Watkins Glen International – A Crown Jewel of North American Road Courses

Each summer, IMSA heads to Western New York for a race weekend at one of the oldest and most famous racetracks in the world: Watkins Glen International.

In recent years, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen has been the first IMSA race to follow the famed 24 Hours of Le Mans in France, giving drivers, teams and manufacturers who compete in both events – and sports car racing fans – a steady diet of endurance racing. It also falls around the Fourth of July holiday, giving the event weekend an extra boost of patriotism and military recognition.

The track sits nearly equidistant from Elmira to the south and Ithaca to the east and is the only track that features IMSA, NASCAR’s premier series and IndyCar events in the same calendar year.

When racing isn’t taking place at The Glen, the track plays an active role in the community, organizing fundraisers for its youth-oriented RACE Foundation and hosting blood drives in conjunction with the American Red Cross. The track also utilizes the heated car garages for the premiere Finger Lakes Wine and Beer Festivals for tastings, live music, and pace car rides around the circuit.

Even with the extracurricular activities, Watkins Glen International President Michael Printup recognizes the historic value of the road course that brought racing to western New York.

“We’re one of those facilities that you can count on one hand that is so famous and historically remembered for the sports cars,” Printup said. “The notoriety and the competition that IMSA brings, it’s good for our fans and all of our sponsors. It’s the place that sports cars have been racing at since 1948, so what it really brings is the reputation and recognition of truly some of the best sports car racing in the world.”

BACKGROUND

While the current Watkins Glen road course was completed in 1956, there was a winding 6.6-mile circuit that used some streets of the town of Watkins Glen as well as country roads that surrounded the community for drivers to race on in the early post-World War II era.

The first contest took place in October 1948, as racers zoomed through the streets, across bridges, and over railroad tracks that had agreed to go quiet for the day, all so cars wouldn’t have to halt for a passing train. That day would become known as “The Day They Stopped the Trains.”

The original course is now listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the National Park Service. However, dangerous conditions led to relocation to a temporary course in 1953 until the permanent circuit was completed three years later.

In 1957, Buck Baker won the NASCAR Grand National race, the first professional event to be held at Watkins Glen, and the next year, the track hosted Formula Libre competitors for its first international event.

Over the years, The Glen saw fierce racing competition with some of the most popular sports car series in the world, but fell on hard times with a lack of funding and was forced to close its gates in 1981.

Looking to bring back racing to Watkins Glen, new track owners Corning Enterprises joined forces with International Speedway Corporation (ISC) in 1983 and within a year, began hosting race events again at the track.

One of the first sports car races hosted at the renovated Watkins Glen was the 1984 IMSA Camel Continental, a six-hour contest separated into two halves, three hours of which were raced on Saturday and the remaining three hours raced on Sunday. The inaugural six-hour race was won by Al Holbert, Derek Bell, and Jim Adams and for many years was cut back to just a three-hour event, but returned by popular demand for what is now known as Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen.

Watkins Glen has also seen a handful of changes in recent years with the financial backing of ISC.

In 1992, the long course was expanded to 3.4 miles and is the configuration used today by the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and Continental Tire SportsCar Challenge. Millions of dollars in investments were also allocated to The Glen for repaving, landscaping, and building a new media center and grandstands. But while the look of The Glen has changed over the years, the history and competitive racing that motorsport series bring to the track certainly has not.

DRIVER PERSPECTIVE

Tyler Cooke, Continental Tire Challenge driver and New York resident: “Watkins Glen is one of the old tracks, like Road America or Sebring, where it doesn’t allow many mistakes. When it had the old pavement, it was a completely different track. Now, the new pavement is faster and you can drive the car deeper, but the old pavement had sealer in a lot of the corners which, when it came to rain racing, made the track a lot more difficult. There was only one line to drive around in the rain, but now it’s more of a track that you can drive three or four lines in the rain. It’s just a track that’s very high speed and separates the men from the boys.

“The track is sentimental to me because my first time being able to race at that track was in 2013 and a week before the race, my dad was diagnosed with cancer. It was a race he was looking forward to for a long time because he always heard about Watkins Glen, but he was never able to go to the track because I wasn’t legal to race. It was difficult for me to go into the hospital to say bye to him and it was my first ever race without him going to it. Greg (Liefooghe) and I got a top-10 finish out of it though so it’s a very sentimental track for me.”

TRACK PERSPECTIVE

• A tight, high speed section climbing the hill up to the back straight. Fast and unforgiving, drivers must trust each other through these corners, as a small mistake can lead to major drama.
• A highly technical chicane on the opposite end of the circuit from the start/finish line. The heavy braking zone into the Inner Loop can create ample passing opportunities, but an improper line can seriously negate an otherwise momentous run through the subsequent Outer Loop.
• Easily one of the most iconic sections of The Glen, its outline resembling its namesake, The Boot is a scenic element featuring sharp elevation changes, high downforce turns and a sharp hairpin. With excellent viewing opportunities for fans, it is a fan favorite with many attendees.