STATE FAIR BOARD TO MEET WITH GIUFFRE BROTHERS ON MILWAUKEE MILE PACT

MOVE COMES AT LAST MOMENT
NEGOTIATIONS THIS WEEKEND
BROTHERS HOPE TO ANNOUNCE AGREEMENT MONDAY

Special to the Readers of Milwaukeeworld.com

By Michael Horne

Over the last couple of days more and more stories are referring to the Milwaukee Mile in the past tense. Even its Wikipedia entry has been modified. This is understandable, since at last report, the Wisconsin State Fair Park Board had shunned the entreaties of former operators Dominic Giuffre and his brother Frank Giuffre, the only apparent bidders for the franchise to operate the nation's oldest racetrack.

Well, what do you know? Reports of the track's demise may be premature.
It appears somebody from the Governor's office gave board chair Susan Crane the go-ahead to begin negotiations with the Giuffres, who promoted races at the track from 1984 to 1991. As recently as last week, Crane offered a noncommital response to an e-mail from Dominic Giuffre. [Milwaukeeworld was provided a copy of the e-mail by a source close to the negotiations.]
The negotiations would be fast and intense, and could be complete Monday. According to sources familiar with NASCAR operations, Monday is a key date on the NASCAR planning calendar for 2010.
Frank Giuffre confirmed to Milwaukeeworld that he and his brother are in touch with fair officials and say they plan to work over the holiday weekend.
Dominic Giuffre said he was partiuclarly heartened by the public support for his efforts to save racing in Milwaukee, and said he sent a thank you note to Mark Belling who gave the story extensive coverage on his WISN-AM radio show last week when the situation seemed dire, and communications between the Giuffres and the State Fair Park Board had stagnated.
[See previous post.--Ed.]

MEMORABLE STUNT KICKED OFF GIUFFRES' FIRST SEASON

Former Milwaukee Sentinel sports columnist Bud Lea wrote a profile piece about the Giuffres when they introduced themselves as the new promoters of the Milwaukee Mile at a party at the Brookfield Marriott Hotel in January, 1984.
"Giuffre Plan: Bringing Fun Back to the Track," read the headline, which might be still usable. The circumstances then have some parallels to the current season, it appears:
"Wisconsin State Fair Park [i.e. The Milwaukee Mile] was believed to be on Death Row," Lea wrote. "However on Thursday, Dominic and Frank Giuffre were trying to tell John and Jean Fan something. They are going to great lengths to prove that they can have fun again at State Fair Park."
The Giuffres wined and dined 300 people at the party and brought in Tom Sneva, now a Motorsports Hall of Famer and then fresh from his victory in the 1983 Indianapolis 500.

"The Milwaukee Mile has something few other race tracks have -- and that's tradition," Sneva said.

Dominic Giuffre was quoted saying something that rings true today, a quarter century later:
"If we didn't get involved, you wouldn't see any NASCAR racing here in Milwaukee. ... We want the fans to come out, enjoy the races and have fun."
The Giuffres also displayed a knack for showmanship, it appears, something that has been utterly lacking among recent Mile operators, who have included such fun guys as Ulice Payne, Jr., Dan Bader and Chris Abele.
Example: at their introductory party, the Giuffres had two Brinks armored trucks haul in a briefcase with $100,000 in cash that would go to any winner of three races at the Mile.

Now, that's a classic stunt! And a difficult one to engineer. It was probably harder for the Giuffres to come up with the armored trucks than it was to scrape together $100,000 in cash. That's another thing that separates them from recent operators.

Stay tuned to Milwaukeeworld for further updates. And get the word out!

--Michael Horne