Waiting out the rain: Weather puts a damper on testing at Milwaukee Mile for IndyCar race

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- Wednesday, June 11th was "Washout Wednesday" at the Milwaukee Mile! So what did the race teams do?

About a dozen IndyCar race teams were scheduled to test at the Milwaukee Mile on Wednesday for the August race -- but Mother Nature had other plans.

"Lots of YouTube videos right now. Watching some French hill climbing of all things," IndyCar driver Justin Wilson said.

Drivers like Justin Wilson were finding ways to wile away the time while technical folks like Blair Perchbacher still had to get something done. After all, his race team had about 40 people on hand Wednesday, plus their cars and equipment. All those people and stuff must be in Iowa Friday for more testing.

"On this test day, we're preparing for the next test we have and just making sure that when we do get to run we're ready to go, because it's probably going to be a shortened day. We have to cram everything into that," Blair Perchbacher -- Mario Andretti's engineer said.

The Rahal Letterman Lanigan team was in the same boat Wednesday as the Andretti team.

"Everything stays set up. We have a tent, so everything stays dry and it's just a matter of pulling the car out and having an hour-and-a-half to warm the car up and be ready to run," Mitch Davis, Graham Rahal's crew chief said.

That's the view of a crew chief -- a guy who has to see the big picture and roll with the situation.

Mitch Davis' driver, Graham Rahal tried to avoid going stir crazy by making laps in a street Porsche.

"I had to go do something. It's actually dad's car, so it's my rental for the week. I flew into Chicago and I grabbed his car and came up here. It's good. I probably take care of it better than he does," Rahal said.

At the Milwaukee Mile, at the start/finish line -- that's where the teams and the drivers want to be on race day before everybody else. They want to win -- but on one of the crummiest mid-June days you could imagine -- there were no wins.

"Today is completely lost. Tomorrow, I think we can test some things. Any time on the track is beneficial -- whether it's just refreshing, getting yourself used to the Mile and recalling where the bumps are and where you want to position the car -- so I'll take anything," Justin Wilson said.

The teams will try to test on Thursday -- their last opportunity to do so before the series comes to town for the race in mid-August.