The first purpose-built, closed-course, road circuit at Watkins Glen, opened on a glorious, chilly autumn weekend in mid-September 1956, welcoming 118 racers to compete in six race events during the 9th Annual International Sports Car Grand Prix. The circuit, which has since hosted nearly every major racing series over more than six decades, almost did not open at all.
The efforts by the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation – up to the 11th hour – to ready the 2.3-mile track in time for the race weekend were extraordinary. A successful “wave the green fag” bond campaign in the local community raised initial start-up funds for the project in a single month. Contractors broke ground in late July and, after delays caused by heavy rains and unfavorable weather, completed the final touches on the asphalt paving only an hour before practice sessions began. Alterations to one of the curves, using earth-moving equipment under the glare of spotlights, were made during the night before the first race. And then officials from the Sports Car Club of America jeopardized the entre event by withdrawing their recommendation for members to participate at the last minute due to what they deemed the “serious and hazardous conditions of the course.”
Despite official concerns, not a single driver willingly withdrew from competition. A crowd exceeding 30,000 spectators enjoyed the “European carnival aspects” of the weekend and watched a “thrilling race” across the fast and tricky course as George Constantine of Sturbridge, Massachusetts in his D-Type Jaguar took the checkered fag for the Sports Car Grand Prix.
The IMRRC
With a mission to “To collect, preserve and share the global history of motorsports,” The International Motor Racing Research Center, located at Watkin’s Glen, New York, has, since 1996, been a place open to historians and to the general public and preserves an ever-growing collection that documents the history of racing in the more than 4000 books, 250 different motorsports magazines and newspaper titles, club and sanctioning body records, race results, programs and posters, papers of motorsports journalists and scholars, correspondence of race organizers and still and moving images. Its knowledgeable research and archives staff assists hundreds of scholars, journalists, authors, documentary film makers, drivers and race car owners from all over the globe with inquiries about motorsports history every year. It relies on gifs and donations from the motor sport community. See www.racingarchives.org.
Download the Original Article.
Founded in memory of David Chandler of Olive Bridge, NY, this Memorial Fund is the perfect way to honor a friend or loved one’s memory while celebrating their enthusiasm for Formula One.
David’s friend, Stewart Long, wrote a letter in his memory for the start of the fund:
“Dave and I attended about 10 Formula One Grand Prix races in Montreal from the early 1990s through the mid-2000s, during which time we became fast friends by sharing our interests as Formula One fans.
We would arrive at Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve as soon as the gates opened, stay all day, and be among the last to leave. We saw everything: the mechanics opening the garage doors and warming up the cars, working on the cars, the cars on the track. We spotted drivers, team managers, and celebrities in the pits. We were there the first year Michael Andretti was in Formula One and put up a banner in the stands that said, ‘USA Supports Andretti.’ It was reported on by one of the French newspapers, so we shared our 15 minutes of fame together.
Dave was a pure and passionate enthusiast. He was a huge fan of Ayrton Senna, the brilliant driver from Brazil with exquisite car control skills and a three-time world champion. He even had a Senna tee shirt with the famous and stylistic Senna ‘S’ on it. One year, as usual, I waited outside the pits (after Dave had left since he had to drive back that evening to go to work on Monday) to see the drivers as they left. To my great pleasure, Senna came by and stopped to sign autographs. I was in a line of about eight people and thought, ‘Wow, I’m going to be able to get my program signed by Dave’s ultimate driver, and won’t he be thrilled when I send that to him.’ Unfortunately, Senna waved and moved on when I was only two people away from him. So close. Still, Dave and I shared that story many times so it had positive benefits in that regard.
Dave was a great friend and racing enthusiast. He will be deeply missed by his family, colleagues, and friends. His spirit as a Formula One fan will live on in this Memorial Fund.”
To read the complete letter, click here.
Make a contribution to the Formula One Fan Memorial Fund. Leave a note in the description box that says Formula One Memorial Fund, and the name of who you’d like to honor. You can also send a check made out to IMRRC at 610 South Decatur Street, Watkins Glen, NY, 14891.
“On Saturdays I would walk around the track and get in everywhere I could so that on Sundays I could be in just one place and watch the race,” Ken French of Rochester, N.Y., said, recalling races at such famed tracks as Mosport, St. Jovite and Watkins Glen.
French recently donated a collection of 90 slides documenting those races. The images range from 1968 through 1979 and include Formula 1, Trans-Am and Can-Am competition. French said he was strictly a fan, but a fan with good camera equipment.
An electronic technician nearing retirement, French said he picked the IMRRC for his collection because his family has no interest in the slides. “I knew I’d like someone to have them who would use them,” he said. French hasn’t yet actually visited the Center, but he’s planning to this summer, he said. The Center staff looks forward to meeting him and thanking him in person.