He’d love to do an Ind圜ar race, he said, if the deal were right. All the time Sargent was thinking bigger. His Track Enterprises organization out of Macon, Illinois, had worked with publicly owned fairgrounds and he saw potential at the Mile where others had found failure.Ī super late model race in June 2019 went well enough that it led to an ARCA Menards Series race in 2021, which led to another. Sargent was well aware of that history, but he came to town with more than three decades’ experience promoting races of all shapes and sizes. A midweek super late model race in 2012 was a hit, but by the third year it was an expensive weekend flop. So much for what seemed to be the Mile’s ninth life. Fans thanked him for bringing Indy cars back to Milwaukee but then told him they weren’t going to the race. Michael Andretti seemed to be the last great hope.Ī five-time winner at the Mile in CART and a champion team owner, Andretti thought he could rebuild a tradition, but a name and connections went only so far. Tensions between Fair Park management and GO Racing led to Carl Haas taking over promotions then Haas was succeeded by a series of groups and individuals who tried unsuccessfully with full seasons and one-off events. The overpriced, underbuilt new grandstand – needed as it was – hamstrung anyone trying to run a promotion business. Indy-car racing had its split, and NASCAR lost some luster. Fans’ tastes changed as more entertainment options became available and kids’ activities began to fill family schedules and tax their budgets. The track hosted AAA big cars in the 1930s and USAC stockers in the ’60s, the heyday of CART Indy cars in the ’90s and the steppingstone series of a still-growing NASCAR in the 2000s.īut racing’s traveling circus outgrew the popular races during State Fair. The onetime horse track is the oldest active automobile racetrack in the country, having celebrated the 119th anniversary of its first race just Sunday, if you consider a single tweet from a group of dedicated supporters a celebration. NASCAR trucks have become something of an afterthought over the series’ lifespan. It’s the littlest brother, the easiest to push around to make room for its siblings. It’s a division that relies heavily on rent-a-ride drivers and promising youngsters whom the manufacturers, Toyota mostly, hope to develop. 27 is no longer the curiosity that demanded fans’ attention when it was launched in 1995, the one that allowed numerous regionally known short track stars to show their talent on a national stage to earn a spot in the Cup Series. The Craftsman Truck Series that shows up to race Aug. Those are words I never expected to type.
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