(I’m happy to announce that Aaron65 has returned to CC and will be a regular writer here. PN) Watkins Glen, New York, is a village that takes its racing history seriously. Today, it’s known for Watkins Glen International, a world-renowned race track that currently hosts NASCAR and IMSA, and famously hosted the Formula One United States Grand Prix back in the 1960s and ’70s (you can still get a glass of Genesee beer on tap at Seneca Lodge, a famous hangout of famous racers…they also make a pretty good Old Fashioned). Far more romantic than any of that, however, is the fact that they hosted a Grand Prix on the streets of their little hamlet; from 1948 to 1952, you might have seen a Cad-Allard screaming through Big Bend with smoking brakes and a guy with goggles sawing at the wheel as if his life depended on it, because it did. It was a race marred by tragedy manned by men for whom adrenaline had become a fact of life. And you can still drive the course today.
Photo courtesy of International Motor Racing Research Center
The Watkins Glen Sports Car Grand Prix was the creation of Cameron Argetsinger, a young sports car enthusiast from the Finger Lakes region. There were plenty of sports car fans in America, young men who had, in many cases, grown up risking their lives in Europe and Asia. A dangerous motor race would have simply been, in a way, a continuation of the life they had grown accustomed to in a time of war. The course itself was 6.6 miles long; it started in Watkins Glen at the Court House and wound up Old Corning Hill, past the state park under a railroad bridge, over a narrow stone bridge, and back down the hill (over a set of railroad tracks) into the village.
Photo courtesy of NASCAR Hall of Fame and Research Center via Getty Images
The first race was won by Frank Griswold in a 1938 Alfa Romeo 8C 2900B Berlinetta, a gorgeous car. I can’t find it online anywhere, but I remember seeing a picture of illustrator (and Addams Family progenitor) Charles Addams painting the numbers on the side of this very Alfa; Addams was an avid sports car fan and Grand Prix participant. Here, the Alfa is crossing “Stone Bridge,” an apt descriptor.
Parked on the “Stone Bridge” is my ’23 Challenger, our host for this tour of the old circuit. The Chamber of Commerce in Watkins Glen is more than happy to hand you a map so you can drive the old route, but they will ask you to obey posted speed limits. That becomes difficult when the adrenaline of nostalgia starts to flow.
The start/finish line is right in town on Franklin Street, and the course is so well-marked that even if you don’t have a map, you can follow it. There would have been hay bales lining the course back when the original race was run.
Then, you’ll take a right and start climbing Old Corning Hill, where you’ll pass Seneca Lodge on the right.
This starts a long stretch with some tricky corners, but you’ll also pass under this narrow railroad underpass, which certainly unsettled more than one MG TC back in the day.
Unfortunately, it was in this area that popular racer Sam Collier lost his life in the 1950 Grand Prix while racing a Ferrari 166. Sam was a popular character in the Watkins Glen racing circle, as he and his brother Miles formed the Automobile Racing Club of America in 1933, which eventually morphed into the Sports Car Club of America, which is still active today. Miles died only a few years later of polio, in 1954. This memorial for both brothers is on the “Underpass Straight” where Sam crashed in 1950.
A series of S-turns doesn’t seem so bad until you realize that those old Cunninghams and XK-120s were probably approaching 100 miles per hour through here.
Then, you take a fairly sharp right to approach “Cornett’s Stone Bridge,” shown before. It’s a narrow downhill stretch where driver Denver Cornett “flipped his MG into the creek.” (Don’t worry, he was OK, and he flipped his car back upright and raced later that day with some borrowed parts.)
This bridge must look awfully narrow when you’re barreling toward it in a race car without a windshield. Perhaps in the rain.
After another fairly sharp right-hander after the bridge, you enter the railroad straight, so named because racers would have to pass a railroad crossing. It was not a smooth one, so surviving pictures of the races show MGs and OSCAs landing on their front wheels after a fairly lurid hop. These guys were fearless.
The tracks are still there, although they’ve been smoothed out a few times over the years.
In my opinion, the most terrifying part of the course is “Big Bend,” a broad downhill curve where road signs urge trucks to use low gear. In that era of four-wheel drum brakes, downshifting to slow down was a natural course of action, but barreling down this hill must have been equal parts electrifying and terrifying, especially in some of the bigger machines that would show up at the races.
Still descending into town…Eventually you’ll take a sharp left and a sharp right.
And you’re back on the main straight, ready to start another lap.
As I mentioned, the race itself was marred by tragedy. In addition to Sam Collier’s death in 1950, an Allard driven by Fred Wacker accidentally brushed the crowd (there was some confusion and some people weren’t clear of the race course), and 12 people were injured and a child killed. Apparently, while attending the child’s funeral, Wacker tearfully promised the child’s father that he would give up racing. This is another picture of the Alfa that won the inaugural event.
The original road race ended on that lap of the 1952 event, but it continued at a more rural venue for a few years before racing on public roads in Watkins Glen gave way to the race track that still stands today. Watkins Glen International has hosted Formula One, Indy Car, NASCAR, and IMSA, among others, and although it’s had its share of tragedy as well, the danger to spectators has obviously been reduced. You can still tour the track today in your own car, too. If you show up at noon and five p.m. (on most days, call ahead), you can spend $40, sign a waiver, and take three laps around the track before parking on the front straight for pictures.
Being a great motor racing town, Watkins Glen is also home to the International Motor Racing Research Center, which is open to anyone. I walked around with my wife and looked at dozens of motoring books that I will be putting on my wish list (I’ve already ordered two), and I talked to a really nice guy who shows up weekly to do research on American short track racing. I even grabbed a 1959 Lincoln brochure from the “Free” table. It’s an amazing place, and they do a lot to teach the public about the rich history of racing in the Finger Lakes area.
Any village that has little race cars atop their street signs and murals on their walls is my kind of village, and it doesn’t hurt that it’s in the midst of one of America’s most beautiful natural formations. (If you like waterfalls, you should really plan a trip.) After a few days wandering around Seneca Lake, my head is swimming with automotive history, and that’s not a bad place to be.
What an excellent article about this Historic village and it’s racing history. I live nearby, so I have been here many times. May I never stop going…
Thanks, Don! I kind of want to move there. 🙂
Great write up. I grew up nearby and attended a couple of F1 events in the 70s. I never bothered to investigate the old course but I vaguely knew it was on local roads. Watkins Glen also hosted Summer Jam in 1973 with over 600,000 in attendance including me and my then girlfriend. Never got anywhere near the stage where The Band, The Grateful Dead and the Allman Brothers Band all performed.
Thanks, Rich! That would have been an awesome concert. I can’t even imagine how awful that would have been to live in town that day (or week).
Thank you for this – I actually didn’t know that the original Watkins Glen races were run through town.
My parents were sports car racing enthusiasts in the 1960s (before I was born) and attended many races there. Dad also worked as a photographer around that time, so he’d always bring his camera, and ended up with some great photos. I spent many afternoons looking through his Watkins Glen slides (he threw them all out eventually). I’ve never been up there myself, though. If I’m ever up in the Finger Lakes area, I’ll definitely do a few laps like you did.
He threw out the slides! Bummer!
Thanks for this post. Being on the opposite coast but an avid motorsports fan from early childhood, I knew a lot about the early years of Watkins Glen from books, but I’ve never been. And your first-person tour and photos were a perfect refresher.
In case certain members of the family are not into racing, there are several dozen wineries along both sides of Seneca Lake. Circumnavigating the lake with occasional tasting stops is a pleasant way to spend an afternoon.
I knew a little about Watkins Glen, but not much, so thanks for this.
It’s good to see the Challenger getting some exercise, and I am eagerly awaiting a report on how well you like it since you have settled in.
You’re welcome! The Challenger’s great aside from a couple little issues. The windows are frameless, so they retract when you open the door. Well, when it freezes in Michigan, they don’t, so the doors won’t close all the way. And the car won’t go into gear when there’s a door ajar. So I have to use a credit card or something similar to break the ice at the beltline. I’ve gotten used to it, but they made that car for 15 years, so it seems like a problem they could have figured out!
Other stuff is not a big deal; the driver’s door handle requires more of a “pull” than the passenger door, and it has more driveline vibration than I’d expect at some speeds. But it got 30 miles per gallon on our trip to New York, and it handles great in snow (I have a set of Blizzaks for it).
Great article and pictures. A great event is the annual Grand Prix Festival in September with a featured make each year, a parade of cars on the old course along with lots to see and do.
Living nearby we heard the story about the 1952 race growing up. I do remember being at the intermediate course that was run on the hilly back roads just outside the modern course. There was much excitement in anticipation for the opening of the closed course. Dad always arrived early and parked near the flimsy fence half way through the chicane. That was before the first grandstands on that corner. Hearing the furious downshifts and hard braking at the end of the East straight still resonates in my head I preferred the SCCA races in the various production and modified classes to F1. The most fun was watching 3 or 4 Formula V cars attempting to go side by side through the chicane, which always led to interlocked wheels and unintentional attempts to straighten the curve. Watching Porsches out braking, cornering and passing solid axle Corvettes was also very enjoyable, but with time came suspension and brake improvements that made it difficult for the Porsche drivers to catch the Corvettes. Never got to attend after the course extension and other changes.
There’s a great documentary film produced by our local WSKG PBS (Binghamton) and Brian Frey on Cameron Argetsinger’s creation of the original race, called “Watkins Glen: the Street Years” with interviews of Mr Argetsinger and many of the local principals involved, it’s full of live filmed segments of the race including some of the darker moments that eventually brought it to an end. Many action shots of the incredible cars being flung around at amazing speeds by their incredibly brave (and crazy?) drivers. Here is is for your viewing pleasure, very worth while. Mr Frey is a highly talented local film maker for WSKG.
Living only an hour or so away we’ve visited many times and took our youngest son to the vintage SCCA races about 12 years ago. The best part is walking around in the pits talking to the racers, often while they working on their cars… fascinating The entire Finger Lakes area is spectacularly beautiful, and the dozens of excellent wineries all around them are just the icing on the cake. A visit is highly recommended! The big NASCAR race is coming up presently, but specialized sports car road racing is more my thing.
Some of the famous cars shown: Allards, Cunninghams, Bugattis, loads of Jags and MGs, and even the infamous “Le Monstre”…see if you can pick it out!
I did this about 10 years ago when camping at Watkins Glen State Park. Dodge Caravan was not the ideal vehicle to lap the old course. We didn’t know about the train tracks and were awoken during the night by a train that sounded like it going to go right through the tent!
Once again, everyone should read “The Last Open Road” by BS Levy, a great piece of historical fiction about the early east coast sports racers.
Watch out for SVG there this year in a cup car, Nice that its a public road, Mt Panorama is like that and with posted speed limits to ignore, every year I would go there from Orange in whatever I was driving and took it around that track for fun 85 mph down conrod in a 1600 VW van seems very fast 2nd gear in a 250 Falcon shows BP cutting is steeper than it looks on TV, and downhill off Skyline where you cant see the road over the car bonnet must be tricky at race speed in anything. good fun.