The first races in Watkins Glen were organised by Cameron Argetsinger, whose family had a summer home in the area. With local Chamber of Commerce approval and SCCA sanction, the first Watkins Glen Grand Prix took place in 1948 on a 6.600-mile (10.622 km) course over local public roads. Spectators lined the sidewalks as races passed through the heart of the town. After a car driven by Fred Wacker left the road in the 1952 race, killing seven-year-old Frank Fazzari and injuring several others, the race was moved to a wooded hilltop southwest of town. The original course was listed in the New York State Register and National Register of Historic Places as the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Course, 1948–1952.
A second layout of 4.600 miles (7.403 km) began use in 1953 and also used existing roads. The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation was formed to manage spectators, parking, and concessions, an arrangement that lasted three years.
The first permanent course, the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course, was constructed on 550 acres (2.2 km²). Designed by Bill Milliken and engineering professors from Cornell University, the 2.350-mile (3.782 km) layout was used from 1956 to 1970. The track hosted its first professional race — a NASCAR Grand National Division event — in 1957. From 1958 to 1960 it hosted Formula Libre races featuring Jack Brabham, Stirling Moss, Phil Hill, and Dan Gurney. In 1968 the sports car race at the circuit was extended to six hours.
In 1961, just six weeks before the scheduled date for a Formula Libre race, Cameron Argetsinger was tapped to prepare Watkins Glen for the final round of the Formula One World Championship. New pits were constructed to satisfy international standards. The 1961 United States Grand Prix was won by British driver Innes Ireland in a Lotus-Climax; Dan Gurney driving a Porsche 718 placed second. Ferrari declined to compete, having already secured both the Drivers' and Constructors' Championships and still mourning the death of Wolfgang von Trips at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix.
The United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen became an autumnal tradition, drawing large crowds to Upstate New York during the autumn leaf season. The race was among the most popular on the global Grand Prix calendar; 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 organised and best staged Grand Prix of the season in 1965, 1970, and 1972.
One fixture of the United States Grand Prix at Watkins Glen was starter Richard Norman "Tex" Hopkins, who wore a lavender suit, clenched a cigar, and strode across the front of the grid before jumping into the air to wave the national flag to start each race.
Before the 1971 race, the course underwent its most significant changes of the Grand Prix era, extended from 2.35 miles (3.78 km) to 3.377 miles (5.435 km) by the addition of four corners in a new section called "The Boot." The new layout curled downhill through the woods, followed the edge of the hillside to two consecutive right-hand turns, crossed a blind crest, and rejoined the old track. The pits and start-finish line were moved to a new pit straight. In 1975, a fast right-left chicane was added to slow speeds through the Esses section, dubbed the "Scheckter Chicane"; it was removed in 1985.
Despite improvements, the circuit was considered unsafe for the increasingly rapid ground-effect cars of the late 1970s. In May 1981, the International Auto Sports Federation removed the race from the schedule after the track failed to pay its $800,000 debt to the teams, ending twenty years of Formula One at the Glen.
The track's history has been marked by several fatal accidents that prompted layout changes. François Cevert, a previous winner at the Glen, died during practice for the 1973 United States Grand Prix. Helmut Koinigg died in 1974. In 1991, two serious accidents occurred at the Loop at the end of the backstretch: Tommy Kendall was severely injured during the IMSA Camel Continental VIII, and seven weeks later NASCAR Winston Cup driver J.D. McDuffie died at the same site during the 1991 Budweiser at The Glen. These incidents led track officials to construct a bus stop chicane along the back straight before the 1992 season, dubbed the "Inner Loop."
The Glen hosted a variety of other events throughout the Grand Prix years: Can-Am, Trans-Am, IROC, Formula 5000, and the CART series. From 1968 through 1981, the Six Hours at The Glen endurance race featured top drivers including Mario Andretti, Jacky Ickx, Pedro Rodríguez, and Derek Bell. Without a Formula One race, the circuit declared bankruptcy and closed in 1981.
In 1983, Corning Enterprises, a subsidiary of nearby Corning, partnered with International Speedway Corporation to purchase the track and rename it Watkins Glen International. The renovated track reopened in 1984 with the return of IMSA. In 1986, NASCAR's top series returned to Watkins Glen using the 1971 Six Hours short course layout.
In 1997, International Speedway Corporation became the sole owner. After a 25-year absence, major open-wheel racing returned in 2005 when the Indy Racing League added the circuit to its schedule, using the full Boot layout. A new control tower and media center were constructed in 2006, and the start-finish line was moved 380 feet (120 m) toward Turn 1. The entire course was repaved in 2015.
In June 2011, Tony Stewart and Lewis Hamilton participated in a "Mobil 1 Seat Swap" at the circuit, with Stewart driving a Chevrolet and Hamilton driving the MP4-23, McLaren's entry in the 2008 Formula One season.
The circuit annually hosts the Zippo U.S. Vintage Grand Prix, one of the nation's premier vintage racing events. Current major events include the NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen and the IMSA SportsCar Championship 6 Hours of Watkins Glen, which forms part of the North American Endurance Cup.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
Gallery · 4 related images
