Connection Between IMSA Fans, Drivers and Paddock Evident in Expanded Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix
By Holly Cain
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. – There’s a strong argument to be made that the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship has cornered the market on beautiful and historic racing venues – so significant for road course racing in America.
There’s the sport’s obvious connection to Daytona International Speedway and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Three traditional endurance races are renowned at Sebring International Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Each of WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and VIRginia International Raceway are among drivers’ favorites, while the pair of street course races at Long Beach and Detroit pose unique challenges. It doesn’t matter where; the calendar is filled with many “must-experience” events.
And the weekend’s Motul SportsCar Endurance Grand Prix at Road America again proved itself a top-shelf feature on the schedule – boasting a fabulous race at one of the most iconic racing venues in the world. It was a memorable experience for first-time visitors to Road America such as myself, but equally so for the many more long-timers filling the facility over the weekend.
Road America feels like the great “connection” between venerable old-schoolers and the burgeoning new fandom. The facility is tradition-filled, bustling with the track’s largest crowd of its 71st season of action. These are knowledgeable, fervent race fans of all ages, lined and set among a stunning backdrop of green pastures and beautiful towering trees. It absolutely provided enough fierce racing for six full hours of door-to-door competition.
Without exception, the fans, drivers and team members consider it a sort of racing sanctuary; an idyllic venue, the peaceful track surroundings belying the intensity of the racing on track. There’s a reason it’s long been referred to as “America’s National Park of Speed.”
And undoubtedly Sunday’s endurance edition proved that true with close-quarter bravado from the drop of the green flag to the race’s checkered six hours later.
A drive into Elkhart Lake – located about an hour due north of Milwaukee – surrounds you with rolling green pastures dotted with red barns, silver silos and – at this time of year – fields filled with six to seven-foot corn stalks as far as the eye can see. It seems like an actual postcard image from a simpler, fictional time ago.
There are notably few billboards along the interstate highway leading to the track – with occasional quaint exceptions such as a reminder of the “Spoonlickers Café” located near “Pleasant View” Road. Several routes to the race track off the highway make use of picturesque county roads marked simply with letters for names. XX, A, J, M and H are but a few nearby that amble into the track from various directions, with the intersection of Highway 67 and J quite close to track entry at the main gate.
The famed Johnsonville sausage factory and a large Land O’Lakes dairy farm (in Kiel) are only a short 10-minute drive from the Road America gates.
The long summer nights allow for what has become a new but special tradition here, a “Welcome Party” at Siebkens Resort – the renowned restaurant-bar-lodge combo in Elkhart Lake. It’s about a five-minute drive from the track, and where so much race-week activity revolves and centers.
A classic rock cover band filled the air Thursday with good tunes. Cars lined the streets all around, people sipped on the local favorite Spotted Cow brew and brought their own lawn chairs to take in the scene on the grass between the restaurant and the lodge.
A short parade of race cars drove to Siebkens from the track in the early evening and sat proudly on display for the fans – a proper mix of sports car racing devotees, families, kids and even young people who opted for conversation and the sights instead of staring into cell phones. The people came from everywhere – literally – with varying accents all around.
IMSA President John Doonan was there. He notes he’s been coming to Road America races since he was six weeks old – insisting with a huge smile that he doesn’t have a “favorite” track, “anymore than ‘I could claim a favorite child.’” However, the Midwestern-raised executive does concede that Road America has been a consistent, well-appreciated staple in his life. His fondness is obvious – and he’s not alone.
The drivers – who were raising money for charity in brief 15-minute shifts as quasi ‘bartenders’ on the lawn – say they absolutely love competing here. Throughout the race weekend, the big screen in the grandstands showed video interviews of foreign drivers being asked to pronounce Wisconsin town names from Waukesha to Oconomowoc to Ashwaubenon. It’s like a “third language,” joked one.
And it’s not just the famed track but also the fervent fans and welcoming vibe that they enjoy.
“It’s just a really nice part of America to come to,” said New Zealander Earl Bamber, who shares the No. 31 Cadillac Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R with Jack Aitken and Frederik Vesti. “Everyone’s so friendly and everything’s warm and the racetrack is probably one of the best layouts in terms of racing but also from the fans side.
“It’s so accessible but at the same time you can stroll through the beautiful forest alongside the track. You’ve also got the beach down at Turn 10 with the volleyball net. It just invites family and friends. And the fact we [the teams] all stay right here and you’ve got that amazing community in Elkhart Lake, this is what makes it great. All the fans are there and can interact outside the racetrack too. That’s what makes it so special.”
France’s Lilou Wadoux agreed with that sentiment. Other than a test last month, the race marked her first time turning laps at Road America. Clearly a quick study, she claimed the Grand Touring Daytona (GTD) pole position for the race in the No. 21 Af Corse USA Ferrari 296 GT3 EVO.
“When you come here we know it’s always a nice track,” Wadoux said. “A little bit old school. To be honest, I really like this track and enjoy every moment because it’s quite special.”
On a pre-race ride as part of IMSA’s Hot Lap Experience in a specially prepared Mercedes-AMG car with two-time GTD champion, Winward Racing’s Philip Ellis driving, I got to experience the track. And of course, going that fast it felt less than its four-mile length, but each of the 14 corners was exciting and you could see the fans pressed against the track fencing and perched atop the overlooks ready to catch all the action.
As it turned out about seven hours later, Ellis enjoyed the ultimate view of the track, celebrating his second straight race win from the highest podium step.
There exists a certain unmistakable irony that a place so laid back also perpetually produces the kind of fierce door-to-door racing that thrills the crowds and tests the drivers and teams.
It’s exceedingly rare for a venue to be so well-liked by those racing and those watching them race – but Road America again proved itself that special place where reality absolutely lived up to the billing.