Indy drivers lobby for Road America race

Published November 20, 2014

If IndyCar drivers had a vote when it came to finding a track to replace the series' recently canceled race in China, plenty of them would be happy to head back to Wisconsin later this year.

Several drivers in town for Saturday's race at the Milwaukee Mile mentioned Road America in Elkhart Lake as a potential replacement venue for the China race, which was canceled earlier this week.

"Elkhart," Marco Andretti said. "Elkhart Lake, for sure."

The picturesque four-mile road course is a little more than an hour north of Milwaukee, and drew huge crowds when the now-defunct CART racing series ran there in the 1980s and '90s.

Road America already has other races scheduled for the weekend that IndyCar was supposed to run in China, but driver James Hinchcliffe hoped there might be a way to make it work.

"We'll race on Friday," Hinchcliffe said. "I don't care. I mean, we're in a difficult situation, you know? We've got to make the best of it. I think it's a good weekend, I think it's a good racetrack."

Contractual provisions with the Milwaukee event would prevent IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard from speaking to Road America promoters until after this weekend's race at Milwaukee. It's not clear if the track is under consideration.

Adding a second stop at Texas Motor Speedway has been discussed, but that track didn't seem to be high on some drivers' lists.

Hinchcliffe said going back to a track for a second time would be an unfair advantage for drivers who had good cars there for the first race.

"And that's coming from a guy who had a good car at Texas," Hinchcliffe said.

Hinchcliffe also wondered how fans would react.

"Trying to fill that place, trying to get another 70,000 people to come out again might be hard," Hinchcliffe said. "That was a good event. We put on a hell of a show. I think that built up a lot of momentum for the future if we want to go back there. But I don't think doing it again in a couple of months is the right idea."

Other tracks drivers mentioned as potential replacements they'd like to see considered were Laguna Seca in California, Watkins Glen in upstate New York and Phoenix International Raceway.

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