Story and photos by Tim Adams
Coming into this year’s IndyCar race at Road America the big story was the repave of the track that was completed in October of 2022. Painstaking care was taken to replace the old pavement with new pavement in the exact same place. Very minor changes were made to some of the runoff areas. It was an amazing job done by all involved to get this done in one months time. Track records were expected to fall in every series that races at the track in 2023. More on that later. Joining IndyCar were the open wheel support series USF2000, USF PRO 2000, and INDY NXT. The Radical Cup racers were also running this weekend.
In an ongoing effort to provide race fans with the best experience anywhere in the world, the track continued to make improvements in the off-season. New for this year is a path that winds itself completely around the outside of the carousel. The trail ends at an improved viewing are just before the Kink, this area is now known as the Beach. Complete with plenty of sand, and even a few palm trees, this provides fans a great place to watch racers make their way through the Kink, one of the most famous, dangerous, and high-speed corners in all of racing.
The weather cooperated all weekend, but in what seems to be the norm now, wildfire smoke from Canada filled the sky with haze the entire weekend. This writer/photographer was not happy.
In a testament to just how fast the IndyCars were in the CART era, the track record lap was set in 2000 by Dario Franchitti, at 1 minute 39.866 seconds. Twenty-three years! While the field was up to three seconds a lap faster than last year, the record will still stand for another year. Colton Herta came close, winning the pole, but in the end he was .330 seconds off the track record. If the weather had been slightly cooler, the record might have fallen.
Practice was eventful this year, it seems nobody was happy with Romain Grosjean this year, especially Will Power. During practice on Saturday before qualifying, he almost ran Will Power off the track. Power later remarked that Romain needed a punch in the face. Will Power was also involved in a crash just past Canada corner, when Scott Dixon, thinking the track was clear moved into Power heavily damaging both cars. Power climbed out of the wrecked car and gave Dixon the classic double bird single digit salute, also shoving him. All would be forgiven later, but it was quite a moment. Team Penske was able to repair Power’s car for qualifying, and Team Ganassi brought out another car for Dixon to qualify and race in.
It looked like Colton Herta was going to dominate the race. Winning the pole he dominated the race, led the most laps, but Herta had to pit on lap 40 of 55, one lap before the rest of the top contenders. When the rest of the top contenders pitted on lap 41 of 55, Herta was back in front. Having pitted one lap early cost Herta dearly, he had to start saving fuel to make it to the end. Alex Palou was able to chase Herta down without having to worry about his fuel having pitted a lap later. In the end Herta ended up finishing in fifth place after dominating the race. 2023 Indy 500 winner Josef Newgarden finished in second, and Pato O’ Ward finished in third place.
Alex Palou has now won three races this season, and has a huge lead in the point standings for the driver’s championship.
Road America with the new repave, and its continuous off-season improvements for the fans, continues to be a must attend race for IndyCar fans. The track was packed on race day. Every campsite was sold, and every golf cart was rented. Get your tickets now for 2024, see you next year.
