No Milwaukee for IRL in 2010
State Fair Park selected a prospective promoter for the historic track during a board meeting Thursday night and on Friday morning the park and the group signed a letter of intent to negotiate toward a deal.
But among the conditions laid down by fair management was said it wouldn't sign an agreement until the potential promoter has “fully secured race dates from the sanctioning bodies for the Indy Racing League and NASCAR."
The IRL had said last month that it would be flexible with Milwaukee, meaning it would be willing to consider adding the Mile even after the 2010 schedule was announced.
Angstadt's comments, made at Kentucky Speedway during the schedule unveiling, indicate that's no longer the case. Apparently something about the group or its proposal for a race did not meet the league's demands.
Q. Terry, I see a space between the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Texas Motor Speedway that's usually been reserved for Milwaukee. What can you tell us about that? Also, what can you tell us about the space at the end of the month which was usually reserved for Richmond?
TERRY ANGSTADT: Well, great question. Regarding Milwaukee, I think it's been pretty well-documented the challenges. I think everyone that has been associated with Milwaukee has gone through it. When I tell you that we worked – and when I say we, Sarah Davis on our team – late into last night and again this morning trying to figure out a formula that may allow us to possibly race there in 2010, that wasn't possible. We are continuing an open dialogue with them. We hope to be able to find something in the near future for Milwaukee.
It's a great venue. It's an historic venue. We would love to be there. We were not able to do that in time for this announcement or for this schedule.
Q. Are you saying Milwaukee is definitely not going to be on or it's still being reserved?
TERRY ANGSTADT: No, we are not planning on adding Milwaukee this year. We are hoping that we can reach a model that may work in the future (read that 2011 or later). In part from JSOnline.com