Dear Friends,
Since well before I was born, Watkins Glen has been a landmark for the racing community. Racers and fans have been drawn here, at first by the brash idea of racing cars through the public roads, and then by the bold move to create an international-standard permanent road course. Years of top-level events compounded the significance of a trip here.
For me, it was impossible to go through the gates to the circuit without thinking about all of those who came before me. In the same way, fans go to the Seneca Lodge to pull up a stool to the same bar where Jack Brabham, Jochen Rindt and Ronnie Peterson celebrated their success or cursed their bad luck. The location itself is a connection to history.
It is this connection that inspired the decision to build the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen. Created in 1998 to preserve and share the photos, films, records and stories of over 100 years of motor racing, the Center has been an incredibly valuable resource not only to professional writers and documentarians, but to the general public as well. In a digitized world, a visit to the Center is wonderfully analog. Instead of typing words into a search engine and then sifting through hundreds of results of questionable relation, the skilled and friendly archivists can assist in finding exactly what you are looking for, as well as stimulate interest in new areas. You can hold a tangible document or photo or timing sheet in your hand and have a tactile experience, instead of seeing something on a screen. And without any pop-up ads!
But, that said, if you’re at home in Boise or Berlin, and a visit to the Center isn’t practical, a newly redesigned website gives you an opportunity to enjoy some of the Center’s treasures, while learning about its mission to preserve and share the materials of motorsports.
All of this is done through the help and donations of people like you and me, who understand and appreciate the importance of cataloging and archiving the history of the sport. I invite you to join me in continuing to support the Center in its mission. A form is enclosed suggesting ways to help the Center, a 501 (c)(3) charitable organization. Thank you.
Butch Leitzinger