Track Profile: Milwaukee Mile

The ARCA Menards Series visits many tracks with deep, rich roots in the world of stock car auto racing — perhaps none with roots deeper and richer than those at the Milwaukee Mile.

Back on the series’ schedule for 2021, the one-mile paved oval in West Allis, Wisconsin, is the oldest continuously operating speedway in the world. With the exception of the years the U.S. was involved in World War II, the Milwaukee Mile has hosted at least one auto race every year since 1903.

The ARCA Menards Series’ first race at the Milwaukee Mile was held in 1958, when Fred Lorenzen picked up his first victory on the platform. Lorenzen is one of three multiple-time Milwaukee winners (Tony Bettenhausen, Frank Kimmel) in the series’ 10-race history at the track.

Below is everything to know about the Milwaukee Mile.

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Track Profile: Milwaukee Mile

Though it did not host auto races until 1903, the Milwaukee Mile has been around since 1876, when it opened as a horse racing track. The Wisconsin State Fairgrounds were built on the same land a few years later.

The track’s original grandstand, constructed in 1914, was replaced in the early 1930s with a new grandstand that seated 14,900 people. Which attracted more than just racing.

The NFL’s Green Bay Packers played a couple games a year on the Milwaukee Mile’s infield from 1934 until 1953, and the track hosted the 1939 NFL Championship game.

The Milwaukee Mile was paved in 1954. NASCAR arrived 30 years later, in 1984 with the Busch Late Model Sportsman Series (now the Xfinity Series).

The track has experienced a series of upgrades since 2002, when the bleacher seats built in 1914 were replaced with new, all-aluminum seating that pushed the venue’s capacity to more than 30,000 people.

ARCA Menards Series races at the Milwaukee Mile