An American open-wheel racing tradition will be reborn when the green flag flies at the Milwaukee Mile on Saturday, Aug. 31.
The first race of the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250 doubleheader weekend will begin a new chapter in the NTT IndyCar Series’ long history at one of the United States’ oldest racetracks, which was a staple on the series’ schedule for decades before vanishing from the schedule in 2016.
To be sure, Milwaukee is one of the few tracks to have stood on both sides of the line of scrimmage during the second, and more infamous, open-wheel split, hosting both Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) /the Champ Car World Series (CCWS) from before the Split until 2006, and the Indy Racing League (IRL) from 2004 until reunification inn 2008, from which point the newly reunited IndyCar Series stayed at the track through the 2015 season.
The famed track dropped off the schedule after 2015, citing financial pressures and poor attendance, but now, after nearly a decade, that wrong is being made right, and IndyCar machines will once again grace this fabled track.
The Pre-CART Period
The history of open-wheel racing at Milwaukee is too vast to unpack in one sitting; maybe somebody will take one for the team and write that book in the years to come. But to be brief, American Automobile Association (AAA) racing began at the venue in 1937.
Like many of America’s early racetracks, the Mile began as a dirt-covered track for horse racing and did not host a proper open-wheel event until it’s non-championship AAA event in 1937, which Rex Mays won. Following a brief period of interruption during World War II, the track returned to the calendar in force as part of the AAA championship., hosting multiple races a year. Notable winners in this period included Tony Bettenhausen in 1948, 1950 and 1951, Walt Faulkner in 1950 and 1951, and Chuck Stevenson in 1952, 1953 and 1954.
Little changed following the United States Auto Club’s (USAC) takeover of sanctioning of what was then the country’s major racing organization for 1956, though it wasn’t long before legendary names such as A. J. Foyt, Jim Clark and Parnelli Jones began winning at the track. Gordon Johncock took his first IndyCar win on-site in 1965 and Mario Andretti swept the track’s two races in 1966.
The drivers mentioned above became constant presences toward the front of the field at Milwaukee through the USAC era with Al Unser, Bobby Unser and Johnny Rutherford taking multiple wins at the track before it came under the sanctioning of CART in 1980 following the first open-wheel split.
The CART/CCWS Era
The track continued hosting two races a year until 1983 when it was dropped to hosting a single race in June. At this time, the dominant drivers at the track were Tom Sneva, Mario and Michael Andretti, and Rick Mears.
Also a prolific winner during this era was Paul Tracy, who won four times at the Milwaukee Mile in 1995, 1999, 2002 and 2005.
In 1997, Greg Moore took his first win at the track in his second year of CART competition to begin his path toward what many saw as oval-ace status. Moore held off five-time Milwaukee winner Michael Andretti for the victory. This made Moore, barely a month past his 22nd birthday, the youngest driver to win a CART race until 20-year-old Scott Dixon won at Nazareth in 2001.
Moore picked up one more podium finish, a second-place in 1999, at the track before his tragic passing in the 1999 finale at Auto Club speedway.
In 2003, Michel Jourdain Jr. won a unique Milwaukee night race for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing by holding off a charging Patrick Racing Lola driven by Oriol Servia.
Sebastien Bourdais won the final race at Milwaukee in the CART/CCWS era by taking victory in the 2006 Time Warner Cable Road Runner 225. The win was Bourdais’ fourth of four races to open the season. Justin Wilson finished second, his third second-place result of the season’s first four races.
A Brief Affair with the IRL
The IRL’s relationship with the Milwaukee Mile prior to reunification was short and sweet. Dario Franchitti won in 2004, Sam Hornish Jr. triumphed in 2005 and Tony Kanaan went back-to-back in 2006 and 2007.
The IndyCar Series
There remains a fair bit to be said about this era, pending the result of this weekend’s doubleheader.
From 2008 to 2015, the three biggest teams of the era dominated Milwaukee. Team Penske won in 2008 with Ryan Briscoe and 2014 with Will Power. Chip Ganassi Racing was triumphant in 2009 and 2011 at the hands of Dixon and Franchitti, respectively. In 2011 and 2012, Ryan Hunter-Reay delivered back-to-back wins for Andretti Global. The circuit dropped off the calendar in 2010 for reasons relating to sanctioning fees.
The series’ final race before departing Milwaukee was won by Bourdais, driving the No. 11 Chevrolet for KV Racing Technology to his second win of the 2015 season.
Looking Ahead
As the 2024 IndyCar schedule heads to the Milwaukee Mile, the quality of racing on ovals with the series’ new hybrid power unit has been a hot topic in recent weeks. Poor showings at Iowa led to calls for IndyCar to abandon the unit for the sake of its racing product, while the racing from World Wide Technology Raceway was some of the best the series has seen in recent years.
Only a handful of the 2024 field were present the last time IndyCar came to Milwaukee. Power, Dixon, Ed Carpenter, Josef Newgarden and Graham Rahal all strapped in for the 2015 ABC Supply Wisconsin 250, and Katherine Legge earns an honorary mention for her entries at the track in 2006 and 2012.
The rest of the field will be sailing into uncharted waters when they hit the track for practice on Friday.
Alex is the IndyCar Content Director at Frontstretch, having initially joined as an entry-level contributor in 2021. He also serves as Managing Director of The Asia Cable, a publication focused on the international affairs and politics of the Asia-Pacific region which he co-founded in 2023. With previous experience in China, Japan and Poland, Alex is particularly passionate about the international realm of motorsport and the politics that make the wheels turn - literally - behind the scenes.