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Road America is a road course auto racing facility located in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

The Current Track/Facilities

The track is just over 4 miles long and consists of 14 turns. The track has many elevation changes, along with a long front stretch where speeds approaching 200 mph can be reached. One of the best known features of this course is a turn on the backside known as "the kink." Many cars have seen their finish on this section of road and solid concrete retaining wall. There is non-reserved grandstand seating for 10,000 people, but there are plenty of hillside spots to where crowds of 150,000 or more can be handled. There is also a 0.8 mile go-kart track called the Briggs & Stratton Motorcomplex. The facility includes 13 concession stands and allows camping onsite.

2006 Major Events at the track

In 1982, CART (now Champ Car World Series) started going to the track. CART and Road America nearly ended their relationship in 2003 before Mario Andretti worked out a deal between the two. The 2006 event will be held on September 24.

In 1999, the American Le Mans Series started and Road America was chosen as one of its tracks. The 2006 event will be held on August 20.

Road America also holds a variety of vintage racing events including the Brian Redman International Challenge. The 2006 event will be held on July 16.

The SCCA (June Sprints) event will be held on June 22-25.

The 2006 AMA Superbike event will be held on June 4.

History of the original street courses

The original street races were organized by members of the Chicago Region of SCCA and the Village of Elkhart Lake. The road courses were generally triangular. The 1950 circuit start-finish line was on County Road P and competitors went north to County Road J, then South into the Village of Elkhart Lake and West on what is now County JP (then called County Hwy. X), and reconnected with County Hwy. P, for a total distance of 3.3 miles. A second course was used in 1951-1952. It was 6.5 miles long, on County Roads J, A, and P. One can still drive a majority of the original courses as of this posting.

History of the Current Track

After the tragedy at Watkins Glen in 1952 where 12 spectators were killed, the U.S. had ruled to discontinue contests of speed on public highways. This was a major blow for competition auto racing and was felt to be the end of a long-standing tradition. The current track was started in 1955 by Cliff Tufte. The addition of Road America as a private track meant moving racing through the streets of tiny Elkhart Lake to a big, wide, dedicated race track. For some it was an end of an era, in actuality it may have represented a new beginning in the sport.

Location

Road America is located in historic Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin and the city is a significant landmark for automobile racing history in the United States. Visitors from affluent communities in Northern Chicago vacationed there for many years and held gentleman's races along the city streets.

Local Impacts

Recently the original track at Elkhart Lake has come under attack as tourists and commerce demands wider, bigger roads, and in turn the destruction of the original course and streets. In response to the local governance push for this change George Bruggenthies, president and general manager of Road America, had the following to say:

"Road America draws some 500,000 to 750,000 race fans, teams and tourists during the season. At a minimum Road America has an annual direct economic impact of $50,000,000 to $75,000,000 on Sheboygan County."

Historic Impacts

Some of the most significant impacts this course has are in its historical depth. Books have been written centering on the life and culture of "sporty-car racing" in the 1950s and like all historical places it has an emotional hold on many people's hearts.

Trivia

• The only NASCAR event ever held at the track was won by Tim Flock in 1955.

External links

• Road America
• Champ Car World Series

• Motor racing venues in the United States
• Sports venues in Wisconsin