Story and photos by Tim Adams
Indycar remains as popular as ever at Road America in Elkhart Lake Wisconsin. Huge crowds enjoyed beautiful weather, and great racing, as Indycar, its Mazda Road to Indy partners USF2000, Pro Mazda, and Indy Lights were joined by the Pirelli World Challenge sportscars the third weekend in June. Building on the success of IndyCar’s return to Road America three years ago, a three year extension was signed the weekend of the race, ensuring that one of the most popular races for fans and drivers will continue through 2021.
The Kohler Grand Prix weekend looked like it was going to be dominated by the Penske duo of Josef Newgarden and this year’s 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner Will Power. Josef Newgarden took the pole by a mere .0482 seconds over his teammate Will Power. The average speed around Road America was just over 140 miles per hour.
At the race start, the Penske domination faded immediately. Will Power had a car that sounded like it was firing on far fewer than six cylinders. Power dropped back like a rock, and had to pit after the initial lap. The car was withdrawn after only two laps, and finished last. Not exactly the outcome you would expect from team Penske and the Indy 500 champ.
While free from any cautions, and with Josef Newgarden leading 53 out of 55 laps, you might think it was a rather dull race. On the contrary, Newgarden faced intense pressure from Ryan Hunter-Reay the entire race. Any mistake by Newgarden, and Hunter-Reay was right there to pounce. It would not be however, and Newgarden would take the win by just over three seconds.
About a month after the race, in a shock to Indycar fans, Mazda announced that they were ending their sponsorship of the Road to Indy. This left fans and racers wondering what was going to happen to USF200, Pro Mazda, and Indy Lights. One day later it was announced that Anderson Promotions would be taking over from Mazda with a five-year plan announced specifically for Indy Lights. Indy Lights are the last step in the ladder program before a driver moves up to Indycar. Hopefully this will work out for everyone. The Indy Lights race featured only 7 cars at Road America. You cannot have a race series that only features 7 cars. Plans for USF2000 and Pro Mazda series were to be announced at a later date. At the time of this writing no plans were forthcoming yet.
In what looks like the last time Indycar and Pirelli World Challenge will be together at Road America, the PWC sportscar racers joined in the weekend fun. PWC is at a real crossroads. It has been announced they will only race seven times next year. The PWC race at Road America will be a stand-alone event in September. In my opinion they will not survive. They simply cannot draw the fans that come to the Indycar race, or that attend the other sportscar race ran by IMSA, The WeatherTech SportsCar Championship in August at Road America. If Pirelli is to survive, I believe they need to merge with the Continental SportsCar Challenge that is run by IMSA. It is the same thing that happened when Grand-Am and the ALMS were split. Two sportscar series just cannot survive racing together. By merging, it would only make both much stronger. If you look at where IMSA is now, verses a few years ago before the Grand-AM and ALMS merger, it only proves my point. Divided they cannot stand.
The Road America stop in the Indycar schedule has once again become a must attend event just like it was in CART’s heyday in the 1980’s. If can only attend one race a year, Indycar at Road America should be at the top of your list.
