Oilpressure

This weekend marks our favorite non-Indianapolis 500 race on the schedule for the NTT IndyCar Series. This might be considered heresy by some, but if I was told I could only go to one race per year for the rest of my life; I’m not sure which I would choose – the Indianapolis 500 or Road America. That’s how much we love going to Road America.

I can remember being intrigued with the track, while watching IndyCar in the 80s and 90s. I remember some of those races were run in September or early October, when it was obviously very cold and the trees were already turning. You could also see wafts of smoke hanging around below tree level that Paul Page would describe as the visual aroma of bratwurst, or something along those lines.

Road America was a casualty of reunification after the 2007 season. When IndyCar and Champ Car tried to merge their respective schedules together, a few venues fell victim. Road America was one of them.

Once Susan and I expanded our horizons and started attending races outside the state of Indiana, I told her that if Road America ever returned to the IndyCar schedule, that’s one that I wanted to make sure we went to – at least once, just to try it out. In 2015, it was announced that IndyCar would be returning to the 4.048 mile wooded natural terrain road course situated between Elkhart Lake and Plymouth in central Wisconsin, for the 2016 season. That was all I needed to hear. We started making our plans immediately.

Sometimes you build things up in your mind so much, that there is no way the actual happening can match how you’ve hyped it up to yourself. I had high expectations for our first trip to Road America, but by the time we finally got there – my expectations were actually exceeded. That’s not just coming from me, Susan felt the same way.

I had hardly spent any time in the state of Wisconsin before that first visit in 2016. I remember going through the Milwaukee area once in 1972, when I was a young teenager. Other than that, that was it. But Susan and I both immediately fell in love with the track and the surrounding area.

The 2016 trip didn’t start out on such a great note, however. Shortly after we crossed the state line from Illinois, we had one of the biggest fights of our entire marriage. After driving for several hours, I was getting very tired. It was getting late in the afternoon and we came across a billboard advertising the famous O&H Danish Bakery in Racine, where the best kringles are made. Susan asked if we could stop and get a couple of them. I practically scoffed as I abruptly said “No, I want to get through Milwaukee before rush hour”.

I thought nothing more about it until I realized she had not spoken for a while. When I asked her why she was so quiet, I immediately regretted it. She let me know how selfish and self-centered I was. She reminded me how she puts up with all my racing stuff for the weekend, and asks for nothing. I couldn’t grant her the one thing she asked for? I was so surprised at her reaction, I never stopped to think she might be right.

That fight lasted from south of Milwaukee, until we checked into our hotel in Sheboygan; where the temperature was 58º, compared to the 97º temps we had left behind in Nashville. As cold as I was in the shorts I was wearing, it was nothing from the frostiness I was feeling from my poor wife. We went out to eat in silence, and it lasted until it all came to a head the next morning. But as those things usually do for us, we both apologized and made up. By the time we made the 23-mile trek to the track, all was forgotten. But I can assure you that we made sure to stop in Racine on the way back, and even took a selfie in front of the bakery. We have since found a little travel stop at Exit 333 on I-94/41, that has an O&H Bakery in it. That is now an annual stop for us to stock up on kringles for our freezer. Plus, it always produces a chuckle as we are reminded of the legendary battle we had over the kringles in Racine.

We have stayed in Sheboygan (three times), Fond du Lac (three times), Elkhart Lake (twice) and Manitowoc (once) over the years. My personal favorite is probably Sheboygan. Not only is it fun to say, but it is right on Lake Michigan and has one of our two favorite restaurants up there. Even when staying in Fond du Lac, we always go to Majerle’s Black River Grill in Sheboygan –overlooking Lake Michigan. We always go on Friday night for their Friday Night Fish Fry. We love the Walleye there.

This year, we are staying in Fond du Lac. It is a fun town with more great restaurants (Schmitty’s Oar House Bar & Grill is a must) and even though it is about ten miles further from the track than Sheboygan, the drive is beautiful as it meanders alongside the immaculate dairy farms of the area. I was not crazy about Manitowoc, but that was because of the distance from the track and our hotel – an old Holiday Inn built in 1974. Although Elkhart Lake is obviously more convenient – the hotel and restaurant offerings are not great.

People that have never been to Road America have asked me, what is it about Road America that makes you love it so much? It’s something I can’t put into words, but it’s strong enough that I look forward to this weekend more than any other weekend of the calendar year – and that includes any weekend in the Month of May.

I think one reason we love it so is that it is so relaxing and laid back – even during IndyCar track activity. Race weekend for the Indianapolis 500 is so intense that it can be exhausting. We rent a golf cart out of necessity at Road America, due to the vastness of the property. Not only does it help you get around, but as you go from one trackside location to another – it also gives you a comfortable place to sit. Just find a place with a unique view and just stop, sit and watch. If we get hungry, we like grabbing a brat and a beer up on the hill that overlooks Hurry Downs along the Turns 6,7 & 8 complex as the cars are about to head into the carousel. We can do that without ever leaving the comfort of our golf cart.

In case you can’t tell, I could gush on forever about how and why we love it at Road America, but this isn’t a travel site – it’s a racing site.

We arrived in Fond du Lac late yesterday afternoon, and took a different route. We came straight up through Illinois, but bypassed Indianapolis and Chicago. Instead, we went through Champaign, Rockford and Madison, before heading east to Fond du Lac. It took about 30 minutes longer, and was boring. But it saved a lot of stress going through Chicago, as well as about $27 in tolls.

Everyone is still talking about the great race at Gateway on Sunday night. I was very wrong about the crowd, and am very happy to admit it. Hopefully those that tuned in will like what they saw and will be more inclined to tune in for a totally different type of racing this weekend. I am now hoping that since the season finale is on Labor Day Sunday, maybe they can move the race into Sunday night under the lights in Nashville. It’s not like everyone will have to get up and go to work the next day.

Of course, the big question is…can anyone besides Alex Palou and Kyle Kirkwood win an IndyCar race this season? You can bet that Palou is anxious to return to his winning ways, after winning five of the first six races of the season, including the Indianapolis 500. Since that cold afternoon at Indianapolis, Palou finished 25th at Detroit, and 8th at Gateway, with Kirkwood winning both of those races. Palou has already won twice at Road America (2021, 2023), while Kirkwood’s three finishes there are 20th (with AJ Foyt); 9th and 5th with Andretti. Everyone seems to think that with three wins for Kirkwood compared to five for Palou, that Kirkwood is the one chasing Palou. Kirkwood is 75 points behind Palou, while winless Pato O’Ward is 73 points back. O’Ward has two podiums at Road America, so he obviously knows his way around the place.

It may have been cold at Indianapolis, but that will not be a problem in the Greta North this weekend. One thing we always like about Road America are the cool summertime temps – usually in the 60s or 70s. One year it was hot, and the highest it ever got was the low 80s. Things will be different this year. Earlier this week, the projected high for Sunday was 101º. They have since backed that down to 98º. I’ve been checking the weather all week. The projected temps in Elkhart Lake have been significantly hotter than Nashville for most of the week. If Firestone is bringing tires suited for cooler temps, that could make for some interesting tire strategy in qualifying and for the race. Spotty thundershowers are in the forecast for Friday, but should not pose much of a threat for the weekend past that.

We usually travel to somewhere in the area after this race to take advantage of the cooler weather. Last year, we took the SS Badger, a coal-fired steam ferry across Lake Michigan and then drove up to Glen Arbor for a few nights. The morning we left, the temperature was 39º. This year, we are headed north to Sturgeon Bay in Door County. I think they are in for record heat next week. Oh well, it’ll still be a change of scenery.

It’s a full weekend of track activity at Road America. Aside from IndyCar and Indy NXT, the Pro 2000 and US F2000 series will be racing, along with my personal favorite – the Radical Cup Series. Vintage Indy will also be racing through the weekend. It’s always good to see many of the cars from my childhood on the track.

As far as the NTT IndyCar Series goes, things get underway this afternoon at 4:30 EDT, with Practice One shown live on FS2. Practice Two will be shown live on FS1 beginning at 11:30 am EDT; while Qualifying will be shown live at 2:30 pm EDT on FS1. Sunday morning’s warm-up will start at 10:00 EDT on FS1, while Sunday afternoon’s race coverage will start at 1:30 pm EDT on Big FOX.

So, who will win? I thought I may have actually picked a winner in David Malukas last week, but he was penalized late in the race and faded at the end. Since the series returned to Road America, there has only been one surprise winner – second-year driver Felix Rosenqvist in 2020. Since then, it has been the usual suspects, and I think that is what will happen this year also. Road America is a track that usually separates the pretenders and the contenders; although that didn’t hold true in 1982, when Héctor Rebaque won his first and only IndyCar win there in his short one-year career. Don’t look for a Jacob Abel or Devlin DeFrancesco to win this Sunday.

The winner will come from the Big Four, but he won’t be from Penske. Ganassi or Andretti. Instead, the win will come from Arrow McLaren, and for the first time ever, papaya orange will be on the top step of the podium at Road America, when Pato O’Ward hoists the winning trophy and makes the championship even closer, and much more interesting.

Although we are not as regular here as we once were, that does not apply to race weekends when we are attending in-person. We will post at least a couple of times from the track each day, discussing what has been happening on-track and off – as well as our activities on-site and throughout the weekend. You will also be glad to know that Susan has her camera, so that you won’t have to put up with my sub-par photos from my phone. Please check back throughout each day, all weekend long.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 20, 2025 at 4:04 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.