The IMSA SportsCar Weekend (formerly the Continental Tire Road Race Showcase at Road America, Road America 500) is a

sports car A sports car is a type of automobile that is designed with an emphasis on dynamic performance, such as Automobile handling, handling, acceleration, top speed, the thrill of driving, and Auto racing, racing capability. Sports cars originated in ...

race held at

Road America Road America is a motorsport Road racing, road course located near Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin on Wisconsin Highway 67. It has hosted races since the 1950s and currently hosts races in the IndyCar Series, IMSA SportsCar Championship, Sports Car Club ...

Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin Elkhart Lake is a village in northwestern Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 941 at the 2020 census. It is located within the Town of Rhine and is included in the Sheboygan, Wisconsin metropolitan area. Elkhart Lake m ...

. The event began in 1950, in 1951 was added to the

SCCA National Sports Car Championship The SCCA National Sports Car Championship was a sports car racing series organized by the Sports Car Club of America from 1951 until 1964. It was the first post-World War II sports car series organized in the United States. An amateur championship ...

and was contested for the final time on the roads around the village and lake of

. Following a spectator death at the 1952 Watkins Glen Grand Prix, racing on open roads was discouraged, and the race went into hiatus until 1955, when

was opened. In 1963, the race shifted to the new United States Road Racing Championship, until the USRRC's demise in 1968. After an 11-year hiatus, the IMSA GT Championship revived the event in 1979. After running as a 500 mile event beginning in 1957, IMSA shortened the race to in 1988, and again in 1991 to . The race was shortened to 2 hours in 1992. After a return to a 500-km distance, the race was cancelled in 1994. It was revived once again in 2000, by the Grand American Road Racing Championship, to a 500-mile distance. The race was an

American Le Mans Series The American Le Mans Series (ALMS) was a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada. It consisted of a series of Endurance racing (motorsport), endurance and sprint races, and was created in the spirit of the 24 Hours of Le M ...

event from 2002 until 2013, run at varying race distances of either 2 hours and 45 minutes or 4 hours. In 2014 the race joined the schedule of the

WeatherTech SportsCar Championship The IMSA SportsCar Championship, currently known as the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship under sponsorship, is a sports car racing series based in the United States and Canada and organized by the International Motor Sports Association (I ...

after the merger of the

and the

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

contested at IMSA's standard sprint race duration of 2 hours and 40 minutes.

Porsche Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG, usually shortened to Porsche (; see below), is a German automobile manufacturer specializing in luxury, high-performance sports cars, SUVs and sedans, headquartered in Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Th ...

has won the event eleven times, most recently in 2024. Augie Pabst, Chuck Parsons, Geoff Brabham and Lucas Luhr have the most victories as drivers with three each.

Winners

Elkhart Lake road circuit

Road America

* Race scheduled for 500 miles (800 km) but ended at 460 miles (737km) due to heavy rain and track flooding. * Scheduled for two 250-kilometer heats, the first heat was cancelled due to heavy rain. * A 300-kilometer GTP/Lights race and 200-kilometer GTO/GTU/AAC race were held, totaling 500 kilometers.

References

External links

United SportsCar Championship official siteUltimate Racing History: Road America archive
{{United SportsCar Championship races Recurring sporting events established in 1950 1950 establishments in Wisconsin