Road America will not host an IndyCar Series race next year but it could host a two-day test in preparation for a possible race weekend by 2015 if the track’s president and general manager has anything to say about it.
Road America could host IndyCar test next season
A top executive from Road America would like to see the IndyCar Series test at the Elkhart Lake road course in advance for a possible race in 2015.
Tyler Barrick
“We are hoping once they get their schedule set they might do a two-day test here that I could open to the public,” George Bruggenthies, the track’s chief executive told Dave Kallman of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“I don’t have any dates because they don’t have their schedule yet. I’m working with (IndyCar VP) Derrick Walker - that would be fun - and then we’ll work towards maybe a sports-car/IndyCar weekend for ‘15. That was the last conversation, but the dates just didn’t work for us this year to put on a separate event (in 2014).”
Road America, located in Elkhart Lake, last hosted an Indy car event in 2007 -- the final season of the Champ Car World Series. That event shared twin billing with the American Le Mans sports car series.
The United SportsCar Racing championship -- the merged entity combining American Le Mans and the NASCAR operated Grand-Am series announced its inaugural schedule and has placed Road America on the schedule for Aug. 10, a Sunday. Ideally, IndyCar could share that weekend with SportsCar in the future as running a few weeks afterwards doesn’t make a lot of sense.
“I don’t want to place IndyCar a week or two after a sports-car event or my vintage event,” Bruggenthies said. “There’s not a lot of room in three months to try to get everything done.”
Another complicating matter is the event IndyCar hosts at historic Milwaukee Mile -- also in Wisconsin. IndyCar is expected to return to the short track next season and having two races in the same market doesn’t outwardly make a lot of sense for the sanctioning body.
But the venue remains popular with IndyCar fans and an aggressive promoter like Bruggenthies offers the possibility that every option will be discussed. Would you like to see Road America added back to the IndyCar Series schedule? Discuss in the comments section below.
See More:
