|
Champ Car World Series to Headline Grand Prix of Road America
Support Series Showcase Up-and-Coming Open Wheel Talent
Aug. 5-8
Lance Armstrong Foundation Bicycling Benefit on Saturday, Aug. 7
Elkhart Lake, Wisc., July 30, 2004—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 www.roadamerica.com
and by phone, 800.365.7223. Daily
prices 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 can
be made through the website, www.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, with
shops 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. The
last 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
notching
victories 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 who
will 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
Road
America 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 who
race in the long-running Champ Car and Trans-Am series.
Road America hosted its first event in 1955.
|
|
|