The race promoter for the Milwaukee Mile owes NASCAR money stemming from the races last weekend, and the Indy Racing League won’t say whether it has been paid yet for its event in May.
The Mile hosted the Camping World Truck Series Copart 200 and the Nationwide Series NorthernTool.com 250 last Saturday. Claude Napier, head of Wisconsin Motorsports, did not disclose attendance numbers Friday but said the turnout for the truck race was low. As for the Nationwide Series race, Napier said it was in excess of 35,000 fans.
Napier acknowledged that the track would lose money this year. The Legislative Audit Bureau, which recently completed an audit of Wisconsin State Fair Park, said in its report that the Mile would lose money this year, putting added fiscal pressure on the fair.
“The sanctions fees are part of an overall deal,” Napier said Friday. “We have been working closely with NASCAR in resolving these issues.”
Asked for details, Napier said: “I don’t want to get into specifics about what we owe and what we don’t owe. We are working very closely with NASCAR and in particular we are working on the future.”
Ramsey Poston, a NASCAR spokesman, said in a statement that, “despite having a terrific day of NASCAR racing last Saturday there remain outstanding issues which concern NASCAR. As a matter of policy I won’t get into the specifics of our business dealings. However, I can say we are working closely with the track management to resolve outstanding issues.”