Today’s question: The NTT INDYCAR SERIES returns to the Milwaukee Mile this weekend for the first time since 2015 with the Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile 250s doubleheader. What is your favorite race in the long history of INDYCAR SERIES competition at Milwaukee?

Curt Cavin: I’m extremely partial to the pre-2003 races that featured the old grandstands at Wisconsin State Fair Park and the years when the race immediately followed the Indianapolis 500. I’ve covered about 20 Milwaukee races, the most significant being Nigel Mansell’s first oval victory in 1993. But the race two years prior was my favorite. Seeing three members of the Andretti finish on the podium – Michael finished ahead of John and Mario – was historic. To cap the day, Michael’s brother, Jeff, finished 11th.

Eric Smith: Milwaukee in 1991 brings fond memories for myself personally as that was my first visit to the Mile. My uncle Jeff Oster, a long-time INDYCAR SERIES crewmember working with Dick Simon Racing that season, snuck me into the paddock as a 6-year old to hang with the team. I’ll spare the details on how that happened. My top on-track memory is 23 years later, in 2014, the last time I covered a race at Milwaukee. Will Power won that day, which sparked his first career championship. “I've been in this situation before; the difference is that I don't have a weakness anymore,” Power said after the win. At that time, Power wasn’t known as an oval master yet with two career victories on circle tracks entering that weekend. Milwaukee and Fontana, another oval, made up two of the final three races that season. Ovals cost Power at least two previous championships. This time, Power made a statement by leading over 200 laps in victory.

Paul Kelly: I’m sort of partial to 2000. Not because it was a great race; it wasn’t a doozy from green to checkered. Juan Pablo Montoya led 179 of 225 laps. But JPM finished one of the most impressive seven-day stretches of dominance I’ve seen in North American open-wheel racing June 5, 2000, at Wisconsin State Fair Park. On May 28, Montoya won his first Indianapolis 500 start in his first race in an Indy Racing League car, crushing the field by leading 167 of 200 laps after starting second. Then seven days later, Montoya smoked the CART regulars at Milwaukee from the pole, beating Michael Andretti to the finish by 1.015 seconds even though his 2000 car suffered from reliability issues throughout the season after the Chip Ganassi Racing team’s switch from a Reynard-Honda in 1999 to a Lola-Toyota package in 2000. I’ve rarely seen a driver adapt to ovals as quickly as Montoya, who never raced on circle tracks before 1999 but won seven oval races combined in 1999 and 2000.