World Class Racing, World Class Museum
Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin is a small town of 941 people, about an hour northwest of Milwaukee. It is famous for two things: the Road America Race Course, and a wonderful exotic car and motorcycle museum/consignment dealership called Throttlestop.
Road America is arguably the finest motorsports race course facility in the country, and at just over 4 miles, it is the longest track in America. Since the mid 1950’s, RA has hosted all three classes of NASCAR, Indy and Champ cars, Sports Cars, vintage cars and motorcycle races. In short, if it’s on wheels, there are races at Road America, in virtually every category.
In early June the MotoAmerica races come to the track, which is always exciting and thrilling to experience. You’ll see thousands of motorcycles lined up in the many parking areas surrounding the track, as well as RVs, campers, and trailers. Spectators can watch from the grandstands, or at literally dozens of comfortable hillside viewing venues at virtually any corner on the race course.
If you attend the races, or the next time you are anywhere near Elkhart Lake, you simply must take some time to stop by Throttlestop. The inventory is constantly changing, so you can see a few Ferraris, Lamborghinis, a Shelby Cobra, and a few muscle cars some days. Then your next visit, you’ll see an old Allard, a few old and contemporary race cars, a Ford GT, a De Tomaso Pantera, XKE, and several makes I’m not familiar with. Some are museum quality, some are pristine drivers, a few unrestored “survivor” cars, and there are dozens to look at.
In the motorcycle areas, you’ll see everything from American, Italian, British, and Japanese models from the 1920’s through the 50’s, 70’s, 80’s and more recent. The ones that are on display look like they came fresh off the manufacturer’s showrooms. Throttlestop welcomes customers from all over the world to buy and sell vehicles through them. Many customers fly in to see some races, like the MotoAmerica weekend, and wind up doing some business at Throttlestop before they leave.
You get a better feel for the things they do if you visit their web site, and also check out Road America’s site while you’re surfing the web. You’ll get their schedule of events, their riding classes, driving classes, and all the things that go on throughout the season.
Hawkeye
*Top featured photo by Dean Phelps.
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