all the fans? A lot of fans that actually were in attendance for the weekend said the track was more like a ghost town with some people at the fair grounds not even knowing a motor race was happening. Regardless, here are a few things I picked out. Little bit of the good, bad, and ugly.Racing Product:
As always, the short mile oval produced fantastic racing all around the track. There were meaningful passes for the lead as well as good action in the mid pack. The one thing that was also good about the race was the number of passes. Typically on a short oval you have people constantly passing and then getting re-passed. While it looks kinda cool, it really means the racing is just senseless and going on too long. In my opinion, the action was just right and not borderline NASCAR. That is the best quality about Milwaukee to me, the action is constant but not so short that it gets to be too much. See Iowa next weekend where there is just no separation and constant switching of position. The unique lines at Milwaukee with the asphalt layer and bumps also makes the racing pretty intense. As Dario said before the race, there is about a ten foot groove on track and everyone fights like hell to stay in that groove.
Attendance:
Terrible….next. But honestly, what gives? Milwaukee has a fantastic history with huge names taking wins at the fair grounds and when the series came back to town this year it looked like a ghost town in the stands. Randy did tell Milwaukee they would need to promote their event right? It is just as much the series fault however as all I keep seeing is adverts for Vegas and TV adverts for Iowa. Why are we not doing a better job promoting the short track with arguably more history than any other in the country? Makes no sense to me and was a failure by not only the venue, but the series as well.
TK:
Great run by TK Tony Kanaan yesterday and really Lotus as a whole. Whatever they are doing there, it is working not just for TK, but Sato and Viso as well. My only gripe to TK was what the heck dude? He was in second place and trashed the car chasing Helio Castroneves who he knew had a puncture in the left rear tire. I don’t understand the pushing. I understand he is a racer and should work to win, but there is no reason to pit when you know the car in front will have to stop before race end. Regardless, that whole KV operation will be in good shape come a few days in Iowa.
Simona:
This girl proves every weekend why she is a rockstar. After suffering a heavy impact on Saturday, she stayed overnight for the most part on Saturday, met with series medical officials and was out to drive for the race. Her ride would be short lived because the car was totalled in the practice crash and somehow the crew got it together enough to run for a few laps. A rockstar effort from a rockstar at HVM. The question is when will the big team coming knocking because this girl is the real deal!
Those were my observations from the race this past week. Not a huge list but definitely some issues to be sorted if Milwaukee wants to comeback next year. As far as the Dario penalty or not, head to Twitter, there are a ton of people discussing it! No sense in beating the horse as I missed the moment in question. One thing is for sure, if it was not a penalty, there needs to be better transparency. INDYCAR says no video evidence and the fans say clear as day on worldwide TV. The League needs to do a better job of not only policing the teams/drivers, but they need to be looking after themselves as well. Credibility is key for a championship trying to return to past status. If there is no credibility, there are no fans and the series dies. End of story.
Attendance and promotion was atrocious. Got in to town on Saturday and left immediately after the IICS race on Sunday. I did not see one billboard or hear one radio or tv advert for the event. The only thing I saw was a brief mention of the race on one of the local morning news programs.
Robin Miller said that attendance estimates were around 13,000. The place can hold 3x that. Heck, I went to a AAA Columbus Clippers ballgame last night and they had 6,000 in the stands. It doesn’t take much to get a small crowd.
What really burns my brisket is that all us fans complained and moaned to Randy that Milwaukee needed to be back on the schedule. He said he heard our calls and got it done. Granted, they had some pretty poor promotion and the timeslot given by ABC made it so I didn’t get back into my bed in Columbus Ohio until 3:30am. But, what credibility does this all lend to us loudmouth fans who constantly spout drivel like “Randy better get Milwaukee back on the schedule or I’m done being a fan”?
I gotta agree with you MIke. I was gutted to see the attendance on TV. I want to go this year but couldn’t swing it and I am kind of gave I didn’t. Promotion may have been a problem but what the heck else do they have to do there in Milwaukee? Watch the Brewers or Bucks? Come on people.
They basically killed any chance of keeping this race on the schedule made those like myself who demanded this back on the schedule look like fools. Randy is already looking at Road America so another oval lost. I don’t see how the schedule can remain balanced now. Texas is threatening a pull out if they go to Houston and they ARE going to Houston. Now another street race in Florida pops up out of nowhere. A second Brazil race.
Even if Chicagoland come back their attendance was poor because they won’t promote. We’re maybe losing two more ovals in the next two years in Texas and the Mile and Phoniex won’t even talk to Randy. Michigan doesn’t seem in the cards and I really don’t want every oval outside of Indy to a double. Inverting the field skews the points too much. It’s okay for one circuit but not the whole Oval schedule.
It kills this oval fan to save it but I believe we are headed towards Indy being the only oval. So many drivers will be lost if this happens. Pippa, Dan, Townsnd Bell, and Ed. Not a good weekend to be an oval fans.
I also think race control was afraid of Team Target whining and didn’t penalize them. I like and respect Dario but he has been the biggest crybaby all year and I’m sick of it. You won the damn race, shut up and be happy. Helio blocking didn’t seem to impact another Team Target Winner’s circle, now did it?