The Indy Racing League is interested enough in returning to the Milwaukee Mile next year that it will hold open several dates in the 2010 IndyCar Series schedule in hope that a viable promoter group emerges.
On Tuesday, a top state fair official disclosed that at least six groups had contacted State Fair Park about taking over the troubled track. Whether any of them is serious or capable might come to light when the State Fair Park Board of Directors holds a special meeting on the topic Monday night.
Wisconsin Motorsports, which took on the racing promotions contract in February, owes rent to State Fair Park, Craig Barkelar the park’s interim executive director said. If its deadline of Sunday is not met, the board could vote to void its contract.
The group also owes more than $2 million to the IRL and NASCAR for races at the track this season. Both sanctioning bodies have said they need to be paid for 2009 before agreeing to return in 2010 dates, regardless of who operates the track.
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Still, the IRL has “spots on the calendar for them and at the end of the day, we would love to be back in Milwaukee,” spokesman John Griffin said.
Griffin would neither assure nor rule out that a race would fall in the Mile’s traditional place on the schedule, a week after the Indianapolis 500. The IRL expects to publish a schedule of 17 or 18 races near the end of this month and could add Milwaukee at a later date.
At least three parties have had what Griffin described as broad conversations with Terry Angstadt, president of the IRL’s commercial division, regarding the Mile.
NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said the stock-car sanctioning body loved racing in Milwaukee.
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