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02-26-2010, 05:20 AM
ccm911 wrote:
Actually Chris if it wasn't for NASCAR there probably wouldn't be a Watkins Glen racetrack today. It's Bernie E. that caused the problem. At the time the GP was at the Glen the track was owned by the town. They floated a bond to extend the course labeled the "new extension" now known as the boot. They also upgraded the the entire course to the new safety standards that were required at the time. The town really want out on a limb to do this, meanwhile Bernie kept sucking, more, and more money from the F1 Circus. You'll notice in some of the photos that the guardrail was looking a little shabby . That's because toward the end of the 70's the track didn't have enough money to paint it. Bernie had grandeur ideas and he had no intention of helping the Glen, instead he said at the time that it was to far away from a metropolitan area for people to attend. Funny how NASCAR packs them in today! Around 1980 the track went bankrupt, they only had limited SCCA races of which I was lucky enough to participated at the time. It was truly a thrill to be racing formula cars at a track that a few years earlier I was a spectator watching F1. Sometime in the early 80's Corning bought the track and then the ISC. All of the improvements you see today are a result of NASCAR and the ISC. It's a shame that the F1 community didn't see the benefit of keeping this track on the schedule, it would have been the North American version of Spa by now. I attended 9 F1 races at the Glen and everyone was more then I can put into words, the sounds, the crowd, the bazaar weather ( it snowed on us more then once), are things that I will never forget. I still remember one weekend that was truly rotten, cold drizzle with some snow mixed in, we were just trying to stay warm in our tent that overlooked the boot, when we heard the sounds of F1 cars starting up in the pits and then the crackle of cold exhausts coming into the boot and soon the whole valley filled with the sounds of Cosworths, Ferraris, and the screaming Matra's . I wish you could have been there. Maybe when Bernie goes to that great gold bar in the sky the Glen could have a chance to host a F1 race again. It's really the only place in North America where it truly belongs.
Quote:I can't believe that we actually had F1, not only in America, but so close by. It's a shame that the Glen whored themselves out to the NASCAR folks instead of improving the track and courting the F1 Circus.
Actually Chris if it wasn't for NASCAR there probably wouldn't be a Watkins Glen racetrack today. It's Bernie E. that caused the problem. At the time the GP was at the Glen the track was owned by the town. They floated a bond to extend the course labeled the "new extension" now known as the boot. They also upgraded the the entire course to the new safety standards that were required at the time. The town really want out on a limb to do this, meanwhile Bernie kept sucking, more, and more money from the F1 Circus. You'll notice in some of the photos that the guardrail was looking a little shabby . That's because toward the end of the 70's the track didn't have enough money to paint it. Bernie had grandeur ideas and he had no intention of helping the Glen, instead he said at the time that it was to far away from a metropolitan area for people to attend. Funny how NASCAR packs them in today! Around 1980 the track went bankrupt, they only had limited SCCA races of which I was lucky enough to participated at the time. It was truly a thrill to be racing formula cars at a track that a few years earlier I was a spectator watching F1. Sometime in the early 80's Corning bought the track and then the ISC. All of the improvements you see today are a result of NASCAR and the ISC. It's a shame that the F1 community didn't see the benefit of keeping this track on the schedule, it would have been the North American version of Spa by now. I attended 9 F1 races at the Glen and everyone was more then I can put into words, the sounds, the crowd, the bazaar weather ( it snowed on us more then once), are things that I will never forget. I still remember one weekend that was truly rotten, cold drizzle with some snow mixed in, we were just trying to stay warm in our tent that overlooked the boot, when we heard the sounds of F1 cars starting up in the pits and then the crackle of cold exhausts coming into the boot and soon the whole valley filled with the sounds of Cosworths, Ferraris, and the screaming Matra's . I wish you could have been there. Maybe when Bernie goes to that great gold bar in the sky the Glen could have a chance to host a F1 race again. It's really the only place in North America where it truly belongs.
Past RTR member