Penske Leisure is happy with the attendance figures for final weekend’s Hy-Vee Milwaukee doubleheader which noticed a celebratory return to the beloved Milwaukee Mile venue, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward win on Saturday and Workforce Penske’s Scott McLaughlin drive into victory lane on Sunday.
“Each days complete, 42,000 for the weekend,” Penske Company president Bud Denker advised RACER.
With ticket pre-sales within the vary of 15,000 per day main into the collection’ return to Milwaukee after a nine-year absence, the uptick to a mean of 21,000 followers on each days — which incorporates these within the grandstands, frequent areas behind them the place meals and leisure was supplied, and the infield — is an encouraging quantity for the collection to construct upon for its return in August of 2025.
“My staff, Michael Montri and the staff from Detroit labored so effectively with Shari Black and the group from the State Honest Park Board, they usually simply have the identical form of tradition,” Denker stated. “You simply … get stuff carried out, customer-focused, and don’t ask anyone else to do it for you. That was primary.
“I’ve bought to offer loads of credit score to Jay Frye and the IndyCar guys [for] nice racing, after which Firestone to offer us the setup we wanted. Now [we’ve had] two ovals in a row, at St. Louis after which additionally at Milwaukee, with a lot passing.”
The longtime Penske govt, who has been accountable for the Detroit Grand Prix for many years, and extra lately labored on the Iowa Speedway doubleheader, liked what he noticed on the bottom at Milwaukee.
“My expectations have been so broadly exceeded as a result of I used to be cautious,” Denker stated. “We offered out the merchandise tent on Saturday as a result of we simply weren’t certain many individuals have been going to point out up. That’s one measure. The distributors within the Blue Moon restaurant offered out of meals for the whole weekend Saturday night time [and] needed to go purchase new provides for Sunday.
“Different expectations have been exceeded on so many fronts. The group, gosh, the group, who have been there for one factor — Indy automobile racing. It wasn’t some $5 million music act to get them there. They have been there to see IndyCar racing. The folks [were] carrying IndyCar retro stuff, new IndyCar stuff. IndyCar. It wasn’t NASCAR apparel. It was Rick Mears apparel, Gordon Johncock shirts, proper? I used to be simply so happy to see that genuine folks have been at a terrific occasion. Gosh, our promoting for subsequent yr bought a hell of so much simpler due to it.”
Denker additionally noticed loads of objects to enhance for the single-day occasion scheduled for August 24, 2025.
A bigger turnout than anticipated for Friday’s apply session led to an extended line that prolonged far outdoors of the observe; extra employees have been wanted to scan tickets and place wristbands on the attendees, and Denker was one of many staffers to hit the road and assist with the method. Friday uncovered the necessity for wider ingress and egress, so one of many two underground lanes to drive into the infield was closed to automobiles and have become devoted to followers, however as they discovered, leaks within the ageing tunnel made for a moist expertise.
With the lone entry level to go out and in of the infield with the tunnel close to Flip 4, the thought of opening a observe crossing zone between periods was raised as a worthwhile comfort to think about for older followers or these with youngsters who may wrestle to make the lengthy stroll out and in of the tunnel every time.
Within the stands, confusion of normal admission seating areas acquired sharp criticism, particularly from those that have been ordered by state police to vacate their seats. A couple of loyal followers who made the journey from Indianapolis stated the importing of yellow shirt volunteers from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway to assist direct and seat followers as they do for Penske Leisure at IMS can be a welcome adjustment.
“We noticed loads of little course of issues to make enhancements with,” Denker stated. “We didn’t have sufficient GA seats as a result of so many individuals got here in from the free occasion, proper outdoors the race, and all these people got here in and purchased GA tickets so we needed to take a type of [large section-covering banners] down. You study, proper? You study from that, and we did. We would have liked extra scanners and extra folks to get followers into the observe, so we did that.
“The tunnel was an adjustment, however we’ve bought some plumbing to repair there; it was inbuilt 1909. We have to work on methods to raised get followers out and in of the observe. Michael Montri and the staff, they’re so good at reviewing what labored, what didn’t work, and creating enhancements for subsequent time, and that’s what we’ll do.”
