Road America
TSN.ca Staff
11/29/2005 10:24:20 AM
Champ Car is making a return to Road America in 2006.
The series has announced it will race at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, considered one of the finest permanent road courses in North America. The race will take place September 24, replacing the oval event at Las Vegas on the calendar.
"From my first day as Champ Car President, I have been inundated by our fans, sponsors and teams to find a way to get back to Road America," said Champ Car President Steve Johnson. "The passion the feedback showed for Road America led us to today's announcement.
"Road America's layout is a true test of driver skill and the circuit requires precision tuning by the teams."
The three-day festival at Road America in September will also feature the Champ Car Atlantic series, which will mark the season finale of the feeder series.
"We have been in ongoing discussions with Road America working towards a solution that provides a reinvigorated race weekend and potential win-win situation," continued Johnson. "Our new agreement gives us both a chance to rebuild the event to its former level of popularity and financial success."
The loss of the Las Vegas event leaves just one oval event on the Champ Car schedule, the Milwaukee Mile on June 4. Johnson says the series remains committed to racing on ovals and will continue to look for new venues to add to the schedule.
Champ Car had staged two nighttime races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2004 and 2005 in conjunction with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Johnson says the agreement between both sides was a "trial basis" and that their departure should no way be a negative reflection on the Speedway.
Johnson did not rule out a return to Las Vegas, most likely in the form of a street event.
"We remain very committed to the Las Vegas market and are pleased with the growing support shown for our product by the Las Vegas fans," Johnson said. "We will continue to research other opportunities for future events in the Las Vegas market that hopefully are a better fit for our business model expectations."
