ELKHART LAKE, Wis. — Since 1955, sports cars have descended on this tiny village in the Kettle Moraine district of Wisconsin on the third weekend in July. More recently, the Kohler International Challenge has become a summer tradition for fans of vintage sports car racing.
Elkhart Lake and sports car racing have been synonymous since the Chicago Region of the Sports Car Club of America held its first race on the roads around this lakeside village in July of 1950. By 1952, racing on public roads stopped, but in 1955 a purpose-built track called Road America sprang up just outside of town and quickly became one of the nation’s most challenging and scenic tracks. The track, and the town, have been a racing mecca since.
One of Elkhart’s grand traditions takes place on Friday night when vintage racers are driven into town for an impromptu car show. Fans gather along the curb on Lake Street as unmuffled race cars throb down the road. When parked, the cars smell of hot oil, and heat shimmers from their hoods. Many wear the stone chips and bug splats acquired at the track that afternoon. For fans, the effect is like going into a football locker room right after a game.
On Saturday night, some of the finest classic cars populate the same streets of Elkhart Lake in a Concours d’Elegance that is sponsored by Road & Track magazine. The atmosphere is so convivial and relaxed that it could be 1952. For more than two hours, connoisseurs stroll among the cars, shake hands with old friends, sip a cold drink or picnic on nearby front lawns. The parade of people is as interesting as the expensive sheet metal.
While racing at the track is the primary reason for coming to Elkhart each July, the real treat of the vintage weekend is walking Lake Street on Friday and Saturday nights. It feels like a time machine that has been turned back 50 years to a period when racing was a gentleman’s sport and not a business.
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