Milwaukee ? Mario Andretti has been the hero at the Road America Grand Prix in Elkhart Lake before.

But his three wins pale in comparison to what Andretti did this spring for the four-mile road race less than 60 miles north of Milwaukee — he kept it alive.

The retired driver was the catalyst that brought track-owner Road America and open-wheel racing body CART together to resolve their differences and put the race back on the Champ Car schedule.

CART canceled the race last winter, saying Road America failed to comply with a sanctioning agreement.

Sunday’s race was renamed the Mario Andretti Grand Prix at Road America. Qualifying rounds are today and Saturday.

“Whenever you’re serious and are willing to arrive at a resolution, you can always find a way,” Andretti said. “I said I’ll take the hit in the middle and see if there can be room for compromise.”

In February, CART filed a lawsuit claiming it had not received payments from Road America for sanctioning fees. Road America countersued, alleging CART broke its contract with the track when it canceled the race.

Soon after, Andretti decided to act as the go-between. He went first to Chris Pook, CART’s president and chief executive officer.

“I said, ‘Chris, you’ve got to hear what these fans are saying,” Andretti recalled. “I called a couple of the board members that I knew personally at Elkhart Lake and I said the same thing.”

The conversations weren’t easy.

“During negotiations, on both sides there were a couple times where they said, ‘You know what, this is not going to happen.’ And I just didn’t want to hear it,” he said. “I just got very ugly about it with whichever side was giving me this negative vibe.

“I was determined that once we got to that point, we could still overcome whatever problems were there.”

April 23, the race was restored to the schedule through 2004. Both sides agreed to drop their lawsuits.

Andretti said he didn’t expect Road America to change the race’s name in his honor. Nor does he want that to be his greatest achievement this weekend. Now he just wants the race to have its day in the sun.

Andretti began his career at Elkhart Lake in 1982 when he raced in Road America’s first CART race. He won the race the next two years and again in 1987.

Andretti calls the track — with its long straightaways and 14 turns — one of his favorites.

“The track is really the type of course that really appeals to every driver I’ve ever known,” he said. “You’ve got the tightest corners, good hairpins … It’s just really challenging.”