Here is a rundown of what got me thinking...
Will Power kept his championship hopes alive. The Dutch did not get to party as they wished. A new winner has mixed up the NASCAR playoff picture, while also delegitimizing the system in place. It was also a centennial moment. Shane van Gisbergen is getting a ride he already should have had, but is unnecessarily changing his number in the process. There were some sports car races. MotoGP confirmed Thailand is hosting the season opener in 2025 and 2026. A pair of championships were claimed in the Road to Indy series. The NASCAR Truck Series held a race at Milwaukee, and that leads us to another race weekend that is about to happen at Milwaukee.
What Once was Old is New, But Will it Improve?
It is a new race on the IndyCar schedule considering it was not there in 2023, but the Milwaukee Mile is more familiar with IndyCar than nearly every other track on the schedule. Having hosted 113 races, the Milwaukee Mile has hosted the second-most IndyCar races ever. After a nine-year absence, the one-mile oval returns to the IndyCar calendar with a doubleheader.
When Milwaukee fell off the schedule in 2015, I likened it to IndyCar's stomach, an important organ to the series and its history and almost necessary for it to exist. For a motorsports comparison, Monza's place on the Formula One schedule might have been more apt for Milwaukee and IndyCar, if you consider Indianapolis and Silverstone equals. You need places and races with decades of history to remind you where you came from and where you stand today.
Nine years is a lot of time to think. A Milwaukee return isn't exactly what IndyCar needs at the moment.
It is nice, but haven't we done this before? Milwaukee went away for a year in 2010. It had a pair of good shows after reunification, and then financial terms could not be met between IndyCar and the Wisconsin State Fair Park, which operates the speedway. When it returned in 2011, it was done with a heaping pile of nostalgia as Randy Bernard recognized the importance of such a place even as a CEO without a racing background. It was a great decision on paper. It didn't quite pan out in reality.
The first year back was not close to what 2008 and 2009 looked like. Excuses came out the woodwork. Weather. Lack of promotion. Father's Day weekend. Spec-series. The revival of the Milwaukee Mile could not escape any of these detractors. It moved to Saturday of Father's Day weekend. It moved to August. It moved to July. Michael Andretti stepped in as a promoter. Bus trips were organized to take fans from the Indianapolis-area and Chicago-area to Milwaukee. It was billed as "Indy Fest." Graham Rahal and Alex Tagliani and other drivers got involved. The crowds improved minimally, but not enough to continue onward.
What has changed in nine years to justify a return?
The good news is Wisconsin is not the problem. In 2016, IndyCar returned to Road America after nine years away. Healthy crowds greeted IndyCar that first weekend back in Elkhart Lake, and they have been there every year Road America has been on the schedule. If a track over an hour north of Milwaukee can draw about 50,000 spectators on race day, the area isn't the issue. If that crowd had shown up every year to Milwaukee, Milwaukee wouldn't have fallen off the schedule. There is also a chance Road America would have never returned.
However, there wasn't a real clamoring for Milwaukee to return. At least nothing stronger than the usual rose-tinted nostalgia we get for anything IndyCar-related from over 25 years ago. Things haven't been going so well in recent years to justify another date in Wisconsin. It isn't a case of people are missing out on attending Road America and a second race weekend in the area is needed to meet the demand. This race exists because IndyCar is organizing it. This isn't an independent promoter organizing a race weekend and paying IndyCar to be there. IndyCar is creating this weekend to have another oval on the calendar, but we aren't certain this will do better than the ovals that have previously fallen off the schedule.
It is ok to have a Midwest base, but IndyCar must expand beyond that. Wisconsin didn't need another race weekend. IndyCar needs race weekends elsewhere, especially when it is no longer racing in the second-most populous state in the nation and completely neglects the Northeast where over 50 million people live.
This feels more like a Roger Penske pet project that answers to nostalgia but does not consider the future of IndyCar. It is great to be back at Milwaukee, but it isn't quite what IndyCar needs at the moment. If he is hoping to expand IndyCar's reach and increase its value, Milwaukee isn't the answer. IndyCar needs to be where it isn't and be accessible to more people who do not have the series in their backyard.
It would be one thing if we could guarantee 30,000 people are going to show up to both days of this doubleheader and pack the place, but we cannot even guarantee that. If this isn't going to be a knockout, money-maker, why roll the dice on this event instead of rolling the dice elsewhere where the reward could be much greater?
If attendance was good enough nine years ago, Milwaukee wouldn't have left. That is the truth for any race that falls off the IndyCar schedule. IndyCar isn't abandoning these places. If the crowd was there, the race would have continued. IndyCar didn't leave Texas Motor Speedway to spite Texas. It left because it couldn't draw 5,000 people. If 50,000 people were showing up, Texas likely would have remained on the schedule. With this return to Milwaukee, it must at least draw a crowd. If Milwaukee is returning, it must establish itself as a dependable weekend, which are rare in IndyCar circles, especially for ovals. IndyCar cannot afford to have another doubleheader weekend with about 10,000 people showing up each day. This runs the risk of looking like a half-baked event where not enough homework was done to justify putting it on the calendar.
Road America provides enough proof that anything less than 50,000 spectators over the weekend is unacceptable. Heck, Barber Motorsports Park reported 86,000 spectators attending over its three-day weekend in April. The Milwaukee Mile reports capacity at 34,463 spectators. That is nearly 70,000 spectators over a doubleheader. That is asking a lot for IndyCar, but it is clearly doable. The question is if IndyCar has done its research and can draw such a crowd and create an event that has staying power or does this race weekend exist for the sake of existing and everyone has their fingers crossed it will be some sort of success? Fingers crossed should not be the strategy for a top-tier series.
After nine years away, IndyCar cannot afford to return to Milwaukee and have it look exactly like how it was in 2015. This race weekend must look better and notably better. Less than a week until the first race, it doesn't feel like there is a buzz for Milwaukee's return. There is nothing that suggests this will be a big weekend. Considering that it will be a holiday weekend with two races and there is a chance the IndyCar championship could be claimed, all the ingredients are there for this to be a grand return, and yet no extra excitement is there. We don't feel it coming from IndyCar or the drivers or Milwaukee itself. There is a lack of hype, and that shouldn't be the case with any new event, let alone one of this stature. This should feel like something that is can't miss, and it feels like most don't even realize it is happening.
Returning to Milwaukee isn't enough to celebrate. This must be a self-sustaining event with a long-term future. If we are searching for silver linings a week from now that is failure.
Champions From the Weekend
Lochie Hughes clinched the USF Pro 2000 championship with finishes of sixth and second from Portland.
Max Garcia clinched the U.S. F2000 championship with finishes of second, first and second from Portland.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Will Power, but did you know...
Lando Norris won the Dutch Grand Prix, his second victory of the season.
Harrison Burton won the NASCAR Cup race from Daytona, his first career victory and the 100th Cup victory Wood Brothers Racing. Ryan Truex won the Grand National Series race, his second victory of the season. Layne Riggs won the Truck race from Milwaukee, his first career victory.
The #1 Paul Miller Racing BMW of Bryan Sellers and Madison Snow won the IMSA race from Virginia International Raceway. The #32 Korthoff/Preston Motorsports Mercedes-AMG of Kenton Koch and Mikaël Grenier won in GTD.
Jacob Abel won the Indy Lights race from Portland. Nikita Johnson swept the USF Pro 2000 races from Portland. Michael Costello (race one) and G3 Argyros (race three) won the other U.S. F2000 races.
The #14 AO by TF Oreca-Gibson of Louis Delétraz, Jonny Edgar and Robert Kubica won the 4 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. The #11 Eurointernational Ligier-Nissan of Adam Ali and Matthew Bell won in LMP3. The #57 Kessel Racing Ferrari of Takeshi Kimura, Esteban Masson and Daniel Serra won in LMGT3.
The #32 Team WRT BMW of Dries Vanthoor and Charles Weerts and the #48 Winward Racing Mercedes-AMG of Lucas Auer and Maro Engel split the GT World Challenge Europe Sprint Cup races from Magny-Cours.
Coming Up This Weekend
Milwaukee's return to the IndyCar schedule, this time with a doubleheader.
Formula One returns to Monza for the Italian Grand Prix.
NASCAR's regular season closes with the Southern 500 from Darlington.
The FIA World Endurance Championship is back at Austin for the third stint of Lone Star Le Mans.
MotoGP is back at Aragón after a year away.
Super GT has a round at Suzuka.
