Story and photos by Tim Adams
America’s National Park of Speed, or Road America, has been in existence since 1955. Situated on 640 acres, the 14 turn, 4.048 mile road course is one of the few road courses in the world that still maintains its original layout. Over the years many safety improvements have been made. More safety fencing has been installed, as well as added runoff areas in many of the corners.
Located one hour North of Milwaukee in Wisconsin’s Kettle Moraine, the track is known for its high- speed straights, and large elevation changes throughout the course. Due to the open nature of the track, there are no assigned seats, allowing spectators to explore the entire track. Arguably the finest food that any track offers is available from concessions located all around the track. After the 2006 season the Billy Mitchell bridge was removed allowing spectators to view the entire Thunder Valley, all the way back to Canada Corner. A tunnel was built to allow access to the paddock that the old bride had provided.
After the 2015 season, a new trail was laid out from the Bill Mitchell Bend (turn 13) all the way back to the Kink (turn 11). This allows spectators to view the racers up close, along one of the fastest portions of the course. Two new HD screens were also installed in 2017 to allow the fans to monitor the action around the entire course, not just the area they happened to be seated in. All in all, there is not a bad place anywhere to watch a race at America’s National Park of Speed.
One of the more unique things you can look forward to with your ticket is the ability to get into the paddock. All fans are welcome. You can watch teams work on the cars, watch the cars go through their tech inspection, watch driver change practice for sportscars, take all the pictures you would like, and watch as they push and drive the cars through the paddock to the grid. It is a madhouse just before the start of the race. Every fan wants to get as close as they can to the cars. This is not allowed at a NASCAR race, they fence off the paddock, or garage.
In June of 2017 Road America hosted the Verizon INDYCAR Series, and Pirelli World Challenge. In addition to this, the Mazda MX5 series, Pro Mazda , USF2000, and Indy Lights were also on hand. Something for everyone. Most weekends at the track are a four-day affair. Testing for all classes, with the exception of INDYCAR, took place on Thursday. Thursday featured some rain this year. Unlike NASCAR, everyone runs in the rain. It is a lot of fun to watch the racers in the rain, and fun to get out there and photograph them also. Do not ever let the rain stop you from attending a race at Road America!
The glory days of Road America were in the 1980’s and early 1990’s when CART (Championship Auto Racing Teams) raced there. The races drew well over 100,000 spectators.
It all came crashing down in 1994 when Tony George decided to form the Indy Racing League or IRL. It was a disaster, and the battle between IRL and CART almost wiped out open wheel racing in North America. In its infinite wisdom, the IRL did not believe in running on road courses. CART continued to soldier on with races at Road America from 1994-2004. The battle between CART and the IRL was costing both series fans. Attendance declined heavily. The last race was held in 2007 under the Champ Car banner, basically what little was left from CART.
In 2008 common sense prevailed, Champ Car and the IRL finally merged to become what is now known as INDYCAR. It still took them nine long years to rectify the mistake of not having Road America on the schedule. In 2016 INDYCAR returned to Road America. The weekend was success with the biggest crowds in years attending. While not up to the numbers of the CART heyday, it was great weekend, and everyone looked like they had a great time.
One of the complaints some of the fans had last year was that the race was too short at 50 laps. In 2017 the race was lengthened to 55 laps to add another fuel stop and perhaps more drama to the race.
For the past two years the other main attraction during the weekend was the Pirelli World Challenge sportscar races. The Pirelli World Challenge has been racing since 1990. The series consists of six classes of vehicles that race in short action-packed races that take less than an hour to complete. The nature of the short races leads to intense on track battles that the fans love to watch. One of the big draws for the spectators is the variety of cars that you can see racing. Everything from the tiny Mazda MX-5 to a huge right-hand drive Bentley coupe. All the cars very closely resemble an actual street car. These are not generic bodies that all look the same with different decals like NASCAR. This makes a huge difference with the fans. They can relate to the cars they are watching race.
The rest of the racing is rounded out by the Road to Indy open wheel racers. Each class is a step up from the previous class for young drivers trying to make it to INDYCAR and race at the Indianapolis 500. The racers start out in USF2000. The next step up is Pro Mazda, then Indy Lights. The season long points leader in Indy Lights is guaranteed a shot to race in the following years Indianapolis 500.
If you have never been to road course, make Road America your first one. You will not be disappointed.
Road America has a deal right now, $100 ticket for all four days for the 2018 INDYCAR race. You cannot beat that deal.
