Hospitality | Sports
President and general manager
Road America | Elkhart Lake
Mike Kertscher has been with Elkhart Lake’s Road America Inc. for the past two decades. He rose up the ranks at the Sheboygan County racetrack, from program coordinator to several different leadership roles before being named president and general manager in 2019.
The 640-acre park hosts more than 500 events annually, attracting about 800,000 visitors and generating more than $100 million in economic impact. It employs 22 full-time staff members and about 500 seasonal employees.
Road America – which includes the four-mile track, the interior Briggs & Stratton Motorplex and the surrounding grounds – has been an annual stop on NASCAR’s Xfinity Series, its second highest level of competition, for the past 11 years.
In 2021 and 2022, Road America hosted the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2021, the event drew more than 100,000 racing fans over the Fourth of July weekend and filled up the property’s 1,600 campsites. The event, which was sponsored by Jockey International and presented by Kwik Trip, brought the largest crowds the venue had seen in decades. However, the NASCAR Cup Series will not return to Road America in 2023.
Road America has also hosted IndyCar Series races since 2016.
Education: Associate, Moraine Park Technical College; bachelor’s, Lakeland University