After WW2, there were numerous military facilities across the United States without a defined peacetime purpose. One of those semi-abandoned facilities was Hendricks Army Airfield in Sebring, Highlands County, Florida. By 1950, Alec Ulmann, a Russian-American aeronautic engineer and motorsport fan, pioneered an American version of the 24 Hours of Le Mans, using the military Airfield in Sebring as a racing venue. Sebring International Raceway was born for that race and, since 1952, it hosts the 12 Hours of Sebring, an annual endurance race that nowadays is a part of the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The raceway was such a success that in 1959 the Formula One championship brought the first United States Grand Prix to Florida.
The benign climate of central Florida, with 250 sunny days a year, is ideal for motorsport most of the time. That’s part of the reason why Sebring International Raceway is one of the busiest raceways in the USA, with 175 races a year on average. Summers are rainy, with 60% of annual precipitation happening from June to September. There are two road courses in Sebring International Raceway: the Full Course and the Club Circuit, with average speeds of 91 mph and 72 mph.
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