INDIANAPOLIS (June 7, 2004) – Mother Nature held up her end of the bargain, allowing fans of the Bridgestone Presents The Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford to come out to the Milwaukee Mile this weekend without fear of rain or cold, and they did so in increased numbers according to figures released by the Mile staff Monday.

A total of 48,036 race tickets were issued to fans attending the Time Warner Cable Road Runner 250 Presented by U.S. Bank this past weekend.  Race winner Ryan Hunter-Reay (#4 Herdez Ford-Cosworth/Lola/Bridgestone) thrilled the fans with a stellar drive, leading wire-to-wire from the coveted pole position in Saturday night's Champ Car race. He set a new series single-event record by leading all 250 laps and became the first driver since 1992 to lead every lap of a Champ Car oval race.

This past weekend's attendance was up 13,324 tickets from 2003, an increase of 38 percent from last year's inaugural Champ Car race weekend under temporary lighting provided by Musco Lighting.

“We are very pleased to have a substantial increase in attendance for the Time Warner Cable Road Runner 250 Presented by U.S. Bank weekend,” commented Mark Perrone, Vice President & General Manager of The Milwaukee Mile.  “For the first time, our race fans really responded to the season ticket package we've offered them, and we were happy to accommodate hundreds of first-time infield suite guests.  We more than doubled the number of infield spectator tickets sold in comparison to last year, and the weather was more conducive, which all contributed to this increase.”

The initial weekend figure announced Saturday night was 46,532, released prior to a final ticket count conducted Sunday. The figure boosts Champ Car's 2004 attendance to 399,847 over just three events this season.