A Brief History Of Times At Road America

This chart makes me think: about engines, tires, bodywork, and design engineering.  The one below is pulled from data compiled over the years.  It is as close to an every-five-years snapshot as I can force the data.  By "force" I mean that when the time itself is a benchmark, it trumps the "every 5 years rule."  (Mark Donahue's time in the Porsche 917/30 was one such--it stood as the lap record for 11 years.)  Road America and Road Atlanta are the only courses in the U.S. that are unchanged since they were built.  (Mosport in Canada is also unchanged.)

So the baseline for historical comparison is there.  Mostly.  Road America has been resurfaced twice, widened once, and it now has extra pavement at some corner exits.  So it is a faster course than it was 50 years ago.  But it is four miles around: long, straight, and fast, by road course standards.  Corner improvement has less effect on lap times at Road America than elsewhere.

Data in normal typeface is for race-winning speeds.  Data in italics is for qualifying speeds.  The early races were 500-milers, and included pit stops.  Can-Am and Formula 5000 races were sprints with no pit stops.  CART races included pit stops, but most of the data shown is for qualifying laps.  NASCAR Nationwide and ALMS races include pit stops, but the speed shown is for a "hot lap,"not the average winning speed.

Despite all the disclaimers above, the lap speeds are comparable.  For example, a current ALMS GT car is about as fast as an "unlimited" Can-Am car was in 1969--with an engine 20% smaller and maybe 60% more weight.   If you had offered me a bet that a current Nationwide car is faster around Road America than a Chaparral 2B was, I'd have taken it...

The highest trap speeds I'm aware of are 202 m.p.h. by Bobby Rahal, circa 1991, in a CART car trimmed out for qualifying, and Jonny Cocker's 190 m.p.h. in the Lola-Judd ALMS P-1 car.

YEAR   CAR                                    DRIVER                        LAP TIME        SPEED (MPH)    

1955      Ferrari Monza 3.0                Phil Hill                              3:00:0                  80
1960      Scarab 5.4 Chev                   Augie Pabst                         2:44.4                   88
1965      Chaparral 2B 5.4 Chev        Jim Hall                              2:28.8                   97
1969      McLaren M8B 7.0 Chev      Denny Hulme                     2:08.4                  112
1973      Porsche 917/30 5.4               Mark Donahue                   1:57.5                   123
1976      Lola T-332 5.0 Chev            Brian Redman                    2:01.3                   119
1980      Lola T-530 5.0 Chev           Stephen South                     2:03.4                  117
1985      March 85C Ford 2.7           Danny Sullivan                   1:52.0                  129
1990      Penske PC19 Chev 2.7         Danny Sullivan                   1:49.7                   131
1995      Reynard 95I Ford 2.7         Jacques Villenueve             1:41.3                   142
1999*    Reyanrd-Honda 2.7            Dario Franchitti*               1:39.9*                 144*
2007     Panoz-Cosworth 2.7            Sebastien Bourdais             1:45.x                   137
2010     NASCAR Nationwide 5.9     Carl Edwards                     2:13.x                   108
2010     Lola 809-Judd 5.5                Jonny Cocker                     1:52.4                   128
2012     Corvette C6R 5.5                   Jan Magnusson                 2:05.9                   114
2013     HPD Honda ARX03a 3.4     Klaus Graff                          1:51.x                   130    

* absolute lap record

This Michael Turner painting is based on a photograph of Augie Pabst in a Scarab at Meadowdale.
But for me it evokes anybody in a fast car, hammering up the hill from Canada Corner to Station 13.