Round 12: ABC Supply Wisconsin 250. West Allis, Wi, USA. 11-12 July

**bjohnsonsmith** · 8 Jul 2015, 14:12 (Ref:3556759)

Round 12: ABC Supply Wisconsin 250. West Allis, Wi, USA. 11-12 July.

The Milwaukee Mile is the oldest operating motor speedway in the world. Originally a private, horse racing track, the one mile oval has existed since 1876. In 1891, the Agricultural Society of the State of Wisconsin bought the site to create a permanent venue for the Wisconsin State Fair, which still takes place there. The infield was also the location for a football stadium and from 1934 through 1951, was home to the Greenbay Packers.

The first motorsports event was held on September 11, 1903. William Jones of Chicago won a five lap speed contest and set the first track record with a 72 second, 50 mph (80 km/h) lap. In 1954 the State Fair Board decided to concentrate on motor sport and the 1 mile (1.6 km) oval was paved and a 1/4 mile infield dirt track was built.

The first AAA sanctioned Milwaukee Mile, was a non championship race and took place on August 29, 1937. The race distance was shortened to 96 miles due to a scoring error and was won by Rex Mays. In 1939 the race became a AAA Championship round. Due to World War II, there was no racing from 1942-1945 but racing returned in 1946. From 1949 to 1987, two championship rounds a year were held, one in June, the other in August. Also from 1949, the June race stayed at 100 miles but the August race increased to 200 miles. In 1950 the June race was renamed 'The Rex Mays Classic', in honor of Rex Mays, former two-time AAA National champion and winner of the first AAA sanctioned race, in 1937. From 1961 to 1982 the August race was named 'The Tony Bettenhausen 200' in honor of Tony Bettenhausen, two times National Champion, 1951 and 1958.

Since 1983 there has only been one race, except for 2004-2006, when the track hosted both CCWS and IRL rounds. The first IRL, IndyCar Series race was in 2004, with Dario Franchitti winning the inaugural event and the last Champ Car race was in 2006 and won by eventual series champion Sébastien Bourdais.

During the CART era the race distance increased in 1999 to 225 miles and again to 250 miles in 2003. Post unification, the distance reverted to 225 miles, increasing again to 250 miles in 2013.

In 1996, the track was resurfaced and the turns were slightly widened, so the track was remeasured and it was discovered the 'Mile' was in fact 1.032 miles (1.661 km). This was the distance used by CART/CCWS. The track was measured again by the IRL in 2004, this gave the distance as 1.015 miles (1.633 km) and is the distance currently used. Only, NASCAR sticks with the traditional length of exactly 1 mile (1.6 km).

Some Trivia:
The driver with the most wins: Roger Ward, 1957, 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1962, 1963.
1963: Jim Clark got the first win for a rear engined car at AOWR event, in a Lotus-Ford.
1965: Gordon Johncock scored his first career Indy Car win, at the Milwaukee Mile.
1993: Reigning 1992 Formula 1 champion Nigel Mansell got his first oval win, on his way to winning the CART championship that year.
2004: Ryan Hunter-Reay led all of 250 laps to victory.
2015: This year's race will see Scott Dixon's 250th start.

Track Layout:

Length:
CART: 1.032 miles - 1.661 km
Indycar: 1.015 miles - 1.633 km
NASCAR: 1.000 mi - 1.609 km

Turns: 4

Lap record:
1.032 miles - 1.661 km track. May 30th, 1998. Patrick Carpentier, 0:00:20.028 seconds, 185.500 mph - 298.888 kmh. Forsythe Racing, Reynard 98i-Mercedes-Benz IC108E,

1.015 miles - 1.633 km track. 18th June, 2011. Dario Franchitti, 0:00:21.3826 seconds, 170.841 mph - 274.499 kmh. Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara IR-05 - Honda HI7R.

1.000 mile - 1.609 km track. 25th June, 2005. Johnny Sauter, 0:00:29.365 122.595 mph - 197.298 kmh. Phoenix Racing, Dodge Charger.

Last year's winner:
Will Power
Team Penske
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet

Laps: 250
Distance: 250.75 mi - 403.54 km
Race Time: 1:44:49
Average Speed: 145.243 - 233.74 km

TV Coverage:
NBCSN
Green flag, 5:00pm ET

fieldodreams79 · 8 Jul 2015, 15:10 (Ref:3556773)

Aw yeah! America's oldest track and still on of the best!

More of this and less of the last one, please.

NaBUru38 · 10 Jul 2015, 19:49 (Ref:3557395)

Let's hope for a dry weekend.

Yannick · 12 Jul 2015, 08:01 (Ref:3557722)

Here's very much looking forward to this race. IndyCar needs more short ovals.
It's just too bad that the late start time this year means missing some sleep tonight for this IndyCar fan from Europe, apart from probably keeping people from traveling to the track. Here's hoping for good weather, too.

BudLightJaguar · 12 Jul 2015, 08:07 (Ref:3557728)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yannick

It's just too bad that the late start time this year means missing some sleep tonight for this IndyCar fan from Europe, apart from probably keeping people from traveling to the track. Here's hoping for good weather, too.

I have the the same problem. Sunday race with late starting time makes it quite challenging to watch live. But fortunately the next race in Iowa is a Saturday race, so that won't be a problem to watch.

10TENTHS · 12 Jul 2015, 11:44 (Ref:3557802)

9.30pm BST isn't it, with an expected finish around 11.30? That's not as bad as Fontana was last year.

Good to see more pace from Honda, although Andretti's team is still out to lunch seemingly.

BudLightJaguar · 12 Jul 2015, 12:35 (Ref:3557828)

We're actually two hours ahead of GMT, so the race will start here at midnight. But I'm still going to watch it, though I'll probably fall asleep and then wake up again during the victory celebrations.

10TENTHS · 12 Jul 2015, 13:29 (Ref:3557837)

Quote:

Originally Posted by BudLightJaguar

We're actually two hours ahead of GMT, so the race will start here at midnight. But I'm still going to watch it, though I'll probably fall asleep and then wake up again during the victory celebrations.

It'll be on Youtube within a few days, Indycar themselves upload their races in addition to numerous third parties. Admittedly you'd have to avoid spoilers.

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 Jul 2015, 18:04 (Ref:3557921)

Qualifying is underway but the crowd attendance is pitiful. I really hope it picks up for the race itself.

http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 Jul 2015, 19:27 (Ref:3557954)

Newgarden gets his first pole.

Starting Grid
1 Josef Newgarden, CFH Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet
2 Ryan Briscoe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Dallara/Honda
3 Sage Karam, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet
4 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet
5 James Jakes Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, Dallara/Honda
6 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, Dallara/Honda
7 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet
8 Juan Pablo Montoya, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet
9 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport, Dallara/Honda
10 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet
11 Sebastien Bourdais, KVSH Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet
12 Gabby Chaves, Bryan Herta Autosport, Dallara/Honda
13 Takuma Sato, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Dallara/Honda
14 Will Power, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet
15 Justin Wilson, Andretti Autosport, Dallara/Honda
16 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport, Dallara/Honda
17 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet
18 Carlos Munoz, Andretti Autosport, Dallara/Honda
19 Stefano Coletti, KV Racing Technology, Dallara/Chevrolet
20 Tristan Vautier, Dale Coyne Racing, Dallara/Honda
21 Jack Hawksworth, AJ Foyt Enterprises, Dallara/Honda
22 Ed Carpenter, CFH Racing, Dallara/Chevrolet
23 Pippa Mann, Dale Coyne Racing, Dallara/Honda
24 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske, Dallara/Chevrolet

Not to sure what's going on with Penske. Last year's pole sitter, Power is 14th and Castroneves is last. Good to see 3 Hondas in the fast 6.

D.R.T. · 12 Jul 2015, 21:32 (Ref:3557988)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Qualifying is underway but the crowd attendance is pitiful. I really hope it picks up for the race itself.

http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

Looks ok now. Not 1994 but decent

Burp · 12 Jul 2015, 17:46 (Ref:3557911)

I usually find it on YT by next morning

Mystery · 12 Jul 2015, 20:21 (Ref:3557967)

Happy to see Wilson beat two of his team mates.

And Pippa beat anyone!

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 Jul 2015, 21:32 (Ref:3557990)

The crowd attendance is definitely up on Quali but still.

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 Jul 2015, 21:36 (Ref:3557992)

That really was a very scrappy start.

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 Jul 2015, 21:48 (Ref:3557994)

You could see Newgarden fighting that loose car.

BudLightJaguar · 13 Jul 2015, 03:52 (Ref:3558085)

Well...I actually fell asleep before the finish of the Lights race

So today, I'll do the best I can to avoid spoilers. This time it's actually good that no one else in the office follows IndyCar.

Burp · 13 Jul 2015, 10:59 (Ref:3558163)

Great race. Really enjoyed that. Looked like the old Bourdais was back

fieldodreams79 · 14 Jul 2015, 02:03 (Ref:3558369)

What a cool track and what a perfect track for IndyCars.

Dominate from Seabass. PT giving him kudos was pretty funny.

Crazy restart there at the end that went clean, like most of the race. Very enjoyable show. Only thing I didn't like was ABC sound. Glad that got sorted towards the end.

Nice to see Graham being consistent and in the fight this year. Was wondering if that was ever going to happen.

D.R.T. · 12 Jul 2015, 21:58 (Ref:3558000)

Quote:

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

The crowd attendance is definitely up on Quali but still.

Bigger than last year

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 Jul 2015, 22:03 (Ref:3558004)

Quote:

Originally Posted by D.R.T.

Bigger than last year

Got to be a good thing,

.

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 Jul 2015, 22:23 (Ref:3558009)

I knew it, as soon as the commentators said there hadn't been a yellow, out comes the yellow.

D.R.T. · 12 Jul 2015, 22:59 (Ref:3558018)

Bourdais on fire so far

**bjohnsonsmith** · 12 Jul 2015, 23:33 (Ref:3558024)

Congrats to Bourdais. What a drive and what a race.

A big mention to Castroneves, from last to 2nd and Rahal gets Honda a podium.

Salamus · 13 Jul 2015, 01:22 (Ref:3558056)

It's great to see Bourdais win and on an oval this time!

I had a terrible time with finding a stream but I did end up watching the last 20 laps.

Only a couple of races to go now and it looks like Montoya's championship to lose.

Here is something sad. As of now, there are more WEC races remaining than Indycar races.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Round 16: ABC Supply Wisconsin 250. West Allis, Wi, USA. 16th - 17th August, 2014.	bjohnsonsmith	Indycar Series	16	18 Aug 2014 17:00
MG Live 10/11/12 July	midgetman	Historic Racing Today	111	23 Jul 2009 21:25
750MC 11/12 July - ROLLCALL	David Owen	Marshals Forum	61	14 Jul 2009 20:07
[WTCC] Race 11 & 12 - Estoril (POR), 12/13 July 2008	FIRE	Touring Car Racing	24	14 Jul 2008 11:14