No Indy 500 winner at Milwaukee either

Even the Indy 500 winner must buy a ride if he wants to race

Without a car to drive or a television commentary gig to keep him busy, Indianapolis 500 winner Dan Wheldon plans to skip the Milwaukee race weekend entirely. He continues to work toward putting together a full-season deal for 2012.

Wheldon's absence doesn't appear to be as big a promotional problem as one might have thought. McGrath said he wasn't aware of any negative feedback, and the same was the case at Texas Motor Speedway, which followed Indy on the schedule.

"Certainly you want to have the winner there if you can. You want to try to capitalize and ride the wave off the biggest sporting event in the world," said Eddie Gossage, track president at Texas.

"I'm sure it hurts attendance, but how much you can't gauge. You don't get the bump, 'The Indy 500 champ is coming to Milwaukee,' but it's not like the team or IndyCar is deliberately snubbing Texas or Milwaukee. I think people get that." JSOnline