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Since 1982, Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin had been a fixture on the IndyCar schedule; except for 2005, when lack of sponsorship left it off of the Champ Car schedule. The race returned in 2006 and 2007, but was inexplicably a casualty of the open-wheel reunification in February of 2008. For eight seasons, what we now know as the NTT IndyCar Series was not to race at what is perhaps the premier road racing facility in North America.

That all changed in 2016.

Since the early 90s, I had been wanting to attend the IndyCar race weekend at Road America. Something about the place looked magical on TV – especially since some of those races were generally run in mid-September. Days are still hot in Tennessee during mid-September, but in Wisconsin – they are very cool and the foliage has already started to turn. TV shots showed wafts of smoke from grilled brats hanging over the picturesque countryside, as the cars raced through the dense forest on the way to Canada Corner. It was so inviting; I told myself I would go there one day to experience this in person.

That was during my first marriage. I was lucky that my wife allowed me to go to the Indianapolis 500 each year. Any other trips we took were of her choosing. That’s one of the many reasons she became my ex in 1996. Although free to do what I wanted, I had no money after sending her on her way. It took several years to recover financially. By the time I could afford a trip like that, Road America was off the schedule. I swore to myself that if it ever returned, Susan and I were going.

It’s important to keep promises to yourself. When it was confirmed during the 2015 season that the series was returning to Road America in 2016, we immediately started our planning. So many times, you plan to go somewhere for years – only to go and find that it falls way short of expectations. We really had no idea what to expect, but we were going.

At Barber in April of 2016, we ran into longtime reader (and former Trivia Contest winner) Steven Kilsdonk, who is originally from Wisconsin. He told Susan, whatever you do – rent a golf cart. I thought that would be a frivolous expense, but Susan immediately got online and booked one. That turned out to be some of the best advice we’ve ever received in racing. As you can imagine, a 4.088-mile track with fourteen corners takes up a lot of area. There are so many vantage points to view from, you would spend all of your time and energy walking around. Granted, you are allowed to drive your car on the main roads throughout the property, but there are so many golf cart paths that get you where cars cannot get to.

If you have read this site for more than a couple of years, you know that not only did that first visit to Road America meet our expectations, it far exceeded them. One thing I like about Road America is how much Susan loves it. This is one of the few tracks we go to where her excitement level matches mine.

Then again, what’s not to like? Since her health issues started in 2020, walking has always been difficult for Susan. The golf cart solves that issue. The concessions are unrivaled by any other track we have been to. Rather than serve a standard menu across the venue, each concession stand is privately run and offers a wide variety of different offerings. Of course, cheese curds and brats populate most, if not all, of the menus there.

The people are so friendly in that area. We are staying in Sheboygan this year. We usually alternate between Sheboygan and Fond du Lac and really like them both. The people in that entire region always seem so friendly. Even though Road America is only an hour and a half northwest from Milwaukee, they seem worlds apart.

This will be our eleventh straight trip to Elkhart Lake’s Road America – even during COVID, when lowly bloggers were not allowed credentials. In fact, that was a significant trip for us. We usually drive there, but we have flown two or three times – including that COVID year of 2020.

That year, we were to fly up on Thursday, but two days earlier was when we were given the news that Susan had pancreatic cancer and was given 10-12 months to live. We were obviously devastated, but Susan was the one to suggest we continue with our trip to Road America. She thought it would serve as a nice distraction to immediately travel to one of our favorite spots, after such horrible news. Oddly enough, she was right. We had a really nice time. I snapped this photo of her on the golf cart, while we were sitting in Turn Five.

As you know, the doctor’s prognosis was wrong. She’s been through a lot with chemo, surgery and radiation; and she is now somewhat frail. Her immune system has been knocked down to the point where any little bug turns into a hospitalization. But she is still active and still working six years later. And yes, she will be with me this weekend.

As far as this weekend goes, there will be tons of track activity. Not only is the NTT IndyCar Series acing, but there will be USF2000, US Pro 2000 and two of my favorites – Vintage Indy and the Radical Cup cars. If you’ve never seen the Radical cars, they are wild. The only thing missing from this year’s schedule are the Miata Cup cars. They produce some excellent racing.

The points race has tightened considerably since the series headed to Gateway. Alex Palou now leads Kyle Kirkwood by only 49 points. While that still sounds like a lot, his lead last year heading into Road America was just under 100. It has now gotten close enough that you would have to say that Palou cannot have another bad race this weekend. If he does, then all bets are off and we will actually have a points battle for the first time in a few years.

Those suffering from Palou fatigue will not like hearing that Alex Palou has won three of the past five races at Road America; including last year, when he won by more than two seconds over Felix Rosenqvist.

The temperature at Road America usually ranges from mild to sometimes downright cold. That was not the case last year, as temperatures soared into the mid-90s. It was hot and sticky for someone coming from the south, where that is our summertime norm. The locals there were not used to that kind of heat, and were dying.

Earlier this week, IndyCar announced that they would be reducing the power output of the hybrid units between 10-25% each week, depending on the track, for the remainder of the season. The hybrid units have been failing at an alarming rate this season, costing drivers decent finishes through no fault of their own. The goal is to reduce hybrid failures and to avoid supply chain issues later on. This is just the latest black-eye in the two-year controversial history of the hybrids. So they get to keep all of the added weight of the hybrid unit, while having less power to pull then around. Personally, I wish they would just scrap the whole program, but that’s not happening. That’s another argument for another day.

Susan and I drove up yesterday, and it took longer than usual. I-65 is closed through Louisville until August 1. We ended up taking a western route though Champaign, Illinois. In an effort to avoid Chicago traffic altogether, we went through Rockford and took a state highway over to I-94, just south of the Wisconsin state line. It took 12.5 hours. We will go back through Chicago, regardless of traffic. On the way home, we will get to stop at Racine and bring home some of the famous Danish Kringles for freezing. We will also have to make our annual stop at the Mars Cheese Castle in Kenosha…just because.

Wisconsin is famous for Friday night fish-fries. Tonight, we will go to our usual spot, Majerle’s Black River Grill – which sits overlooking Lake Michigan. It is a quaint neighborhood restaurant that we stumbled upon our first year here in 2016. We have made it our Friday night stop ever since. Tomorrow night, we will go to another regular spot – PJ Campbell’s at the Depot in Plymouth, just a few miles south of the track. Both places feature plenty of Spotted Cow on draught. About three years ago, we found a great spot for breakfast – the Parkside Family Restaurant, right next to our hotel. The have a delicious and filling breakfast for not much money at all. That has become our spot just before hitting the road to go back home.

Can you tell that this is our favorite race weekend of the year? Like the Indianapolis 500, Road America is a place that every race fan needs to expereince at least once.

Practice One for the NTT IndyCar Series kicks everything off this afternoon at 4:00 pm EDT on FS2. Practice Two gets underway at 11:00 am EDT Saturday on FS1. Qualifying begins at 2:00 pm EDT on FS1. Sunday’s morning warm-up will run at 11:00 am EDT on FS!. Race Coverage begins at 2:00 pm EDT on Big FOX, with a green flag at 2:27 pm EDT.

Who will win on Sunday? Alex Palou won last year, but he has never won two races back-to-back at Road America. I think that pattern will hold true this weekend. Other than Héctor Rebaque in 1982, there aren’t too many fluke winers at Road America. This is a place where experience matters. I am going with someone who already has two wins at Road America to his credit, but is still looking to find his way in 2026. Will Power will finally get his first win with Andretti Global and get the second half of the season off to a much better start. We’ll see.

Please check back here often throughout the race weekend. We will be posting all weekend with comments, photos and video. I will have a wrap-up here after this afternoon’s practice session.

George Phillips

This entry was posted on June 19, 2026 at 4:05 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.