Let’s address the elephant in the room first. Sunday’s IMSA Endurance Cup race at Road America was a mess, particularly in the closing stages. Too many incidents, too many penalties, nine Full-Course Yellows (for two hours and 24 minutes) and a finish under caution.
This was far from ideal, especially with a record crowd on hand for the Elkhart Lake Circuit’s first Sports Car Endurance Grand Prix since 2012. The drivers simply have to find a way to keep cooler heads and think about the bigger picture, and race control needs to analyse how to police the action better going forward, as both Sunday’s contest and the recent encounter at Watkins Glen were not good enough. Thankfully, though, that didn’t detract from my experience last week in Wisconsin, soaking up all the track has to offer for the first time.
Road America, as a host venue, and Wisconsin, as a market for IMSA racing, deserved that event and deserves for it to become a long-term staple on the calendar. It comes at a nice time in the closing stages of the season; the weather – in theory – should hold, and the fans from in-state and out have the chance to make a weekend of it during the summer holidays.
The transition from a two-hour 40-minute sprint event to a six-hour one has come at the perfect time. With IMSA attendance records being broken constantly these days and streaming viewership numbers at an all-time high, capitalising on that momentum by adding a longer race that had been pined for by fans for years made sense.
Fans voted with their wallets in response, with a circuit spokesperson confirming to DSC that it was a record attendance for an endurance race at the circuit, and rivalled recent tallies from the marquee IndyCar event held annually.
“The IMSA event here has grown tremendously over the past five years,” Mike Kertscher, president of Road America, told DSC before the race. “So the question came about a longer race. And the timing was right. The Road America 500 put the circuit on the map, so to have a big-time endurance race here again is pretty special.
“We don’t release numbers; we talk in percentages,” he continued. “I can always tell when we release our ticket specials and start selling tickets back in the winter, if it’s going to be a big rental. I could see it in ticket sales, golf cart rentals and camping passes. Demand was through the roof. It varied week by week, but we were anywhere from 20 to 30 per cent up year on year, and last year was a record for us.
“It’s a testament to John (Doonan) and his team for what they’ve built. It wasn’t always that way. IndyCar was a tentpole for us, and the NASCAR events. But the momentum of IMSA now is remarkable, and this one is without question on the same plane as IndyCar in terms of attendance, and ahead in some aspects when I look at activation and hospitality.”
The momentum of IMSA now is remarkable, and this one is without question on the same plane as IndyCar in terms of attendance
The push to make IMSA’s Road America round a “key pillar” of the Endurance Cup and, if all goes to plan, keep it that way for years to come, stems from IMSA President John Doonan’s deep adoration for the venue. Doonan, a Midwest native who grew up attending the IMSA races at “America’s National Park of Speed” as a fan, was visibly emotional in discussion with DSC during the build-up to the track action, sitting on a golf cart overlooking the picturesque downward slope into Turn 5.
“It’s heaven on earth,” he reflected. “When I first came here, I was six weeks old, and my dad was racing in Formula Vees at the time. I’ve been here every year since, so 56 years. I’ve been at every IMSA race; I was here in 1979 for the first one. And that’s in part because it’s such a beautiful property. And it’s become even more beautiful and accessible.
“When I was young, you would have to crawl through the forest to reach the fences and see parts of the track; now you can see pretty much all of it. It’s why so many people come. It’s why fans have been begging for an Endurance Cup race here.”
But that weekend wasn’t made possible simply because it’s the IMSA president’s local track. It’s the result of years of hard work from the 28-strong full-time team at the circuit. “Every year we come here, there are more and more improvements,” Doonan noted. And he’s right. As a facility for spectators and teams, it’s exceptional, and an eye-opener for first-time visitors like me.
It’s maintained superbly, and truly has the feel of a national park, living up to its nickname. No building on site looks in any way tired; there’s a natural look to the vast array of viewing areas, an impressive selection of food vendors that operate as not-for-profit, and several innovations dotted across the site put in place to improve the fan experience.
There are beautiful wood carvings made from trees struck by lightning, frisbee golf installations, QR codes at each corner linking to stats and information about each section of the track, and a new live tracker system for fans to use when searching for shuttle buses. It’s no wonder the place has such a strong reputation among regular racegoers – the attention to detail paid by the circuit owners stands out.
During the race, I headed trackside for the first three hours to get a sense of the atmosphere, the crowd size and the vantage points for racing that the circuit offers. It’s something that those of us who spend our weekends in press rooms don’t do enough. It was an experience that was much needed, serving as a timely reminder of why sportscar racing has long been, and likely always will be, the part of the sport that gets my heart racing the most.
The three hours evaporated, but with assistance from a good friend locally who knows the ropes (thanks Jake!), I managed to maximise the time, sitting on bleachers on the outside of Turn 5 for the start, then heading to the trail that runs from Turn 13 all the way to the exit of the Carousel, and spent time on the outside of the tricky Turn 8 left-hander before heading back to the paddock.
That stretch of spectator access road through The Kink is absolutely remarkable. You’re up close and personal with the cars, they’re running flat chat, and the sound is violent. You see the speed differences, you get a sense of the bravery required to fight for positions and set a good lap time. It transported me back to my visits to the Brands Hatch GP loop and Nürburgring Nordschleife as a fan growing up.
I had no idea, from years of watching on TV, just how narrow, unforgiving, and tricky the circuit is. I now know why drivers rave about it. I also now understand why the campgrounds and spectator areas were so packed. In recent years, the team in charge has taken huge strides in making the entire circuit accessible by foot, bike or golf cart, making it an ideal host for an endurance race. If you go, you can see the whole circuit, at a leisurely pace, over six hours and will come away grinning.
That’s clearly behind the growth in recent years of fans coming for the first time and making it a regular habit, locally and from far away. And that’s without mentioning the bonus of having the local town centre where the famous Siebkens Race Resort and Bar are located on the circuit’s doorstep.
For race fans and members of the paddock, heading there after the track action during the weekend is treated like a religious experience. I’d barely stepped through the door of the Stop-Inn Tavern when I realised why. It’s an old school spot for racers and fans to catch up and share gossip. I lapped up the two nights I spent in there!
“I’d say around 40 per cent of the fans that come here each year for the IMSA race are from out of state,” Kertscher explained. “It’s part of my vision here, to welcome fans. It’s hard work, which goes a long way. If you don’t have the passion and pride, it’s not going to work.
“We’re always looking at what we can do; we look at other events for ideas too and aren’t afraid to try new things. Every year we want to get better. We want to improve the facility. The reinvestment is a big deal for us in terms of capital expenditures. In 10 years we’ve spent about 36 million dollars in capital investment on this facility, and we hope it shows.”
Sportscar racing has long been cyclical, and IMSA’s WeatherTech Championship is no more immune than any other series to going through peaks and troughs. Right now, while nobody within the IMSA organisation should feel too comfortable – with the cost of racing rising at a pace and the GTP and LMP2 rulesets heading towards a huge transition – the WeatherTech series is still riding the crest of a wave.
Last week McLaren became the latest manufacturer to join the list of partner OEMs with single-make series sanctioned by IMSA, revealing that its Trophy America series is coming, and crucially, as an addition, not to fill a void left by a departing series.
“It was outreach from McLaren,” Doonan explained when asked about that deal coming together. “Giorgio Sanna is a longtime member of the community with a previous brand. They asked us, or maybe he told us, ‘You’re doing this.’ But for us, we see the single-make series as the prized possessions of the brands. Younger fans love them, and they check a lot of boxes in adding content to our weekends.”
And there’s still hope that serves as a signal that McLaren will come to the top series in a big way in years to come in GTP with its new prototype, along with Ford – which also has a single-make series on the IMSA package – and Genesis.
“I text my buddy Zak Brown (McLaren’s CEO) about that (GTP) often, and we want them badly,” Doonan adds. “The same with Ford and Genesis. I’d love to see my former employer back in the top category as well with Mazda. You never know!”
The IMSA Labs initiative is also beginning to take off, with ORACLE on board and a longer-term vision in place. The racing has delivered its share of thrills, spills and drama too throughout the year so far – though perhaps too much at times! But with the championship stretch run now in full swing and Road America in the rear-view, I can confidently say I’ll be back at this event in the future.
If you’re on the fence about making the trip to the IMSA race at Road America in the coming years, I’d say this: Plan it, book it, do it. It’ll tick every box, even if the main race doesn’t stay green.
Images courtesy of Stephen Kilbey & Jack Webster
