OK, class, that’s Kat’s view, and Murphy’s sure you’ve got your own “best.” But first, there’s one more item in our “Events 101” course syllabus, the Bear’s very own “Best North American Road Racing Events,” below.

1. The 72 Hours of Sebring.

Sebring is simply the biggest party and biggest race in North America for those bears, beavers, mooses, and other wildlife not enamored of roundy-round racin’. A hundred-thousand nice folks behaving badly (but not too badly), gates open straight through, babes (likely including Kat) winning beads, good food at the track and elsewhere.

Sebring has the required classic and historic race bar in Chicane’s, plus a few other good nightlife and good grub possibilities, including The Watering Hole, home of Bully, the serial killer alligator. Oh, and near the end of that 72 hours of high-octane flat-out fun, is the best twelve hours of sports car racing on the planet.

2. The Monterey New and Old Sports Car Championships

Murphy’s pulling the same trick that the hot Kat did. Illegally combining two events separated by two months on the calendar. Oh, you could decide to “stay over” from the Monterey Historic Races, but you’d be broke as The General by the time you got to the Monterey Sports Car Championships.

From the famed Corkscrew at Laguna Seca, to popping a cork with Dirty Harry at the piano bar in his Carmel restaurant, there aren’t many places like The Peninsula. Race bar? Well, the bar at the Sardine Factory (which Murphy once listed as his business address) will have to do. For the Brit-heavy American Le Mans Series crowd, there’s a plethora of genuine pubs, too.

3. The Circus at Montreal

Nope, it’s not a sports car event. It’s Formula 1. Get over it. Montreal is Monaco for the rest of us. Park on the outskirts of the city, take the Metro, walk across the bridge to the island for the race, maybe do the casino before you Metro back to Montreal and party. Sidewalk restaurants, car shows, street bands, great food, fine wines, and designer beers. Race bar? How about the whole damn downtown?

4. Le Mans in the Blue Ridge (foothills, anyway)

More often called the Petit Le Mans, Murphy thinks the name’s a bit of a stretch. After all, Sebring will always be the crown jewel of Le Mans-style sports car events in North America. But Petit Le Mans was the first to make the official tie-up with the Automobile Club de l’Ouest, preceding the Series by a few months, and class wins do earn auto-invites to the French Classic (as if that’s necessary – winners at Road Atlanta in October aren’t likely to be passed over for Le Sarthe, anyway).

The track is one of the best on the continent, hilly terrain within a lovely woodsy setting. Camping, partying, and cruising are nearly as much a part of this nouveau-classique event as they are at Sebring. No doubt this is the best 1,000 miles of sports car racing in North America (forget ten hours, it’ll never last that long).

Like the Petit, race bar Paddy’s at Chateau Elan is itself a bit of an “instant classic.” Its ambience and race crowd put it comfortably in the company of those other great watering holes, however.

5. The Honda Motor Company, Ltd. Employee Picnic

Once a year, they come flooding into the Mid-Ohio Sport Car Course (now that’s a proper name for a race track) from plants over around Marysville. Whether anyone actually has to buy a ticket is a matter of some debate, but it really doesn’t make any difference. They fill this picturesque venue in the middle of Ohio (hence the name, in case you were wondering).

This is just the best show in racing. Non-stop action, and nary a Formula BMW in sight. Speed World Challenge (both flavors) Indy Lights (or whatever the Indy training thing is now), ALMS, the IndyCar Series, it’s hard to catch your breath. The food at the track isn’t wonderful, but they do sell Jack Daniel’s cocktails – beat that! Nearby is Bucks, a real racing bar with some real history, though it’s gone a bit NASCAR –like everything else – lately. Who knows why? The local track’s got nothing to do with the taxicabs.

6. The Lac qui Parle County Fair IMCA Late Model Stock Car Races.

The half-mile dirt oval was one of the gems of the IMCA schedule in the 1950s and 60s, a week before the big event in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Dick Hutcherson, Ernie Derr, and Ramo Stott battled wheel-to-wheel in Sunday’s Late Model feature, but not before the Pie Race preliminary wound up the crowd. Stott’s black Ford had “500 HP” painted in white on the hood, and Derr was the “white hat” perenial champion. Hutcherson would race at Le Mans one day – not that we had any idea what that was. Combined with Friday’s Tractor Pull, and the Hell Drivers of Joie Chitwood Thrill Show on Saturday, it was a motorsport feast.

Food? The Faith Lutheran Church Ladies Aid slapped down a plate of the best Beef Commercial on the planet, if you weren’t already stuffed with corn dogs and cotton candy, The Jaycees’ had a Beer Garden down by the Livestock Barn, and if you wanted to seriously get into your cups, there was the American Legion Club in the basement of the Post Office.

That was an event that lives only in memory -  the track has been cut to a 1/4 mile to accommodate the local stock car racing that fills summer weekends across the nation. If you’ve never done one of these events, get out there. It’s a necessary part of your education.

7. The Road America 500 Something.

As George once famously said, “It’s 500 something.” The Bear hasn’t been able to figure out what. At least now it’s a minimal enduro of four hours, and if it took the love of Champ Car to get that done – then fine, fine. Great piece of timing, though, wasn’t it? One and done. Murphy’s happy with that. The American Le Mans Series got the race it wants and the weekend to itself. (No one’s taking the Sunday show seriously.)

Anyway you look at it, this is a track of superlatives: Best road racing track in North America. Best food at a track in North America. Among the most beautiful track settings in North America. Nearby Siebken’s is one of the truly great classic race bars. To hobnob with the Cheeseheads, (and deal with the “morning after”) go on up to tropical Neenah and drop in at the Commercial Break (1348 S Commercial St.) for one of the world’s great Bloody Marys, served anytime after six ay em. (More about the Commercial Break here.) 

Another good Neenah destinations is Zacateca’s Mexican Restaurant.

With a whole roster of junior-grade open wheel races surrounding the American Le Mans Generac 500-something, there’s some ways to go for the famous track to recapture the tradition of sports car endurance racing to which it was born. At least it’s finally headed in that direction.

8. The Cannuckistani Mobile Grand Prix.

Mosport, a lovely and wickedly fast track up the Queen’s Highway from Toronto is a Panoz Motorsports Group property whose recent mission has been to be the floater race – the one that can me moved around a weekend or two in order to accommodate other races – the most recent being Roger Penske’s weekend at home in Detroit.

Defying the dictum that a stable date is a significant component of success, the American Le Mans Series event at Mosport has been one of the series’ best-attended races. So far, the Canadian event has remained both a sprint race and stand-alone event, and is by far the most successful of events of that type.

Murphy hasn’t found a true race bar, but there are a couple places he likes, Fazio’s for fine dining – popular with teams and scribes, but a little too high class to be a true racing hangout. Straight from the track, looking for a beer and some grub, we’d head over Harry Keester’s in Whitby.

9. The F1, er…F5000, er…CART, er…Champ Car, er…IndyCar Grand Prix of Long Beach.

Proving that an event can overshadow its race(s), the Bear offers exhibit number 1, the Grand Prix of Long Beach. The race on the harbor gets points for tradition and for off-track ambiance. You’ve probably figured out those are Murphy’s primary criteria anyway. Racing is nice, but…

Anyway, Long Beach is one of those events you should experience at least once. Watch the cars go by for a while, then head for The Pike, an entertainment complex adjoining the track that houses the Auld Dubliner Irish Pub (naturally a Murphy kind of place) or head out the front gate to Pine Street’s restaurant row – just a few steps away. There’s Hooters – always a hoot – plus the Mariposa Salza Club, and on the Promenade a half block off Pine, the Blue Cafe. On Second Street is Shannon’s (once voted Playboy’s College Bar of the month).  That’s just about everything you’d want except a place for a quiet drink or a romantic dinner. Head across the causeway to the Queen Mary for that.

10. The 24 Hours at the World Center of Racing.

Murphy’s hesitant to put any race that features Daytona Prototypes anywhere on this list. If anything can kill the charm, sense of history, wonder of the automotive art – the entire raison d’etre of sports car endurance racing – it’s the slow, ugly, squashed-down NASCAR guppies. Let’s face it, to say the Rolex is an afterthought at the World Center is an understatement. Say “The 24” within shouting distance of the DIS start-finish line and someone will nod and say, “Jeff Gordon.” Then the bear had a revelation – he doesn’t actually have to go to the race! Not that he hasn’t given the Sun Bank, Rolex…whatever…his heart and soul – many of Murphy’s friends were regulars in the Daytona infield for nearly two decades.

As for race bars, there are “favorites” to please just about anyone, though most are NASCAR or biker-oriented. That’s the territory you’re in, isn’t it? Head to Ponce Inlet for Down the Hatch, and the Bear’s favorite, the Lighthouse Restaurant & Raw Bar, where his friends – egrets, squirrels, pelicans – inhabit the deck with the people. Back toward Daytona Beach from there is “The North Turn,” an honest to gawd race bar with an honest to gawd race crowd – even during the Rolex – right on the beach. If Murphy had to pick his “classic race bar,” that would be it. Of course, there’s Hooters, right across from the World Center of Racing. You’d be almost at the race, then…without actually having to expose yourself to a DP.