Motorsports Marketing Update: The Motorola 220 At Road America

In Between Events - August 14-16, 2000

Sunday night, after the Mid Ohio race, Norton and I headed to Columbus to find a hotel close to the airport. Norton flew back to Portland Monday morning, and from there I headed north and west towards Elkhart Lake Wisconsin.

My route took me north towards Toledo Ohio, then west across the northern edge of Indiana around the bottom of Lake Michigan. Once I reached Illinois, I skirted Chicago on the west side and then shot up along the lake through Milwaukee Wisconsin, towards Elkhart Lake. That evening I decided to stay in Port Washington Wisconsin, a small town on the shore of Lake Michigan about an hour southeast from the track.

Port Washington, Sunrise over Lake Michigan at Port Washington

I headed out to the track on Tuesday morning, to familiarize myself with the 4.04 mile circuit. Elkhart Lake Wisconsin is a pretty small town about 30 miles east of Fond du Lac, and maybe 60 miles north of Milwaukee. On my first attempt to see the track on my foldable scooter I made it about 2/3rds of the way around the track before I was kicked off by a track official who informed me that I would have to wait until 6:00pm before I could walk the track. I checked out the track from every outside vantage point, then headed to Fond du Lac.

Road America at Elkhart Lake Wisconsin

Why Fond du Lac? It was as close to the track as we could find hotel rooms - everything near the track was booked for the CART weekend almost a year in advance. I wanted to figure out how long it would take to cover the 26 miles on two lane Wisconsin roads. I found that the time varied greatly depending upon where one caught up to the local traffic or a radar wielding state trooper.

With my reconnaissance mission to Fond du Lac out of the way, I drove back out to the track in order to walk it, and learn the sequence of turns. After taking a close look at the track I headed back down to Chicago for an appearance at Boise Cascade Office Products headquarters the next morning.

Wednesday - My Boise Cascade Office Products appearances at the Itasca headquarters and the Schaumburg office went from roughly 11:00 am until 6:00pm. I met a lot of people, and signed numerous autograph cards. I caught a quick bite of dinner then headed back up to Fond du Lac. The weather forecast for Thursday (our first "test" sessions on the track) was for rain.

/ home / news / updates / schedule / driver info / photos / services / sponsors / Barber Dodge Pro Series / tracks / contact