Race Ten: Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix.
Watkins Glen International

Watkins Glen International (nicknamed "The Glen") is an auto race track located near Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake. The facility is owned by International Speedway Corporation. It was long known around the world as the home of the United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for 20 consecutive years (1961–1980), but it has been home to road racing of nearly every class for over 50 years, including the Indycar Series Watkins Glen Grand Prix.

The CART series held the first American open wheel racing events at the circuit from 1979-1981. The IRL IndyCar Series debuted in 2005. Since its inception in 2005, the IRL race utilizes the full 3.403 mile circuit, similar to the circuit used in the United States Grand Prix; however, the Scheckter Chicane was removed in 1980, and the Inner Loop bus stop was added in 1992. On June 28, 2007, Camping World signed a four-year deal to be the title sponsor of the race through 2010.

Andretti said of Richmond in 2008. "Watkins Glen is a great track.  It's very flowing and is a rhythm track with many different types of corners.  It's a track where you have to keep your momentum up in order to do well."

Watkins Glen - The F1 Days.
After two less-than-successful US Formula One events in 1959 (Sebring, Florida) and 1960 (Riverside, California), promoters were looking for a new venue for an American Grand Prix in 1961. Just six weeks before the scheduled date for another Formula Libre race that fall, Argetsinger was tapped to get Watkins Glen ready to host the final round of the Formula One World Championship instead. While many of the necessary preparations had already been made for the Formula Libre race, new pits were constructed for the F1 Grand Prix according to the European style of pit boxes with overhead cover. Seven American drivers participated, and the race was won by British driver Innes Ireland with American Dan Gurney second. The sole disappointment of the weekend was that newly-crowned American World Champion Phil Hill appeared only as the event's Grand Marshal, not on track in his shark-nosed Ferrari, as the team was still mourning the death of Count Wolfgang von Trips at Monza the previous race.

The United States Grand Prix at The Glen quickly became a fall tradition as huge crowds of knowledgeable racing fans flocked to upstate New York each year amid the spectacular fall colors. The race was also among the most popular on the global Grand Prix calendar with the teams and drivers because its starting and prize money often exceeded those of the other races combined. The race received the Grand Prix Drivers' Association award for the best organized and best staged GP of the season in 1965, 1970 and 1972.

One fixture of the USGP at The Glen was the starter for the races, "Tex" Hopkins. Wearing a lavender suit, clenching a big cigar in his mouth, and giving the job everything he had, Hopkins was the most recognizable starter in Grand Prix racing. Once the cars had taken their places, Hopkins strode across the front of the grid with his back to the field, turned, and jumped into the air, waving the green flag to start the race. At the finish, he would meet the winner in similar fashion, this time waving the checkered flag as the car crossed the line.

Before the 1971 race, the course underwent its most significant changes of the Grand Prix era, as it was extended from 2.35 miles to 3.377 miles by the addition of four corners in a new section called the 'Boot' or 'Anvil'. The new layout departed from the old course near the south end into a curling downhill left-hand turn through the woods. The track followed the edge of the hillside to two consecutive right-handers, over an exciting blind crest to a left-hander and back onto the old track. In addition, the circuit was widened and resurfaced, and both the pits and start/finish line were moved back before the northwest right-angle corner known as "The 90."

Despite the improvements, the circuit became unable to safely handle the increasingly faster and stiffer ground effect cars of the late 70s and a few horrendous, sometimes fatal accidents and increasingly rowdy segments of the crowd began to tarnish its image. Finally, in May, 1981, several months after Alan Jones had won the 1980 race for Williams, the International Auto Sports Federation removed the race from its schedule because the track had failed to pay its $800,000 debt to the teams.



 

 

RACE TEN
Race 10 of 16
Camping World Watkins Glen Grand Prix

Sunday July 6th
Watkins Glen, New York
2790 County Road 16,
Watkins Glen, NY 14891

2005/6/7 Winner:
Scott Dixon

Distance: 60 laps/204 miles