Postcards from the Paddock - Road America

I've loved Road America from the first time I visited the place for a track day back in 2008. Since then I've been back at least a dozen times to drive or work and every time I'm reminded that this is the best road course in the country. No matter what is on track, Indy cars or sports cars, professional racing or amateur, there always seems to be an enthusiastic crowd and everyone from the participants to the spectators seem to be having a great time.

And why not? The place isn't known as America's National Park of Speed for nothing. The track itself is fast, rewards bravery and good driving, and provides compelling competition. The facilities at the track are modern but don't take away from the oldschool vibe of the track, plus the food is fantastic! When you add the town of Elkhart Lake with its smattering of restaurants and bars, it all adds up to making Road America my favorite trip of the year for IndyCar and SRO.

This past weekend was a whirlwind trip. I made the drive up from Indianapolis on Friday with my IndyCar Radio colleague Michael Young and my wife Audrey who has quickly grown to share my fondness for Road America. After a brief detour to do a little record shopping in Milwaukee, we made it to our hotel in Manitowoc Friday night in plenty of time to head to one of the culinary hidden gems we've uncovered in recent years for dinner. If you find yourself in the area and aren't looking for any frills with your food, I wholeheartedly recommend Shooter Malone's in Manitowoc and recommend the broasted chicken. The food is good and remarkably cheap — a great combination in my book!

Saturday at the track was spent covering IndyCar and Indy Lights practice and qualifying ahead of the pair of races on Sunday. For our Lights coverage I was stationed in the first corner as a turn announcer which gave me a view of the track I had never encountered before in my years coming to Road America. From my spot on the wooden structure that built to house a television camera, I could see the cars as they crested the hill on the front straightaway and then all the way through the first corner before they plunged downhill toward Turn 3.

The Lights race saw several passes for position in Turn 1 and the restarts in particular were frantic. Calling a turn is considerably different from the play-by-play that I do on television for SRO because the call is very short (the cars were in my view for seven or eight seconds at the most) and there is no monitor to follow the action once they leave my view. It's crucial to listen closely to the other broadcasters as they take the cars around the track so you know the order when they come back around to you on the next lap!

It was a fun challenge to step into that role for the weekend and a great vantage point to see Christian Rasmussen score his first Indy Lights win from. Christian has been very strong on the Road to Indy, winning the Indy Pro 2000 championship last year, and has shown good speed this season in his first year in Lights but has lacked consistency. It was a strong day for Rasmussen and the Andretti Autosport team as a whole with his teammates Sting Ray Robb and Hunter McElrea completing the podium. On a weekend where the HMD Motorsports team struggled, points leader Linus Lundqvist did well to salvage a fourth place result and appears to be in firm control of the title fight with seven races to go.

On the IndyCar side, Josef Newgarden's third win of the year has him back in the championship picture after a disappointing month of May. Alexander Rossi snapped a three-year pole drought but couldn't convert it into a win, nevertheless a second-consecutive podium finish has him looking like the same driver that contended for series titles in 2018 and 2019. Most impressive of all, though, might be Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson who finished second on Sunday and now leads the points once again. Marcus has turned into a driver that we expect to see at the front and is a threat on all types of circuits in a way that I did not expect coming into this season. It will be interesting to see if he can keep that up.

After a couple of days at home to catch up on rest I'm back on the road now heading to Virginia International Raceway for the next round of the SRO America season. The NOLA race in mid-May feels like an eternity ago and I'm very excited to get back on the sports car beat after a month away. The grids look very strong across all four series and VIR typically provides compelling racing. I hope you follow along with all of the coverage on YouTube and CBS Sports Network.

—Ryan