Round 10: Kohler Grand Prix. Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. 24th-26th June.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 10: Kohler Grand Prix. Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. 24th-26th June.

The last major AOWR event to be held at Road America, was the Champ Car Generac Grand Prix of Road America, in August 2007. After a 9 year hiatus, the race finally returns. Up until then, Road America had been a perennial event on the CART/Champ Car calendar, from 1982 - 2007, with the exception of 2005 due to payment issues. The first race was won by Héctor Rebaque for Forsythe Racing, in a March 82C-Ford Cosworth DFX and Sébastien Bourdais won the 2007 race for Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing, in a Panoz DP-01-Cosworth XFE. With the merger of Champ Car and the IRL in 2008, the race was dropped from the calendar.

The first race yo be held at Elkhart Lake was in 1950 and organized by the Chicago Region and Milwaukee Region of The Sports Car Club of America. It was the first of three races from 1950 - 1952, which were held on courses layed out on public roads. However, after a fatal accident at Watkins Glen in 1952, it was decided to discontinue motor racing on all public roads and the event was moved to a private, purpose built course. Highway engineer Clif Tufte, got together with local citizens and the Chicago Region of the Sports Car Club of America to develop and build a permanent racecourse. On September 10, 1955, Road America held its first SCCA national race weekend.

Since then, the track has hosted many major American motorsport's series, including the American Le Mans Series, CART, NASCAR and the United States Road Racing Championship. During this time the layout has hardly changed, apart from a chicane that was installed for AMA motorcycle competitors at The Kink.

Some trivia:
Of the current drivers, only Sébastien Bourdais, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power and Graham Rahal have raced at The Grand Prix of Road America, when it was a Champ Car event. Simon Pagenaud and Will Power were both team mates at Team Australia, in the 2007 Champ Car season and Sébastien Bourdais is the only current driver to have won The Grand Prix of Road America, also in 2007.

The driver with the most wins: 3.
Mario Andretti: 1983, 1984, 1987.
Emerson Fittipaldi, 1986, 1988, 1982.
Michael Andretti: 1991, 1992, 1996.

The team with the most wins: 10.
Newman/Haas Racing: 1983, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1992, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2007.

Original track layout:


Current track layout:


Length: 4.048 miles (6.515 km)
Turns: 14

Lap record:
Dario Franchitti, August 19, 2000. 1:39.866, 145.924 mph (234.84 kmh). Team Kool Green, Reynard 2KI-Honda HRK. CART FedEx Championship Series.

Last winner:
Sébastien Bourdais,
Newman/Haas/Lanigan Racing,
Panoz DP01-Cosworth XFE

Laps 53
Distance 214.544 mph (345.275 km)
Race Time 1:40:58
Speed 127.481 mph (205.16 km)

TV Broadcast
NBCSN, Jun 26, 12:30pm. EST