NASCAR - Sports Rumors

The Milwaukee Mile office is closed, and all 12 staff members have been laid off at least temporarily. Whether the oldest auto racing facility in the country lives to see its 107th birthday is in grave doubt even among its biggest boosters, according to a report in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel.

"It depends totally if I'm able to get some investors," promoter Claude Napier said Thursday in a telephone interview from Texas.

"I knew I was going to be short of money."

Napier, president and chief executive officer of Wisconsin Motorsports, admitted to the Journal Sentinel for the first time that he had no other financial backers when he entered into a deal in February with State Fair Park, where the track is located.

Napier's organization owes NASCAR nearly $1.9 million for staging two races in June and owes the Indy Racing League an undisclosed amount for its weekend in May. The organizer of a spectator event in August — the track's final opportunity for a significant payday this season — said this week that he is ready to walk away from his commitment.

The Mile held its first automobile race in 1903, eight years before the first Indianapolis 500, and its infield served as the site of the 1939 National Football League championship game.

"I've got a hunch it's over," said Dominic Giuffre, a former promoter with his brother Frank. "It's too late."

The Giuffres, promoters at the Mile from 1983-'91, have expressed interest in returning to that role.

Source: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel