Oilpressure

This weekend is the Sonsio Grand Prix at Road America, one of our favorite weekends of the year. I remember through the 90s watching IndyCar races at Road America, thinking to myself that I would like to go there someday. That was in the days when the only IndyCar race I ever attended was the Indianapolis 500. This looked so completely different from what I had experienced at IMS, it intrigued me. I knew my wife at the time would never allow such a thing, so it was nothing more than a pipe dream

Fast forward about twenty years. I had already had this website for several years and Susan and I had begun traveling around to several different races for a few years. When there were rumblings in 2015 that IndyCar would return to Road America in 2016; I told Susan that if it happened, we were going. She didn’t know much about it, but when I showed her some old You Tube videos, she was also intrigued. When we were at Barber in 2016 we ran into longtime reader, Steven Kilsdonk, who is originally from Wisconsin. He were discussing our plans to go to Road America that summer. He gave us some advice, which may have been the best advice that anyone has ever given us – be sure and rent a golf cart.

That night in our hotel, Susan got on the Road America website and reserved us a golf cart for our initial visit later that summer. As it turned out, with a track slightly over four miles in length and spread out over 640 acres – a golf cart was an absolute necessity. There is so much to do and see there, but without a golf cart – you’ll spend all of your time walking. Since Susan has never been keen on walking, she loved having the golf cart and consequently fell in love with Road America. So did I.

While I love the history, intensity and my own personal memories of the Indianapolis 500 and IMS – there is something about Road America that I like just as much, although they are completely different in every way. It is hard to describe, but Road America is simply an enjoyable place to be. If you’ve never been there, you owe it to yourself to attend a race there sometime. You’ll wonder why you never went before. It is, without a doubt, the most fan-friendly track we’ve been to.

In case you can’t tell, we really like attending the IndyCar race at Road America. We have been to every IndyCar race at Road America since the series returned in 2016. It was the only race we attended in person in the COVID year of 2020.

Personally, it also holds a special place in our hearts. Susan received her pancreatic cancer diagnosis in the summer of 2020 – two days before we were to travel to Road America. With such a shocking weight dumped on us, I assumed she had no interest in us attending the race. On the contrary, she said she wanted us to go and get away for a few days. We went and actually had a good time. But while there, I had this horrible feeling that the 2020 race would be her last time to visit Road America. When we returned home the next week and met with her oncologist; the prognosis of only 10-12 months to live confirmed those fears.

But as you all now know, Susan has defied that grim prediction. Pancreatic cancer has only an 8% survival rate, but she is now going strong and scanning cancer-free three years later. This will be our fourth visit to Road America since that cancer diagnosis in 2020. Being on the grounds of one of our favorite places reminds us that there is always hope. OK, back to racing…

We drove up yesterday and arrived at our hotel around 6:30 pm. From our driveway in Nashville, it is 651 miles to our hotel. We have stayed all over the area since 2016 – Sheboygan, Fond du Lac and even Elkhart Lake. The secret now seems to be getting out, because the closest we could book a (reasonable) hotel back in March was in Manitowoc – a town we’ve never been to, much less stayed in. Everything else was either booked up or outrageous. That gives us a couple of new possibilities for one of my favorite pastimes – eating.

Of course, every year we eat at the same spots each Friday and Saturday night up here – both excellent local spots off the beaten path. Each Friday night, we go to Majerle’s Black River Grill, which sits on Lake Michigan. Their cheese curds are maybe the best I’ve had anywhere. They are famous for their Friday Night Fish Fry, which is a big deal all across Wisconsin. They offer a combination of Lake Perch, Bluegill and Walleye; along with fries, slaw and hushpuppies. It doesn’t help my cholesterol any, but it sure is good.

Tomorrow night, we will go to PJ Campbell’s at The Depot; which is in Plymouth, just a few miles due south of the track. In case you couldn’t tell, it is in an old converted train depot. It is a German restaurant, with traditional German dishes – but I always get their prime rib, because it is excellent. Both of these establishments carry Spotted Cow, a local beer you cannot buy outside the state of Wisconsin.

Sunday night is always the night we tend to be more flexible and are willing to try something new. Sometimes, we’ll also end up at Schmitty’s Oar House in Fond du Lac; but that’s pretty far from Manitowoc so that may not be on the docket this year.

And then there’s the food at the track. Road America unquestionably has the best concession stands of any track I’ve ever been to. Each one is independently operated and has different offerings. But you can be assured that bratwursts are offered at every stand.

That’s enough about travel. What about the race. With a four-mile track, you don’t get a whole lot of laps. Sunday’s Sonsio Grand Prix will be fifty-five laps long for race distance of 220.55 miles. This year, the drivers will experience a totally repaved racing surface. Reports are that the track is much smoother. Any bumps that the drivers have gotten used to, are now gone. The long main straightaway, the large elevation changes, the kink, the carousel and Canada Corner all make for a fascinating track layout. Most drivers love driving Road America, because it probably comes closer to the traditional European tracks, than any other track in North America.

Unlike the last race at Detroit, there are usually not a whole lot of caution periods at Road America. It is not uncommon for an IndyCar race to run caution-free here. Pit strategy can play a big part here, but with lots of passing zones – this s a good place to simply sit and watch some good hard racing.

Who’s going to win this weekend (or should I say, whose race will I ruin by predicting them to win)? There aren’t a lot of fluke winners at Road America. Since the series returned in 2016, there have been two repeat winners – Scott Dixon and Josef Newgarden, who won last year’s race. Both will be trying to win their third at the historic track. Points leader Alex Palou won in 2021. All three of those drivers are expected to contend for the win again this weekend. But I’m going to go with another former winner – who will be trying to win his second race at Road America, but his first for his new team. Alexander Rossi will win this weekend, just as he did in 2019.

Practice One will get underway this afternoon at 3:00 pm Local Time (CDT) and will last until 4:15 pm CDT; available on Peacock. Practice Two will commence Saturday at 9:55 am CDT on Peacock, and will last for one hour. Qualifying starts at 12:55 pm CDT Saturday and will be shown live on Peacock. Sunday’s Morning Warm-up will begin at 9:15 am on Sunday on Peacock. Sunday’s race will be shown live at Noon CDT on USA Network, not Big NBC as has been the case for most of this year.

As usual, we will both be posting from the track multiple times throughout the race weekend, so please check back often. You may also follow us on Twitter for photos and videos. Follow me at @Oilpressureblog and Susan at @MrsOilpressure. Please check back later this morning after we arrive at the track.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 16, 2023 at 4:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.