In the early 1950’s, sports car races were being run on the streets in and around Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, but the state legislature banned racing on the public roads soon after. A man named Clif Tufte organized a group of local citizens and leaders of the Chicago Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). This group developed plans and sold stock to build a permanent racecourse. The overall vision of Road America grew out of the dreams of Tufte, a highway engineer, who chose 525 acres of Wisconsin farmland outside the Village of Elkhart Lake for the track. Ground broke for Road America in April of 1955 and the track’s first SCCA national race weekend was held later that same year (September 10, 1955).
At 4.048-miles in length, with 14 turns, the track is virtually the same today as it was when it was first laid out. The natural topography of the glacial Kettle Moraine area was utilized for the track, sweeping around rolling hills and plunging through ravines making it one of the most challenging tracks in the world.
The first, and up until last season, the only, NASCAR Cup Series race at Road America was on August 12, 1956. An estimated crowd of 10,000 braved terrible weather to watch the event. And in an unusual ruling, NASCAR limited the cars to 10 gallons of fuel at start the race.
The August 12, 1956, race was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tim Flock driving a Mercury for car owner Bill Stroppe. Flock led 17 laps of the 63-lap event, making just two pit stops en route to his win; his fourth victory of the 1956 season. Flock won with an average speed of 73.858 mph and did it in 3 hours, 29 minutes, and 50 seconds. He won the race by a 17 second margin of victory over second place. Bill Stroppe’s cars actually finished 1-2 in the race with Flock winning and his teammate Billy Myers finishing second.
Then last season, the NASCAR Cup Series returned to Road America after nearly 65 years, and the race was won by Hendrick Motorsport’s driver Chase Elliott with a margin of victory of 5.705-seconds over second place Christopher Bell.
Road America will be the third of six road courses on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule – Circuit of The Americas, Sonoma Raceway, Road America, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Watkins Glen International and Charlotte ROVAL. Trackhouse Racing teammates Ross Chastain (Circuit of The Americas) and Daniel Suárez (Sonoma) have already won the first two road course races of the year.
The highspeed on-track activity for the NASCAR Cup Series will begin this weekend with practice from 11:30 a.m. – 12:20 p.m. ET, directly followed by Busch Light Pole Qualifying at 12:20 p.m. ET. Both events will be televised on USA Network from 12-1:30 p.m. ET.
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