Champ Car World Series to Headline Grand Prix of Road AmericaSupport Series Showcase Up-and-Coming Open Wheel Talent Aug. 5-8Lance Armstrong Foundation Bicycling Benefit on Saturday, Aug. 7
Road America will host five of the top open wheel racing series in the U.S. beginning Thursday, Aug. 5 and running through Sunday,Aug. 8, when the feature, Bridgestone Presents Champ Car World Series Powered by Ford takes the green flag at 2:00 p.m. Other series running include the Motorock Trans-Am Tour, Argent Mortgage Toyota Atlantic Championship of Road America Presented by Yokohama, Formula BMW USA and the Skip Barber National Championship.
Tickets for the four-day weekend are available online at roadamerica.com and by phone, 800.365.7223. Dailyprices are $10 Thursday; $25, Friday; $40, Saturday and $55 Sunday.Road America also is hosting the Tour de Road America, a bicycling fundraiser for the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), which assists cancer survivors. For $50, of which Road America will contribute $25 to LAF, bicyclists can enjoy a day at the races and ride around the historic track beginning at approximately 7 p.m. Saturday evening. Donations canbe made through the website, tour-de-ra.org and at the race track over the course of the weekend.
At present, Champ Car participants include Alex and Bronte Tagliani, Paul Tracy, Bruno Junqueira, Sebastien Bourdais, A.J. Allmendinger, Michele Jourdain, Jr. and Trans- Am driver Greg Pickett. Bronte Tagliani, the 2002 Miss Indy – Australia, hosts the Spike TV show, "Dangerous Curves." Pickett owns Cytomax, a performance energy drink, and will provide samples and a water bottle to the first 100 entrants.Riders and Tour de Road America supporters will have a private reception at 5 p.m. and have the opportunity to meet Champ Car and Trans-Am drivers, members of the Lance Armstrong Foundation Peloton Project, other cyclists and supporters.
Road America is donating the hospitality space and refreshments as part of its contribution to the fund raising. Riders will receive a commemorative t-shirt, a donation from Bella's Custom Designs, withshops in Kiel, Wisc., and at Road America. The yellow t-shirt is the color of the Tour de France leader; Armstrong won the Tour de France for a record sixth year.
Saturday will feature three races plus the bicyclists on track at the end of the day. Formula BMW will race beginning at 3:45 p.m., the first of two races for the series. Third generation competitor Graham Rahal is competing in the series. Second race of the day will be Trans-Am, with a large field of 23 Trans-Am and GT-1 cars, beginning at 4:45 p.m. Thelast race of the day will be the Skip Barber National Championship, which will be decided with the last two races this weekend.
In contention for the $100,000 scholarship is third generation competitor Marco Andretti, who joins his father and grandfather in notchingvictories at Road America, in an earlier race this spring.
Following the racing, bicyclists who have contributed to the Lance Armstrong Foundation will take to the historic track on two wheels. Road America hosted bicycle races in the '90s, but this will be the first bicycle event in more than five years. Area bicycle dealers and shops are bringing bicycles to rent and loan to drivers and crew members whowill be coming from as far away as England for the event.
Sunday cars are on track beginning at 8 a.m. with warm up sessions scheduled. The first race, Argent Mortgage Toyota Atlantic Championship of Road America Presented by Yokohama starts at 11:00 a.m.
The Toyota Atlantics raced continuously at Road America from 1974 through 2002. In 2003 the race was moved after CART cancelled the RoadAmerica event, and the series could not change their schedule back to include Road America.
Formula BMW will run its second race beginning at 12:05 p.m., followed by pace car activities and the Champ Car race beginning at 2:00 p.m.CARA, the Champion Auto Racing Auxiliary, will donate $2,500 to the Aurora Foundation for children's health and safety programs. Road America selected the Aurora Foundation because of its affiliation with Valley View Hospital in Plymouth, Wisc., which cares for most of the race track injuries.
The presentation will be made to Tres Waldren, foundation director, prior to the race. Sheboygan County Administrative Coordinator Adam Payne will be among the dignitaries on the grid welcoming race fans to the 2004 Champ Car race. Road America's activities bring in, based on conservative estimates, more than $50 million to the area each year, generally between April and October. Road America has produced a new, limited edition history book available at the race track, Road America: Celebrating 50 Years of Road Racing. The 164-page glossy book, which retails for $49.95, is heavy on photos and features many of the current drivers whorace in the long-running Champ Car and Trans-Am series.
Road America hosted its first event in 1955.
