Milwaukee Mile

Address: Wisconsin State Fair Park 7722 West Greenfield Avenue, West Allis, Wisconsin, 53214

43.020833333333 - 88.011111111111Koordinaten: 43 ° 1 ' 15 " N, 88 ° 0' 40 " W

The Milwaukee Mile is a race track in West Allis in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is a 1.032 miles long oval track with a seating capacity of 45,000 seats. Until 1953 she was unattached, until 1954 it was paved.

The Milwaukee Mile is the oldest active Speedway of the world, which since its opening in 1903, took place at least one car races per year. It is located on the grounds of the Wisconsin State Fair. On him so far found events of various motorsports organizations, including the American Automobile Association, the United States Automobile Club, NASCAR, CART / Champ Car and the Indy Racing League. In addition to these large series were and are also races of various regional series instead.

At the Milwaukee Mile were various sizes of automobile racing to against, including Barney Oldfield, Ralph DePalma, Parnelli Jones, AJ Foyt, Al Unser, Bobby Unser, Mario Andretti, Bobby Rahal, Jim Clark, Darrell Waltrip, Alan Kulwicki, Emerson Fittipaldi, Bobby Allison, Davey Allison, Nigel Mansell, Michael Andretti, Harry Gant, Rusty Wallace, and Walker Evans. Even current racer (s) as Danica Patrick, Marco Andretti, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kasey Kahne, Dario Franchitti, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Juan Pablo Montoya, Rubens Barrichello were active at the Milwaukee Mile.

History

Dirt track

The history of the track goes back to the late 19th century. One miles private racecourse there was at that point a long time around the year 1876. In 1891 acquired the Agricultural Society of the State of Wisconsin the grounds for the Wisconsin State Fair.

The first event took place on September 11, 1903. William Jones of Chicago won a race over five laps and set the first course record by 72 seconds per lap, which corresponds to a speed of about 50 mph. In the years 1907 and 1908 each took a 24 -hour race held at the Milwaukee Mile. The first race over 100 miles in 1915 won Louis Disbrow with an average speed of 62.5 mph

Particular success on the race track had Barney Oldfield, which had a decisive influence on his status as a legend. In 1905 he set a new lap record and in 1910 he put in his "Blitzen Benz " gradually increased the average speed 70.159 miles per hour. A year later, Ralph DePalma won the first race of the Championship Cars, just a week before his victory at the Indianapolis 500 In June 1917, but he had to Oldfield with his spectacular racing coupe Miller " Golden Submarine " beaten with aerodynamic bodywork give the order a series of races between 10 and 25 miles won against him.

The first Champ Car event took place on 17 July 1933. However, the day was rained out. Wilbur Shaw and the other driver convinced the organizers to start the race on the following day. This led to the formation of the concept of "Rain Date".

In the 1930s, new bleachers were installed, which provided a total of 14,900 spectators. They replaced the original grandstands from the year 1914. In 1938 they were also covered. These grandstands stood until September 2002, when they were replaced by new ones made ​​of aluminum bleachers.

In 1937, a Champ Car race was held, that became known due to a counting error. Only 96 laps were completed instead of the scheduled 100 laps. Rex Mays won this race and continued his dominance continued into the 1940s, where he won the race in 1941 and the first after the Second World War in 1946.

A year later, the tradition to leave the race after taking place in Indianapolis began. Since that time in 1947-1980 more race touring cars and Champ Cars at the Milwaukee Mile as a place at any other racetrack in the United States.

Asphalt track

In 1954 the one- mile oval was paved. The 0.25 miles long, even a course in the infield was maintained for the weekly events in the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1963, Jim Clark won the first race in a Champ Car rear engine in a Lotus - Ford. A year later dominated A. J. Foyt in the last race in a Roadster before the dominance of the car began with a rear engine. In 1965, but it should come to an unexpected race. A. J. Foyt had his replacement car with front engine from Springfield to Milwaukee Mile pick because his crew is not timely managed with the use of car for qualifying. Since the car was designed originally for dirt track, Foyt had to vote on tarmac him alone. With this car he scored the pole position with a speed of 107.881 mph in the race, he led 16 of 200 laps and finished it in second.

After the 1967 season the track was resurfaced. The remaining lines in the infield were closed in 1970 in order to accommodate the pits can.

In 1983 there was a controversial decision in CART races. Tom Sneva won the race with 10 seconds ahead. During the inspection of the cars after the race an invalid ground clearance on the sides of the front apron was found, was that awarded to the runners-up Al Unser 's victory. Snevas objection was upheld and granted him two weeks later, the victory again. The following year, his extension of the race from 100 to 200 miles benefited, as he was able to overtake on the last lap Rick Mears and retract the third consecutive victory in Milwaukee.

In 1984 and 1985 there were two races of the NASCAR Nationwide Series held in Milwaukee. Among the drivers there were legends like Alan Kulwicki, Dick Trickle, Bobby Allison, Davey Allison, Dale Jarrett and Darrell Waltrip. The CART race in 1985 won Mario Andretti, after he had previously secured the pole position. It was his fourth victory at the Milwaukee Mile. The race in the next two years won his son Michael Andretti.

A year later, Al Unser Jr. won after Michael Andretti had gone out with two laps of fuel. This secured the our family the whole ninth win in Milwaukee after his father and uncle Bobby Unser Al Unser were four times each successfully previously.

The CART race of 1991 again dominated the Andretti family. It was the first time in the history of automobile racing that members of a family occupied the first three places. Michael Andretti won the race, his cousin John Andretti was second and his father Mario Andretti third. His brother Jeff Andretti was also eleventh.

As in 1992, there was a danger of losing the race in the CART series, dedicated to Carl Haas with the organization of all activities related to the race track. The race this year again won Michael Andretti. A year later won the reigning Formula 1 world champion Nigel Mansell in Milwaukee and secured his first victory on an oval course.

On 3 July 1993, the NASCAR Nationwide Series returned to Milwaukee. This first race was won by Steve Grissom. The race of the 1996 season went down in history. A native of Wisconsin Dick Trickle was four laps of Buckshot Jones. Jones won the race by a margin of 0.002 seconds ahead of Mike McLauglin. It was the smallest margin in the history of the Nationwide Series and at the same time the race of the highest start position ( number 32 ) was obtained. The only double success in two consecutive years succeeded so far Greg Biffle in 2001 and 2002. Since 1995 and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is in Milwaukee as a guest. The inaugural race was won by Mike Skinner. According to the 2009 season, NASCAR and the IndyCar Series ended the racing at the Milwaukee Mile.

Records

ARCA Racing Series

Indy Racing League

NASCAR Nationwide Series

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