Round 16: ABC Supply Wisconsin 250. West Allis, Wi, USA. 16th - 17th August, 2014.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally a dirt surfaced private horse racing track, the one-mile oval has been in existence since at least 1876. In 1891, the site was purchased by the Agricultural Society of the State of Wisconsin to create a permanent site for the Wisconsin State Fair, which it still is.

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 concentratte more on auto racing and the 1 mile (1.6 km) track was paved and a 1/4 mile dirt infield track was built for weekly programs during the 1950s and 1960s.

From 2004-2006, Milwaukee was host to both the IRL and CCWS races. The IRL IndyCar Series first raced there in 2004, with Dario Franchitti winning the inaugural event and the last Champ Car race held there was in 2006, with eventual series champion Sébastien Bourdais winning.

With a track having such a long history, there are bound to be some notable historical facts, e.g., in 1963 Jim Clark won the first victory for a rear-engined Indy Car in his Lotus-Ford. In 1965, Gordon Johncock scored his first career Indy Car win at the Milwaukee Mile. In 1993, reigning 1992 Formula One champion Nigel Mansell got his first oval win, on his way to winning the CART championship that year. In 2004, Ryan Hunter-Reay led all of 250 laps to victory.

Confusingly the track length has "varied". This arose due to the track being resurfaced in 1996, which widened the turns very slightly. The track was therefore remeasured and it was discovered the 'Mile' was in fact 1.032 miles (1.661 km). This was the length used by CART/CCWS. The track was measured again by the IRL in 2004, who gave the distance as 1.015 miles (1.633 km) and which is the distance currently used. Only, NASCAR sticks with the traditional length of exactly 1 mile (1.6 km).

Track Layout:


Length: 1.032 miles - 1.661 km, CART. 1.015 miles - 1.633 km, Indycar. 1.000 mi - 1.609 km, NASCAR.
Turns: 4

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

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

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

Last year's winner:
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Andretti Autosport
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet

Laps: 250
Distance: 253.750 mi - 408.371 km
Race Time: 1:51:15
Average Speed: 136.848

TV Coverage:
NBCSN
Green flag for both races, 3:00pm ET.

[Salamus]

I missed Mid-Ohio so it has been almost a month since I saw an Indycar race!

Can Ganassi keep the momentum going? Can Helio rebound after two disappointing results? Can Hunter-Reay win here again and close the gap in the championship?

[NaBUru38]

Qualifying will be more important than usual. It's hard to overtake Kanaan-style as in Iowa or Texas.

[fieldodreams79]

Always good, hard racing at this historic track.


Looking forward to this one.

[bjohnsonsmith]

P1 is being shown on the IndyCar website, http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

[codename_47]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Qualifying will be more important than usual. It's hard to overtake Kanaan-style as in Iowa or Texas.

And yet somehow, it means just so much more here

I'd rather watch an average Milwaukee race with a normal amount of passing (particularly the outside line passes here, so cool) than a whole race of side by side "inside.....inside....inside" dren you get at Iowa.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Power on pole.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115406

Pos Driver Team/Engine Speed
1. Will Power Penske/Chevy 169.262
2. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy 168.662
3. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy 168.579
4. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy 168.266
5. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda 168.233
6. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy 168.123
7. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy 167.775
8. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy 167.561
9. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda 167.079
10. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda 166.915
11. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy 166.742
12. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda 166.501
13. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda 166.195
14. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda 166.032
15. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda 165.851
16. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda 165.818
17. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda 165.614
18. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy 164.421
19. Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 164.211
20. Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 164.013
21. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy 162.535
22. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda 159.787

[nezy37]

Hunter-Reay in 19th, what the heck happened? First A A car is hinchcliff in 9th. Did they lose all their data on the way to the track? They have been the team to beat for the last several years. Looks like Power is in a great position to solidify his lead in the points. Traffic is always a big factor here and if anything can happen in racing the mile amplifies this truth.

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by nezy37

Hunter-Reay in 19th, what the heck happened? First A A car is hinchcliff in 9th. Did they lose all their data on the way to the track? They have been the team to beat for the last several years. Looks like Power is in a great position to solidify his lead in the points. Traffic is always a big factor here and if anything can happen in racing the mile amplifies this truth.

Racer.com reports...

Ryan Hunter-Reay, who's won this race for the past two years, admitted that he and the team had missed the right balance by a mile

[nezy37]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

Racer.com reports...

I would say. I was thinking they would have a real shot a closing the points gap this weekend as they are string at the mile and penske really hasn't been. So much for that. The championships is really powers to lose as I expect him to be strong at Sonoma

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by nezy37

I would say. I was thinking they would have a real shot a closing the points gap this weekend as they are string at the mile and penske really hasn't been. So much for that. The championships is really powers to lose as I expect him to be strong at Sonoma

He's been the bridesmaid for the last three years, so he'll need a good finish here, which he can then capitalize on at Sonoma.

[bjohnsonsmith]

A very clean start, though Sato almost lost it, with Power taking an early lead at a very sunny Milwaukee. The crowd looks a bit thin though.

[rwintle]

Well, that was a pretty tedious race to watch IMHO. Passing? Drama? Sneaky strategy? All rather lacking I think.

Dominant job by Power so congrats to him. Looking very good for the championship, but we all know what a crash- and failure-fest Fontana is, so pretty much anything can still happen I guess.

[canamman]

That track usually produces an entertaining race but not this time.
Oh well. With seating capacity at about 37000, I would say they would
be lucky to hit 12 or 13000 for todays race. Looks like Powers
championship to lose.

[bjohnsonsmith]

I only saw a bit of the race because my feed went south, otherwise congrats to Power.

[bjohnsonsmith]

For the record:

Pos Driver Team/Engine Time/Gap 1. Will Power Penske/Chevy 1h44m49.4611s
2. Juan Pablo Montoya Penske/Chevy +2.7949s
3. Tony Kanaan Ganassi/Chevy +7.2356s
4. Scott Dixon Ganassi/Chevy +18.8058s
5. Josef Newgarden Fisher/Honda +22.4998s
6. Ryan Briscoe Ganassi/Chevy +23.4954s
7. Simon Pagenaud Schmidt/Honda +24.0347s
8. Mikhail Aleshin Schmidt/Honda -1 lap
9. Ed Carpenter Carpenter/Chevy -1 lap
10. Jack Hawksworth Herta/Honda -1 lap
11. Helio Castroneves Penske/Chevy -1 lap
12. Sebastien Bourdais KV/Chevy -1 lap
13. Marco Andretti Andretti/Honda -1 lap
14. Graham Rahal Rahal/Honda -1 lap
15. Takuma Sato Foyt/Honda -2 laps
16. Charlie Kimball Ganassi/Chevy -2 laps
17. Justin Wilson Coyne/Honda -2 laps
18. Sebastian Saavedra KV/Chevy -4 laps
19. James Hinchcliffe Andretti/Honda -6 laps
20. Carlos Huertas Coyne/Honda -7 laps

Retirements:

Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti/Honda 168 laps
Carlos Munoz Andretti/Honda 130 laps

[rwintle]

Originally Posted by canamman

That track usually produces an entertaining race but not this time.

That was my impression too... I remember really enjoying watching it last year. As you say, not this time though.

It certainly did have some championship implications though... bad finish for RHR, so-so for Helio, big win for Power. The last two will be interesting for sure.