What's the latest on NASCAR trucks and improvements at the Mile? Is IndyCar or Xfinity next?

WEST ALLIS – When representatives from NASCAR, the race promoter, State Fair Park and an environmental and industrial services company gathered Tuesday at the Milwaukee Mile, the primary goal was to answer one question.

And now we know, the name for the Aug. 27 return of the Craftsman Truck Series after 14 years will be the Clean Harbors 175. Clean Harbors is an environmental and industrial services company that is the parent of longtime NASCAR partner Safety-Kleen.

But equally important, their convergence also offered an opportunity to delve into other aspects of the event and the people behind it, how success will be measured and what else might be coming to the Mile in the future.

Here are takeaways from the news conference and conversations afterward:

Why should people expect this attempt with NASCAR at the Milwaukee Mile to succeed?

The difficulty of public/private partnerships, tension between park management and some promoters, repeated turnover in promoters and the outright failure by one to pay NASCAR’s sanction fee for 2009 have been known for decades.

But the key parties insist that not only are the people involved different this time, the entire way of doing business has changed.

“If you look back at 2006-7 when they’re talking about, ‘we’ll give you the exclusive (rights) for the track and if you bring in all these races we’ll give you land to build a hotel’ and all that … that model’s all gone,” said John Yingling, chairman of the State Fair Park board of directors.

“We are still Wisconsin State Fair and this is the Mile and we don’t want to turn it over 100%,” CEO Shari Black said. “We need to make sure we maintain that partnership. We really want Track Enterprises to come in here and help promote the facility.

“Those contacts that (Track Enterprises President Bob Sargent) holds will help bring us more races here. So it’s really a partnership, I feel, between Track Enterprises and Wisconsin State Fair Park. We want success for both entities. And I think we’re doing a good job.”

Sargent, an unabashed cheerleader for the facility, has been complimentary in talking about his dealings with management. He also has a solid reputation with NASCAR, having promoted a truck race at Knoxville Raceway in Iowa in 2021.

“Spire Sports + Entertainment and Bob Sargent and that whole crew have given us a really great level of confidence that this race is going to be what we want it to be,” said Chip Wile, NASCAR’s chief track property officer, referencing the marketing agency that merged with Track in 2019.

How are ticket sales for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Clean Harbors 175?

When the truck schedule was announced, Sargent said a crowd of 15,000 to 20,000 would be great. He stuck to those numbers.

“We do feel we’re on target now,” he said. “Obviously as a promoter if we have 30,000 seats we’d like to sell 30, but our realistic number is if we sell 20,000 or 15,000 or 12,000 it’s a good day. … Some of that’s gauged on what other tracks do, too, Gateway (near St. Louis), all these other (standalone) truck races.

These days advance purchases account for about half of the tickets and the other half walkup, Sargent estimated. So a bad forecast could significantly hurt the bottom line.

Still, the title sponsorship and promoter’s cut of the television contract money mean Track Enterprises isn’t entirely at the mercy of the gate.

“From my promoter hat, I always say you have to have all the ingredients to put in the big stew and then that’s what it is,” Sargent said. “It probably can’t be done without sponsors. But it also can’t be done without people in the seats.”

How does State Fair Park justify the cost of facility improvements and recoup its investment?

The Mile hasn’t had an elite series race at the track since IndyCar last came in 2015. Since then the track has hosted driving schools, club races, the regional Midwest Tour stock cars and since 2021 the ARCA Menards Series. Consequently the facility needs some work.

Most notable, Yingling said, is to repair and add SAFER barriers, the steel-and-foam wall coverings that lessen the impact of a crash and evening the transition from asphalt to dirt, projects that are under way. More work will be needed in the pits. The news conference showed off the renovations to the infield building that serves as the media center for races.

A list of projects approved in December by the State Building Commission included nearly $3 million for work at the track to be paid for with funds from State Fair Park, the state and private fundraising.

Since NASCAR last visited, the park’s financial picture has changed, Yingling said, going from a deficit and annual operating losses to a positive revenue stream and a $7 million reserve.

“Wisconsin State Fair keeps all of the parking revenue and keep half of the camping revenues out here on the (in)field,” Black said. “We keep 100% of the camping revenue that’s in our RV park. So it’s really doing that share of the extra services that will bring in additional revenue for us here at the park. And then of course paying to rent out the track for the day.”

What will it take for the trucks to return in 2024?

The possibility of NASCAR coming back next season largely will be known by the parties involved before the green flag waves on this year’s event.

“Basically it’ll take a good crowd, for the sponsor to be happy and a good race,” Sargent said. “We feel very encouraged that we are going to have that, so we are already moving forward for the future.”

Just don’t expect an announcement before about October.

Are the Xfinity Series or IndyCar races possible for the Milwaukee Mile?

Champion driver and team owner Michael Andretti kept IndyCar racing alive at the Mile from 2012-2015 but was frustrated by the turnout. Since then, rumors of yet another return pop up from time to time, as has been the case this spring.

“We’re here to help this facility grow as much as we can,” Sargent said when asked specifically about the NTT IndyCar Series. “And it needs as many races as possible to be able to continue the fan base and the excitement.

“So three or four races a year is not out of the question. Right now we’re at two. You do the math.”

NASCAR’s second-tier division, now known as the Xfinity Series, raced at the Mile from 1993-2009 and was a particularly strong draw the first few years. But after Wisconsin Motorsports stiffed the sanctioning body for nearly $1.9 million in 2009, NASCAR was not eager to return at all.

With Sargent’s group, Xfinity is back in play as well.

“We’re going to continue to look at all these options,” Wile said. “Where do we need to take the sport to drive interest? Where can we look at new opportunities?”

State Fair Park has a history of issues that have turned off fans. How can those be overcome?

With difficulties with ticketing, the change of promoters through the 1990s and early 2000s, traffic backups getting on and off the property, decreased infield access and parking charges, State Fair Park been a continuous target for complaints.

“We look at what the Fair is compared to what it was even 10 years ago,” said Black, who took over from Kathleen O’Learly in late 2021 after five years in the event services department. “We have many more on the grounds. Our staffers, we know how to do that ingress and egress.

“We’ll have a good handle on how to handle all the operations during this event. And really having Bob here, he’s a pro, he knows what he’s doing on the race side. So that’s why the partnership is going to work well.”

More: A guide to Milwaukee area farmers markets open in 2023

More: What’s going on in Milwaukee and southeastern Wisconsin in spring 2023

Our subscribers make this reporting possible. Please consider supporting local journalism by subscribing to the Journal Sentinel at jsonline.com/deal.

DOWNLOAD THE APP: Get the latest news, sports and more

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee Mile has opportunities beyond NASCAR trucks in August