Track History

1981-1991
1980 saw the first race sanctioned by Championship Auto Racing Teams (CART) - the Tony Bettenhausen 200 on August 10. After 36 years of hosting two Champ Car races a year, just one race was run in 1983, and that has been the case ever since.

A controversy marked the finish of the 1983 race as Tom Sneva won the race - his second at The Mile - by a margin of 10 seconds. An inspection of Sneva's car revealed that it didn't have proper ground clearance on the side pod's mounted skirts, so Al Unser, Sr. was declared the winner. CART's technical staff later upheld a subsequent appeal by Sneva and reversed the ruling, giving the win back to Sneva two weeks later. Sneva won for the third straight time at The Mile in 1984, his fourth victory in five races at Milwaukee. 1984 was the first year the June event was 200 miles in length, which proved fortuitous for Sneva, snaring the lead from Rick Mears on lap 199.

NASCAR made its debut in Milwaukee in 1984 with the Busch Late Model Sportsman series, now known as the Busch Series. The Busch Late Model Sportsman division also raced in Milwaukee in 1985, NASCAR's last visit to The Mile until its return in 1993. Sam Ard drove to victory in the 200-mile race, followed by the two Wisconsin stock car legends, the late Alan Kulwicki and Dick Trickle, as well as Bobby and Davey Allison and Dale Jarrett, respectively. The 1985 event saw one of the most exciting finishes in Mile history as Jack Ingram and Rick Mast swapped the lead four times in the last six laps with Ingram winning by less than one car length.

In 1985, Miller Brewing Company became title sponsor of the Champ Car event. That year, Mario Andretti set a qualifying record of 147.608 mph and went on the win the Miller American 200. It was his fourth victory at The Mile, but his first since 1967. 1986 went down in history as the first time a father and son had won back-to-back races in Milwaukee as Michael Andretti took the checkered flag. He picked up his second win in a row at Milwaukee by winning the Miller American Racing 200 in 1987.

In 1990, the Champ Car race took the name "Miller Genuine Draft 200." Al Unser Jr. won that event after leader Michael Andretti ran out of fuel on the 198th lap. Little Al's victory made it the ninth Milwaukee Mile win for the Unser family. His father, Al, Sr. and his Uncle Bobby, each have four. In 1991, a first in the worldwide history of auto racing occurred as three members of the same family finished 1-2-3 in a major Champ Car event. Michael Andretti won the race followed by his cousin, John, in second and father, Mario, in third. Michael's brother, Jeff, was also in the field, finishing 11th.

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