Ryan Hunter-Reay Wins Milwaukee Mile Indyfest

Photo Credit: INDYCAR/ LAT USA

A United States auto racing venue that pre-dates the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, The Milwaukee Mile has been the site of motorsport competition since 1903. Preserved as a staple venue for Indy car-style racing, the one-time centerpiece for open wheel made headlines in 2010 when the IZOD INDYCAR Series was unable to hold a race at the 1.015-mile oval. The Milwaukee Mile’s historic allure brought the major open wheel racing tour back to the racetrack in 2011 but was hurt by poor planning leading to many questions of whether the event will continue for 2012. Five-time winner at The Milwaukee Mile Michael Andretti would save the race through his sports marketing firm proving the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series another chance show-off the 22-lap event as a historical crown jewel.

On race day Saturday, rain delayed the start of the Milwaukee Indyfest by around two hours. However, with aggressive track drying, The Milwaukee Mile’s race start was inevitable. Little past two 2pm local time, pole-sitter Dario Franchitti led the 25-car IZOD INDYCAR field to the double-file start. A neat flawless start for almost all competitors, the #10 car of Franchitti benefited from his front starting position to secure a comfortable lead through the Milwaukee Indyfest’s first 63 laps.

On lap 28, a pit stop for the #67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car was penalized when Josef Newgarden ran into an air wrench lying in his stall. The penalty for the American driver Newgarden added insult to the injury of losing their 7^th place qualifying due to an unapproved engine change. Josef Newgarden would be the first retirement from the event with a mechanical problem reported on the #67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing race machine.

The first caution of the Milwaukee Indyfest was thrown on lap 67 when Simona de Silvestre’s #78 car was stopped in turn 4. The sole Lotus engined runner currently in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series, the HVM Racing car ended its day with the driver de Silvestro stating, "I just made a mistake.”.

With the #10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing car pitting just ahead of the yellow flag period, the race was ultimately out of the hands of the car’s Scottish driver Dario Franchitti. Later in the race, Franchitti would end up in the turn 3-4 wall finishing a season-worst 19^th. The Milwaukee Indyfest event would prove tedious for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing squad with #9 car of Scott Dixon penalized with a drive-though sentence for passing under yellow. Several observers including Dixon questioned the officials’ penalty. "I really don't know what happened on the restart where we got penalized. I think the one they waved off was the one we got out of line when EJ Viso was trying to restart at 20 mph.” said Scott Dixon. Running third when he was assessed the penalty lap 123, Scott Dixon and the #9 car was only able to claim 11^th place at the end of 225 laps.

After the 63^rd lap, Chevrolet powered would rule The Milwaukee Mile in a dominance not seen since earlier in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR season. The #3 Team Penske car of Helio Castroneves took the lead from Dario Franchitti with James Hinchcliffe leading a lap through a pit stop exchange. Assuming the lead by staying out on the racetrack while others pitted, EJ Viso in the #5 KV Racing Technology vehicle would lead 27 laps. Viso would turn the lead back over to Castroneves on lap 96 during a caution for Justin Wilson #18 Dale Coyne Racing car sitting on the racetrack with a blown Honda engine. Misfortune would also find Wilson’s Dale Coyne Racing teammate James Jakes who was part of a coming-together with the #15 car of Takuma Sato. Unrelated to the crash between Jakes and Sato, the #4 car of JR Hildebrand was also part of the race’s third yellow period as his car stalled due to a mechanical problem.

The winning pass of the event was made on lap 142 when the #28 car of Ryan Hunter-Reay took advantage of a slight bobble by Castroneves. Surviving the attacks under two additional cautions, Hunter-Reay gave the Andretti Autosport group their first victory in 2012. By winning the Milwaukee Indyfest, Ryan Hunter-Reay will have won at least once in all three seasons he raced with Andretti Autosport. "It's amazing. First of all, thank you to all of the fans for coming out, filling a great number of seats in here. What a race. I know we would all have liked to see a little more passing, but from the car it was so busy, just trying to hang on to it. But getting a win for DHL and Sun Drop, it's unreal.” said the winning driver Hunter-Reay. For winning car owner Michael Andretti, the victory in a race promoted by Andretti Sports Marketing was a significant day.

Photo Credit: INDYCAR/ LAT USA

Quietly claiming his best finish of the season, Tony Kanaan finished ahead of the Andretti Autosport #27 car of James Hinchcliffe. For another incredible top-5 performance for the Dreyer & Reinbold Racing #22 car of Oriol Servia, the Spanish driver weaved this way from 20^th to 4^th in the Milwaukee Indyfest. Rounding out the top-5 for the 2012 Milwaukee Indyfest is the EJ Viso’s #5 car for KV Racing Technology.

With the top-5 in the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series’ The Milwaukee Mile all Chevrolet powered, this was the first win by the bowtie win since the Sao Paulo street race event. After 225 laps in the Saturday event, Alex Tagliani’s #98 Bryan Herta Autosport race car was the highest-finishing Honda-engined runner.

The next venue for the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series is June 23^rd at Iowa Speedway for the Iowa Corn Indy 250 night race.


2012 IZOD INDYCAR
Milwaukee Indyfest
The Milwaukee Mile
Race Results

	Car #	Driver	Driver Nationality	Race Team	Engine
1	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
2	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
3	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
4	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet
5	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
6	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
7	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda
8	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
9	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
10	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
11	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
12	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
13	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
14	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
15	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
16	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda
17	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
18	6	Katherine Legge	England	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
19	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
20	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
21	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
22	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
23	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
24	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus
25	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda

Franchitti Snags Pole for Milwaukee Indyfest

Photo Credit: INDYCAR/ LAT USA

Returning to the Milkwaukee Mile oval last season after a race promoter fiasco cancelled the 2010 activities at the track, there was questions whether the IZOD INDYCAR Series was going to appear at the complex in 2012. A less-than stellar track audience and TV audience put open wheel racing in doubt until Michael Andretti rescued the Wisconsin state spectacle. Still occurring on Father's day weekend, there is a change to the 225-lap event from the previous year. As opposed to the 2011 race, the 2012 Milwaukee Indyfest was event scheduled early on Saturday afternoon.

In Friday afternoon qualifying, Honda-engined IZOD INDYCAR competitors continued to show force with the 2012 Dallaras. Accomplishing a two-lap speed average of 168.737 miles per hour, Dario Franchitti took pole for Saturday's Milwaukee Indyfest for the Target Chip Ganassi Racing team. After qualifying the #10 car on pole, Franchitti expressed some surprise from the fast effort after practice."Practice is one thing, qualifying is another and then there is the race. For as warm as it it people are fighting the car and everyone wants the same line. I expect tomorrow is going to be tough, especially at the end of a full - stint on those Firestone tires." said Dario Franchitti.

Perhaps on the momentum of the Texas Motor Speedway upset win, the #18 Dale Coyne Racing car piloted by Justin Wilson continues to impress on ovals. "The confidence has helped a lot." said Wilson adding, "I feel like we've made some progress in understanding this car and what it's looking for, so we'll keep chipping away at it and making the car better and better." While qualifying 2nd, Justin Wilson will fall to 12th on the start of the 2012 Milwaukee Indyfest because of an unapproved engine change after the Texas race. Will Power's #12 Team Penske car, the #67 Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing car of Josef Newgarden, the #15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing vehicle of Takuma Sato and the Mike Conway driven #14 AJ Foyt Enterprises machine have also been handed grid position penalties of 10 spots.

Promoting the race through his sports event business arm, Michael Andretti's three-car team had mixed fortunes in qualifying. While Ryan Hunter-Reay's #28 car was the fastest Chevrolet-engined competitor presented as 3rd on the time sheet, James Hinchcliffe tied his worse starting spot of the season with a 13th place grid position. Marco Andretti will start 15th on the 1-mile oval with the #26 Chevrolet-powered Dallara. 

Visiting the Milwaukee mile for the first time, 2012 IZOD INDYCAR freshman Rubens Barichello place his #8 KV Racing Technology car 5th fastest between two Team Penske machines. Josef Newgarden for Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing also had a very respectable 7th quickest time but will forfeit 10 grid positions Saturday. "Knowing that we had the penalty coming here wasn't too bad because it's been a cycle this year. Everyone's had to go through it at some point and it's just our turn." said Newgarden.

A race with 25 cars, the 225-lap Milwaukee Indyfest main event is scheduled for a 12:30pm Eastern time start. According to weather forecasts, a slight chance of thunderstorms could threaten the race on Saturday.


2012 IZOD INDYCAR
Milwaukee Indyfest
Milwaukee Mile
Qualifying Results


Blue denotes vehicles serving grid position penalties

	Car #	Driver	Driver Nationality	Race Team	Engine
1	10	Dario Franchitti	Scotland	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
2	18	Justin Wilson	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
3	28	Ryan Hunter-Reay	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
4	12	Will Power	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
5	8	Rubens Barrichello	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
6	3	Helio Castroneves	Brazil	Team Penske	Chevrolet
7	67	Josef Newgarden	United States	Sarah Fisher Hartman Racing	Honda
8	5	EJ Viso	Venezuela	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
9	2	Ryan Briscoe	Australia	Team Penske	Chevrolet
10	11	Tony Kanaan	Brazil	KV Racing Technology	Chevrolet
11	9	Scott Dixon	New Zealand	Target/Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
12	77	Simon Pagenaud	France	Schmidt-Hamilton Motorsports	Honda
13	27	James Hinchcliffe	Canada	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
14	15	Takuma Sato	Japan	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Honda
15	26	Marco Andretti	United States	Andretti Autosport	Chevrolet
16	4	JR Hildebrand	United States	Panther Racing	Chevrolet
17	38	Graham Rahal	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
18	98	Alex Tagliani	Canada	Bryan Herta Autosport with Curb Agajanian	Honda
19	6	Katherine Legge	England	Dragon Racing	Chevrolet
20	19	James Jakes	England	Dale Coyne Racing	Honda
21	83	Charlie Kimball	United States	Chip Ganassi Racing	Honda
22	22	Oriol Servia	Spain	Dreyer & Reinbold Racing	Chevrolet
23	20	Ed Carpenter	United States	Ed Carpenter Racing	Chevrolet
24	78	Simona de Silvestro	Switzerland	Lotus-HVM Racing	Lotus
25	14	Mike Conway	England	AJ Foyt Enterprises	Honda

Franchitti Takes Pole for The Milwaukee Mile 225

Photo Credit: Chris Jones

 

In 2010, the state of Wisconsin's motorsport options were limited as the Milwaukee Mile was unable to host their traditional major stock car and open wheel races due to financial difficulties. While the NASCAR Nationwide series has relocated to nearby Elkhart Lake's Road America, the IZOD INDYCAR series waited for the previous promoter issue to be resolved. Added back to the schedule for 2011, fans of the one-mile event (which often presided the week after the Indianapolis 500) rejoiced as open wheel racing returned after a 2010 season absence. 

 

Ending a horrible chapter for the fairgrounds that hosted auto racing since 1903, the IZOD INDYCAR series are back to the outskirts of Milwaukee to compete at the 1-mile oval in West Allis. Readying for a Sunday afternoon event, qualifying for The Milwaukee Mile 225 will have Target/Chip Ganassi Racing's Dario Franchitti starting at the front. Recording a two-lap average lap time 42.7766 seconds, Franchitti's average speed of 170.841 miles per hour was 2.5 miles per hour faster than Ryan Briscoe's 2009 pole run.

 

Alongside Dario Franchitti, the Target/Chip Ganassi Racing driver will have Helio Castroneves representing the initial best starting of top rival Penske Racing. The #9 car of Scott Dixon will be immediately following teammate Franchitti to the green flag. From 4th to 6th place will have the team cars of KV Racing Technology launching a best chance for the team to spoil as a victor. The #82 of Tony Kanaan leads over Takuma Sato and EJ Viso. 

 

While fast in practice, Penske Racing's Will Power struggled in qualifying Saturday afternoon. Following his first oval win at Texas Motor Speedway, Power's circle track luck took a turn with only a 17th fastest time after losing traction for just an instant on track. "We were flat through turns one and two but we had a big moment there in turn three when we got loose that cost us."

 

With a 26-car field set to compete for The Milwaukee Mile 225, the HVM Racing team could be questionable for the race Sunday as driver Simona de Silvestro crashed on her warm-up lap in qualifying. Conscious after the accident, de Silvestro was taken off-site for further medical examination.

 

The Milwaukee 225 will start Sunday at 3:30pm.

 

 

Starting Grid

Milwaukee Mile

The Milwaukee Mile 225

 

Pos # | Car # | Driver/ Nationality/ Team

1. 10 Dario Franchitti/Scotland/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
2. 3 Helio Castroneves/Brazil/ Penske Racing
3. 9 Scott Dixon/New Zealand/ Target/Chip Ganassi Racing
4. 82 Tony Kanaan/Brazil/ KV Racing Technology
5. 5 Takuma Sato/Japan/ KV Racing Technology
6. 58 EJ Viso/Venezuela/ KV Racing Technology
7. 28 Ryan Hunter-Reay/United States/Andretti Autosport
8. 6 Ryan Briscoe/Australia/ Penske Racing
9. 26 Marco Andretti/United States/ Andretti Autosport
10. 2 Oriol Servia/Spanish/ Newman/Haas Racing
11. 24 Ana Beatriz/Brazil/ Dreyer & Reinbold
12. 38 Graham Rahal/United States/Chip Ganassi Racing
13. 22 Justin Wilson/England/ Dreyer & Reinbold Racing
14. 19 Alex Lloyd/England/Dale Coyne Racing
15. 7 Danica Patrick/United States/ Andretti Autosport
16. 06 James Hinchcliffe/Canada/ Newman/Haas Racing
17. 12 Will Power/Australia/ Penske Racing
18. 4 JR Hildebrand/United States/ Panther Racing
19. 77 Alex Tagliani/Canada/ Sam Schmidt Racing
20. 27 Mike Conway/England/Andretti Autosport
21. 83 Charlie Kimball/United States/ Chip Ganassi Racing
22. 14 Vitor Meira/Brazil/ AJ Foyt Racing Enterprises
23. 18 James Jakes/England/ Dale Coyne Racing
24. 34 Sebastian Saavedra/Columbia/ Conquest Racing
25. 67 Ed Carpenter/United States/Sarah Fisher Racing

 

?26. 78 Simona De Silvestro/Switzerland/ HVM Racing (Pending further information)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Race Weekend Schedule & Weather Forecast: June 17th to 19th 2011

Photo Credit: Geoff Burke/Getty Images for NASCAR

West Allis, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Mile
IZOD INDYCAR Series/ Firestone Indy Lights Series

Friday:

3:00pm- IZOD INDYCAR Practice

Temperature: 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 0%

 
3:45pm- IZOD INDYCAR Practice (All Cars)
 
Temperature: 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 0%




Saturday:


8:45am- Firestone Indy Lights Practice

Temperature: 17 degrees Celsius (63 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%


9:45am- IZOD INDYCAR Practice

Temperature: 18 degrees Celsius (64 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%


11:55am- Firestone Indy Lights Practice

Temperature: 18 degrees Celsius (65 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%


12:55pm- IZOD INDYCAR Practice

Temperature: 19 degrees Celsius (67 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%


3:50pm- Firestone Indy Lights Qualifying
 
Temperature: 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%


4:45pm- IZOD INDYCAR Qualifying
Temperature: 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%


Sunday:

12:30pm Firestone Indy Lights David Hobbs 100



Temperature: 19 degrees Celsius (67 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 20%


3:30pm- IZOD INDYCAR The Milwaukee 225
Temperature: 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 20%



Brooklyn, Michigan
Michigan International Speedway
NASCAR Sprint Cup/NASCAR Nationwide Series/ ARCA Racing Series

Thursday:

2:30pm- ARCA Practice

Temperature: 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 30%




Friday:

10:00am- ARCA Qualifying

Temperature: 19 degrees Celsius (66 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 20%


11:30am- NASCAR Nationwide Practice

Temperature: 22 degrees Celsius (72 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 20%


12:30pm- NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice

Temperature: 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 20%


2:00pm- NASCAR Nationwide Practice

Temperature: 24 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 20%


3:30pm- NASCAR Sprint Cup Practice

Temperature: 24 degrees Celsius (74 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 20%


5:15pm- ARCA RainEater Wiper Blades 200

Temperature: 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Partly Cloudy
Chance of Precipitation: 20%


Saturday:

11:10am- NASCAR Nationwide Qualifying

Temperature: 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%


1:10pm- NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying

Temperature: 22 degrees Celsius (71 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%


3:30pm- NASCAR Nationwide Alliance Truck Parts 250

Temperature: 23 degrees Celsius (73 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 50%



Sunday:

1:00pm- NASCAR Sprint Cup Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400

Temperature: 24 degrees Celsius (75 degrees Fahrenheit)
Sky Conditions: Cloudy with chance of thunderstorm
Chance of Precipitation: 30%

Milwaukee Mile Going Quiet for 2010

Photo Credit: Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images for NASCAR

After 107 years of promoting to evolution of the automobile through motor racing, the Milwaukee State Fair property will end their streak of providing at least one auto race a year (excluding years of world war) to the residents of Wisconsin in 2010. Until the approaching racing season, the Milwaukee Mile had been credited for being the oldest running speedway in the world. Last week, NASCAR was forced to provide the unfortunate news that neither the Nationwide or Camping World Truck series racers will return for their annual visit to the Milwaukee Mile. Their announcement follows suit of the IndyCar series will had kept the race off the 2010 Izod IndyCar schedule.



Photo Credit: Ron McQueeney/IndyCar

With racing at the Milwaukee Mile appearing to be stalled for 2010 by a contentious battle amongst private and government assemblies as well as a major debtload, the latest attempt for local businessmen Frank and Dominic Giuffre to take over promotion of the racetrack fell apart in mid November.

Significant to open-wheel racing history (most recently the IndyCar series), an event at the one-mile oval were traditionally run on the week following the Indianapolis 500 for many years since first done in 1947. From 2004 to 2006, the Milwaukee Mile also scheduled two event in the year for opwn wheel with IRL IndyCars and the Champ car events. Through multiple events, the Milwaukee Mile played host to some historic moments. In 1963, the track was the scene of Indy car racing's first triumph by an rear-engined race car as Jim Clark drove a Lotus-Ford to victory lane. Among other popular occurrences included the Andretti family of drivers Michael, Mario, and John taking 1-2-3 in the 1991 race. One more moment the one-mile track provided was the scene of the late Greg Moore's first CART series victory holding off Michael Andretti to win the 225 mile event.

Running two races in the 1980s, the NASCAR Nationwide (then Busch Series) possessed a lasting presence in the area from 1993 to 2009. Drivers like Dale Earnhardt Jr, Greg Biffle and Carl Edwards won races on the storied surface. The NASCAR Camping World Truck also held a race at the Milwaukee Mile since the tour was started in 1995.

Despite the lack of a future suitor, hope surrounds the possibility of major auto racing returning to the Milwaukee Mile in 2011.