Afternoon Update from Milwaukee

The wild MAVTV 500 continues to be a topic of discussion here at Milwaukee.

Pretty quiet day here at The Milwaukee Mile. Indy Lights Presented By Cooper Tires just concluded their practice session with championship leader Jack Harvey setting fast time. Ed Jones was second with Spencer Pigot third.

The Verizon IndyCar Series is on track now. As you might imagine two of the topics that have dominated discussion in the world of IndyCar over the past two weeks were being discussed further: the race two weeks ago at Fontana and the bizarre schedule this weekend. Let's start with Fontana.

Apparently, there was a drivers meeting about two hours ago, in which the race at Fontana was discussed. As you surely know, there was dissent amongst the drivers about the racing at Fontana, and there were some heated discussions we witnessed after the meeting. We'll elaborate more on that if we can get some quotes from the drivers.

Prior to the meeting we spoke with a few drivers. One we spoke to at length was Simon Pagenaud, who won pole for the MAVTV 500 before finishing 9th. The driver of the #22 Penske Truck Rental Chevrolet was characteristic thoughtful self and noted that he thought the race was exciting after watching the broadcast. However, he noted that from inside the cockpit the race felt more like a "chess game," that placed a premium on "positioning" rather than a test of "driver skill."

Another driver who asked that his name not be used said that his right foot "went numb" holding the pedal to the floor lap after lap. Suffice to say this individual was not a fan of the racing package.

As for this weekend's schedule, the first IndyCar practice is today at 5 with practice, qualifying and the race tomorrow. We bumped into A.J. Foyt who noted that moving practice, qualifying and race all into was in a certain sense like the old days (and we know A.J. likes the old days). However, Big Tex also noted the way the rules are these days makes it harder, specifically noting the teams are not allowed to have a spare car setup ready to run. So, if there a crash during practice or qualifying, the required time to install an engine into a spare car means missing the race could be the penalty for an ill-timed accident.

The schedule isn't exactly fan-friendly either. Traveling a long distance for just one day of racing, and a 4:35 p.m. green flag tomorrow probably make it difficult to travel for the weekend.

We're not sure what the attendance is going to be, but someone in the know told us, they'll need "a good walkup."

And if it rains tomorrow…

Brian C. reporting for AutoRacing1