July 23, 2012

My blog today is about Elkhart Lake's Road America.  The first road race was in 1950 going down the county roads and through the streets of Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. It totaled 3.3 miles.  In 1951 and 1952 a different 6.5 mile course was used.  One can still drive most of the original course which was registered on the National Register of Historic Places in 2006.  Signs have been installed marking key locations on the course.  It is on my bucket list to drive the original course one of these days.

In 1955 Clif Tufte started what is now known as Road America.  The track is a little more than 4 miles long and reminds a lot of drivers of the tracks in Europe like Spa in Belgium and Monza in Italy.

A lot of trees have come down and fencing has gone up for safety but the sounds of the race cars coming through the trees is still awesome.

All kinds of food is available at every turn on the track and it's all great track food.  The food stand at each turn on the track, seems to have a different specialty and taste.  Turn 1 is probably my personal favorite.  It features Mexican food and the tacos are great.  At this track leave your food at home and enjoy the track food!

The attached photographs show the track in 1973 during my first visit.  The original start house had a lot of character. It was was replaced years ago with a nice air conditioned building on the other side of the track.  Pit lane is also a lot different now and has been moved up the hill. 

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Thanks,

Rich Zimmermann