Road America

43.8 - 87.994444444444Koordinaten: 43 ° 48 '0 "N, 87 ° 59' 40 " W

Road America is a permanent race track in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Since opening in 1955 race wide range of motor sport series are annually held on the road course, including the " Speed ​​World Challenge Series " of the SCCA, the American Le Mans Series, ASRA, and AMA Superbike Championship and up to the bankruptcy and the Champ Car World Series. Since 2010, a race in the NASCAR Nationwide Series will be held at Road America.

Track and facilities

The course has a length of just over 4 miles or the equivalent of about 6.5 km and has a total of 14 curves. There are also several differences in height, which must be overcome during a round, and a long start - finish straight where speeds of up to 200 mph can be achieved. The track is particularly well known for their back straight with the so-called " Kink ", a kink which many racers already proved fatal and therefore had to retire from the race.

Exist on the system itself grandstands with a capacity of 10,000 spectators, due to the many hills along the track but can more than 150,000 spectators to attend a race. There are also 13 special stands that are not freely accessible but without further notice. Users are, however, the camp is on the premises.

In addition to the main track, a 0.8 miles or 1.29 kilometers long kart track exists within the carousel, the so-called " Briggs & Stratton Motorplex ". It was built on the site of a former off-road course on which the SODA series hosted races in the 1990s.

History

Open road course

In the late 1940s, the popularity of street racing increased significantly in the United States. Organized these were from Sports Car Club of America and together with the community of Elkhart Lake in 1950 they organized the first street race in place.

The start and finish was on County Road P. The participants drove north to County Road J, from there in the direction of the community and then west to the former County Highway X. About the County Road P went back to the start and finish line. The lap length on this course was 3.3 miles or 5.3 kilometers converted. He was inducted into the National Register of Historic Places on 17 February 2006 and appropriate signs have been erected along the route.

For the next two races in 1951 and 1952, a different route was used. The course on the County Road J, A and P had a length of 6.5 miles and 10.5 km.

Private road course

After the tragic accident at Watkins Glen in 1952, in which a twelve year old child was killed, came the prohibition of motor sport racing on public highways. However, this drastic measure was not the end of the road race, but they were transferred to private racetracks. So opened Cliff Tufte 1955, now known as the Road America race track. Since opening the configuration has not changed significantly.

Race at Road America

Many different racing series took the Road America to host the race. The first was of the Sports Car Club of America on September 10, 1955 In 1956, the Grand National Series NASCAR was at Road America as a guest -. Should be the only NASCAR race on the course due to the lack of commercial success until 2010. From 1982 until its bankruptcy in 2008, a race hosted the Champ Car World Series every year. Other racing series include the American Le Mans Series, Grand -Am, USAC, CanAm, Trans-Am, IMSA, or the AMA. Since 2010, moreover, a race of the NASCAR Nationwide Series, the Bucyrus 200, held at Road America.

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