The latest on the Milwaukee Mile from Roger Penske and Josef Newgarden during their visit to Wisconsin

WAUKESHA – The worlds of higher education and high-level auto racing intersected Tuesday night at Carroll University.

As part the Sullivan School of Business and Technology “Champions of Industry” series, dean Tim Sullivan brought in entrepreneur Roger Penske, whose holdings include the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar Series and its most successful team; Josef Newgarden, a two-time champion and reigning Indy 500 winner for Penske; and Shari Black, CEO of the Wisconsin State Fair and a Carroll alumnus.

For the students, the hourlong event was an opportunity to soak up the wisdom of a man whose companies employ 72,000 people and have consolidated revenues of more than $42 billion, as well as a one of the sport’s biggest stars.

For IndyCar and Black, it was a chance to reach a different audience of potential ticket-buyers for the return of the series to the Milwaukee Mile at State Fair Park for a doubleheader on Labor Day weekend.

Before the on-stage conversation, the guests met individually with reporters. Here are some takeaways.

Ticket sales for the Milwaukee IndyCar races are a tick ahead of expectations

When the races were announced in September, Penske set an attendance goal of 30,000 for the event, which will be promoted by the Fair in partnership with IndyCar. The Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s are still 4½ months away, and a serious social media campaign and paid advertising won’t start for weeks, but Black said she was encouraged by early sales.

“About 25% of our tickets are sold of the goal we’ve set,” she said. “We have a trajectory that we followed with NASCAR (trucks last year) as to month by month when people are purchasing tickets. If we follow that same trajectory, then we should be above our goal.”

The grandstands hold about 30,000. Infield admission and camping are being sold. As expected, Black said, sales were brisk as soon as the tickets went on sale in November. Race weekend weather will significantly affect whether the attendance target is hit.

The Carroll University event had a business feel, but the traditional fan hasn’t been forgotten

While the historic Mile conjures up thoughts of working-class families at the track, racing attendance shifted with the proliferation of corporate sponsorship. The setting and all the suits Tuesday offered little reassurance the traditional fan still has a place.

“Race fans come in all shapes and sizes and I think they’re going to come out for this event,” Black said.

Added Newgarden: “We have to stay true to the history of what IndyCar racing is and you don’t want to turn away your old fanbase, but at the same time you’ve got to make the younger generation interested in what you’re doing and provide opportunities for them to learn about racing and why it’s exciting.”

Penske and State Fair look for ways to succeed that Andretti never found

The Mile opened in 1903, eight years before the first Indianapolis 500, and has been the site of 114 Indy-style championship races sanctioned by AAA, USAC, CART, Champ Car and IndyCar.

The most recent of those were a struggle from a business standpoint. Champion driver and team owner Michael Andretti was the last to try during a frustrating four-year run that ended after the 2015 race.

“You’ve got to figure out what are the right ingredients, which is not easy,” Newgarden said. “How do you get people excited about it? How do you get the word out efficiently?

“It’s not as simple as saying we can make it work. There’s a lot that goes into finding the formula. If anybody’s going to find it, it’s us.”

Penske pointed to his organization’s investment in the series, increased attendance at other venues – including another expected sellout of more than 300,000 for the Indy 500 in May – and a stronger partnership with State Fair than previous promoters had as some of the reasons to expect the weekend to succeed.

“Those races are going to be awful important to the championship,” Penske said. Only the season finale two weeks later in Nashville will be left when the series leaves Milwaukee.

“The diversity to run here, two races in a weekend, and I think we’re getting some good interest from a corporate sponsor perspective, and we’re utilizing for the first time ever, we’re utilizing the entire facility – so we can use some of the neat little bars they have instead of building big chalets and things like that. Let’s get people a place to have fun, and then they can go in the stands and see the race.”

IndyCar drivers have to a play a role in promotion, Newgarden says

While the IndyCar community likes to talk about momentum, the series remains far behind where it was in its heyday compared to other major motorsports such as NASCAR and Formula One.

Closing that gap – which could help an event like Milwaukee – requires everyone in the series to play a role.

“With IndyCar there’s a lot of great stories that are going on and people will miss them if we don’t tell them,” Newgarden said. “There’s different programming we’re working on. (The CW docuseries) ‘100 Days to Indy’ has been good for us but we need more of that, we need more social media activation and understanding where people are consuming content.

“We’ve all got to pitch in and tell our story and try and reach people.”

Hy-Vee is committed to the Mile, Iowa Speedway and IndyCar, Penske says

Hy-Vee, an Iowa-based grocery chain, came into IndyCar as a sponsor of Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing and played a huge role in building the series’ doubleheader at Iowa Speedway by bringing in A-list musical entertainment before adding the Mile to its portfolio.

In the meantime, the company also become more involved in NASCAR, and the new Cup Series race at Iowa this season sold out quickly, while IndyCar has been a struggle. That might signal cause for concern about the future of a major partner.

“Look, we’re not trying to compete with NASCAR. We’re not at all,” said Penske, who takes some credit for helping to get NASCAR-owned Iowa Speedway in shape to host the Cup Series. “We want to run our own show.

“And I think from a Hy-Vee perspective, they’re committed to us, they’re committed to Rahal and certainly committed to the series. We have a long-term deal here and we have a long-term deal with them at Iowa. So this is not a touch-and-go.”

Track work is progressing and test days are set

As nearly $3 million worth of improvements continue, concrete is in place for the pit boxes and work is ongoing on the outside wall down the back stretch and through Turn 3, Black said.

The work, approved by the State Building Commission in December 2022, is being paid for with funds from State Fair Park, the state and private fundraising.

“They should be finishing up this phase at the beginning of June,” she said. “We have tire testing then that following week.”

The IndyCar Series test is scheduled for June 11-12.

“We’ll have everybody here and that’ll be a great kickoff for us also,” Penske said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Roger Penske and Josef Newgarden push IndyCar return to Milwaukee Mile