The fans that show up every year at The Milwaukee Mile are passionate and knowledgeable about IndyCar and it’s a good mix of youngsters and old-timers. But, after three years with Andretti Sports Marketing as the promoter, attendance isn’t growing as quickly as all involved had hoped.

Despite doing a really good job of promoting (according to the locals) the ABC Supply Wisconsin 250, on Sunday there didn’t appear to be more than 18,000 people in the grandstands, which reportedly hold 38,000.

Ryan Hunter-Reay and Takuma Sato made appearances at the State Fair the week before, which drew one million people, and there was an IndyCar display from Verizon with a show car. There also were billboards and plenty of advertising on radio and television. And the infield continues to have something for just about everyone, from volleyball games with shapely ladies to rides for kids and interactive racing displays and games.

Yet the once-packed grandstands were about one-third full. Maybe tickets are too highly priced ($70-$84 for the top tier), maybe the overcast weather on Sunday morning hurt the walk-up or maybe the fact the racing hasn’t been very good the past two years is the culprit.

Regardless, and thankfully, Milwaukee has at least one more year on the books.

“Oh yeah, we’re definitely coming back,” said Kevin Healy, managing director of the race for Andretti Sports Marketing. “I don’t have the final numbers but it’s higher than you estimated and it’s the most people we’ve ever had in the infield. We had good corporate support as well.

“I feel good about the momentum for this event. We’re bringing in people who weren’t necessarily fans of IndyCar who are becoming fans. We had a mockup of victory lane at Indianapolis and people were able to meet the Indy 500 winner, sit in the car and I think that made us some new fans as well.”

Healy believes the race will return somewhere close to this year’s date and ABC Supply will return as the title sponsor. “ABC is an amazing company, better than anybody in terms of activating sponsorship and they brought 1,400 people here Sunday.

“It’s a pleasure working with Diane Hendricks (chairman of the board of ABC Supply) because she understands how this track and race are part of the state’s history and wants to see it grow.”

Healy, who will assist boss Tim Ramsburger in New Orleans at the NOLA race for 2015, complimented the Milwaukee media coverage and almost got an unexpected bonus.

“I was listening to NPR (National Public Radio) and they were talking about the Milwaukee IndyFest,” he said. “I got all excited thinking NPR was covering us until I listened closer and it turned out to be the India Fest in Milwaukee the same day as our race.”