Ends a Nearly 65 years Absence
- Race: Jockey Made in America 250 Presented by Kwik Trip
- Place: Road America
- Date: Sunday, July 4
- Time: 2:30 p.m. ET
- TV: NBC, 2 p.m. ET
- Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio
- Distance: 250 miles (62 Laps)
- Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 14)
- Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 29)
- Final Stage (Ends on Lap 62)
The best place to start today’s road course action @roadamerica? From the pole. 😎@WilliamByron will lead the field to green in the @LibertyU Chevy! pic.twitter.com/nLF0tLDV7V
— Hendrick Motorsports (@TeamHendrick) July 4, 2021
For the first time in nearly 65 years, the NASCAR will return to Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin to compete on the world famous Road America today, July 4 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The Jockey Made in America 250 Presented by Kwik Trip race marks just the second time in series history that Road America has hosted a Cup event.
Some 4th of July landscaping from @keselowski! 😯 pic.twitter.com/3mRKoRUzgi
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) July 4, 2021
In the early 1950’s, sports car races were being run on the streets in and around Elkhart Lake, but the state legislature banned racing on the public roads soon after. A man named Clif Tufte organized a group of local citizens and leaders of the Chicago Region of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). This group developed plans and sold stock to build a permanent racecourse. The overall vision of Road America grew out of the dreams of Tufte, a highway engineer, who chose 525 acres of Wisconsin farmland outside the Village of Elkhart Lake for the track. Ground broke for Road America in April of 1955 and the track’s first SCCA national race weekend was held later that same year (September 10, 1955).
At 4.048-miles in length, with 14 turns, the track is virtually the same today as it was when it was first laid out. The natural topography of the glacial Kettle Moraine area was utilized for the track, sweeping around rolling hills and plunging through ravines making it one of the most challenging tracks in the world.
The first, and up until this weekend, the only, NASCAR Cup Series race at Road America was on August 12, 1956. An estimated crowd of 10,000 braved terrible weather to watch the event. And in an unusual ruling, NASCAR limited the cars to 10 gallons of fuel at start the race.
The August 12, 1956, race was won by NASCAR Hall of Famer Tim Flock driving a Mercury for car owner Bill Stroppe. Flock led 17 laps of the 63-lap event, making just two pit stops en route to his win; his fourth victory of the 1956 season. Flock won with an average speed of 73.858 mph and did it in 3 hours, 29 minutes, and 50 seconds. He won the race by a 17 second margin of victory over second place. Bill Stroppe’s cars actually finished 1-2 in the race with Flock winning and his teammate Billy Myers finishing second.
Road America will be the fourth of seven road courses on the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell won the first road course race of the season at the Daytona Road Course, followed by Hendrick Motorsport’s driver and 2020 series champion Chase Elliott won at Circuit of The Americas and then Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson won at Sonoma Raceway.
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