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Summary
Elkhart Lake Road Race Circuits
County highways J, P, JP, A, and Lake Street
Village of Elkhart Lake and Town of Rhine, Sheboygan County
The Elkhart Lake Road Race Circuits are composed of two routes: the 3.35-mile course used in 1950, and the 6.5-mile course used in 1951 and 1952. Both courses followed public roads that pass through the rolling terrain of Rhine Township and the Village of Elkhart Lake in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. The 1950 route was confined to rural highways north of the village and east of the Sheboygan Marsh, beginning on County Highway P, between CTH JP and CTH J. From the starting line, racers headed northwest on CTH P to CTH J, and turning right onto CTH J. The course followed CTH J east-southeast toward the Village of Elkhart Lake. At the outskirts of the village, the race route made a right turn onto CTH JP, continued to CTH P, turned right onto CTH P and headed north to the start/finish line. The 1951-52 circuit ran over most of the 1950 route, but replaced the segment on CTH JP with a link that passed through the village and around Elkhart Lake.
The Elkhart Lake Road Race Circuits were the major road racing venue in the Midwest during the brief era of sports car road racing on public streets in the United States. The three races held on the course quickly established Elkhart Lake as a road racing area rivaling Watkins Glen, New York. The events run on the circuits brought European-style road racing to Sheboygan County, Wisconsin from 1950-1952. Following the success of the shorter, trial race held in 1950, the 1951 and 1952 meets featured some of the most important names in American automobile racing, attracted large crowds of spectators, and were a major factor in reviving Elkhart Lake¿s languishing resort industry. The success of the races demonstrated the viability of road racing as a spectator sport, such that when racing on public roads was discontinued following the 1952 race, local business leaders constructed a purpose-built track simulating country road conditions in 1954-55. This facility, named Road America and located just south of Elkhart Lake, was one of the first specially constructed road courses in the country, and remains one of the premier road racing tracks in the world.
While components of the original courses have changed over time as part of routine road maintenance and a small section is now closed to vehicular traffic, drivers can still experience much of the original route.
Property Details
Resources Within The Property
Designations
State & National Registers of Historic Places
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Sports cars race through downtown Elkhart Lake, 1952
1952
Sports cars race through downtown Elkhart Lake in 1952, with a mere snow fence and straw bales serving as protection for onlookers.
Elkhart Lake Map of Race Course
1951
A drawing of the 5.3 mile race course around Elkhart Lake. Page 12 and 13 of the official program from Elkhart Lake Road Race. The race took place on Sunday, August 26th 1951.
Elkhart Lake - Road Race Circuits Historic Marker
Lake Street Café Beer Garden, N of Village of Elkhart Lake
Elkhart Lake Racetrack
1987
Race course and grandstand at Road America in Elkhart Lake, where racing began in 1955. Prior to that, Elkhart Lake was host to automobile racing on the village streets.
NASCAR Grand National Cars, 1956
August 12, 1956
The NASCAR Grand National cars stream out of turn five shrouded in spray during the first lap of the 1956 Grand National race at Road America. The 37th race of the NASCAR Grand National, this race,...
Drivers in MGs lead start of the 1952 Kimberly Cup
1952
MGs driven by C. G. Bennett in car number 50, Norman Carlson in car number 66, Virginia Schleicher in car number 96, and Robert McManus in car number 108 lead the start of the 1952 Kimberly Cup.
