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  *Comments on Watkins Glen International:*
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  1.   Sébastien posted:
  02.23.2010 - 12:21 pm
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The inner loop on the back straight was added after J.D. McDuffie died
in a crash in the 1991 Winston Cup race.


  2.   Anonymous posted:
  02.26.2010 - 3:21 am
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Until I see how stockers do at Road America, I have to consider this the
best road course in the U.S.


  3.   TeamPlayersBlue posted:
  02.27.2010 - 10:43 pm
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Hosted the Formula One US Grand Prix for 20 straight years from
1960-1980. Also a real 'road' course ran through the town of watkins
glen from 1948 to 1952. Also hosted some CART Indycar events.

In 1983 track was purchased by ISC and another local company. Hosted
some IMSA races before finally the winston cup series first raced here
in an event won by Tim Richmond.

After JD McDuffies fatal crash and Tommy Kendall's almost fatal crash in
an IMSA race they added the inner loop or bustop which actually created
a good passing zone.

After Road America the best road course in North America(just an
opinion). Better road course than Sonoma and Watkins Glen is a town that
knows a heck of a lot about motor racing and has a long history of it


  4.   DieselDan posted:
  03.04.2010 - 10:42 pm
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Will Formula 1 return to the Glen? ISC is spending millions to upgrade
the facility to current FIA specifications, and ISC manages and promotes
Circut Gilles Villineuve in Montreal. Forgive the bad spelling.


  5.   Anonymous posted:
  03.06.2010 - 6:26 pm
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No. Brian France and Bernie Ecclestone would literally kill each other
within 15 minutes of negotiating. I would hate for them to mess up the
beauty of this track just to get it to F1 standards.


  6.   Cooper posted:
  03.14.2010 - 3:23 pm
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Watkins Glen International (nicknamed "The Glen") is an auto race track
located near Watkins Glen, New York, at the southern tip of Seneca Lake.
The facility is owned by International Speedway Corporation. It was long
known around the world as the home of the United States Grand Prix,
which it hosted for 20 consecutive years (1961â??1980), but it has been
home to road racing of nearly every class for over 50 years.


  7.   bduddy posted:
  05.05.2010 - 10:32 pm
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Has any other track hosted ten of the R-R-tracked series? (as of May '10)


  8.   LongTallJones posted:
  06.09.2010 - 1:56 pm
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Well, F1 is planning to run it in Austin, Texas and the old layout where
McDuffie was killed, I call it the McDuffie straight because of his
death in 1991. Somewhat of a tribute, dosen't sound like one.


  9.   Winstonforever posted:
  07.05.2010 - 10:40 am
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In the IZOD IndyCar Series Roger Penske drivers on the pole in ever race
from 2005 to 2010 so far.


  10.   evan posted:
  07.30.2010 - 10:53 am
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NASCAR's Thunder Road has quite a history, but consider this it had some
rocky beginnings as they had some hand wringing about the racetrack as
it almost was closed in its early days. They didn't start hosting full
time races until 1986. A new chicane was added in the wake of JD
McDuffie's death crash to keep drivers from building up too much speed
in the corners.
Other moments of note were Tony Stewart both times going through strange
situations the first was in 2002 where he won after the his scuffle with
a photographer and the second in 2004 where he was sick and had diarrhea
and still won and the last was where Jeff Gordon somehow spun and Tony
Stewart won the race because he was second.


  11.   Brad posted:
  08.08.2010 - 2:12 pm
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How come NASCAR does not use the "boot" portion of the racetrack?


  12.   martin-n-rusty posted:
  11.23.2010 - 4:48 am
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Short of Road America (and I think only because of its near last-minute
addition to the schedule when Milwaukee "closed down"), NASCAR I think
likes to generally keep their tracks around or under 2 2/3 miles or so.


  13.   I Love Japan posted:
  04.20.2011 - 12:27 am
   Rate this comment:      (2)      (1)

The most challenging track to win at in a video game LOL.


  14.   myothercarisanM535i posted:
  05.25.2011 - 11:44 pm
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"NASCAR I think likes to generally keep their tracks around or under 2
2/3 miles or so."

More lead changes that way (on paper, that is).


  15.   Anonymous posted:
  08.31.2011 - 8:41 pm
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I think Sonoma is harder.


  16.   Jesse posted:
  03.31.2012 - 12:31 am
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Sonoma is definitely harder. This is a fun track to drive, it's more
about racing the track than racing the other cars. There are three hard
braking corners, turn one, the turn going into the chicane and the left
hander at the end of the back straightaway. Most of the good turns are
right handers so it is backwards from the ovals. Pit road entry is very
nice at this track, because it has not much variation from track surface
to the apron. The straightaway before the chicane is rediculously fast,
like 150's or even 160's on a road course! The last turn in the esses is
difficult to maneuver but if you hit it just right you will be flat
flying in the nest straight stretch.


  17.   Peter posted:
  11.05.2015 - 8:53 am
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NACASR is considering running the GP layout in 2016


  18.   Aldo posted:
  02.06.2016 - 10:21 am
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Before coming back to the track in the '80s, NASCAR used the original
circuit in the '50s and '60s. The track was revamped in 1971 with the
building of the new start straight and the pits and shortening the last
straight. Before introducing the Inner Loop, there was a chicane in the
same turn even before 1971 but it wasn't use by F1 and NASCAR. That
chicane is still visible. F1 used a tight chicane in the middle of the
esses in after 1974. The asphalt of that one is still visible.


  19.   Cornys posted:
  05.05.2016 - 8:12 am
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IndyCar is in talks to move the canceled Boston Grand Prix to Watkins
Glen International or Gateway Motorsports Park. One would assume that
the series would run the boot at Watkins Glen.


  20.   JRacingFast posted:
  05.13.2016 - 6:52 pm
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Indy Car has comfirmed that The Glen will be hosting the Labor Day
weekend race that was orginally scheduled for Boston

LOVE THIS IDEA!

Hopefully attendance won't be an issue with the fact that they annouced
this race this late


  21.   Anthony posted:
  05.13.2016 - 8:31 pm
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Great to see Indycar returning to a classic track.


  22.   Braindead Zombie posted:
  05.13.2016 - 8:57 pm
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Any word on if NASCAR is going to run the boot this year? I thought I
heard something about that might happen. Great to hear Indy is going
back there.


  23.   JRacingFast posted:
  05.13.2016 - 9:56 pm
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I remember seeing that rumor also

My guess is if they were we would've already said by now so they could
sell tickets for people who want to camp out in that part of the track
in what not

I wish they would because that way it would bring a little more of a
challenge to the Glen and why not consiering that the just repaved the
track!


  24.   Anonymous posted:
  05.24.2016 - 1:19 pm
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Indy Lights will be back too.


  25.   Mile501 posted:
  02.02.2017 - 9:02 pm
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Does anyone know if there's a good reason why the Xfinity race at
Watkins Glen is only 8 laps shorter than the Cup race? It seems to me
like the Cup race at the Glen has always been too short.

P.S. I saw some earlier comments talking about racing on this track in
video games. For me, when I play NASCAR 3, I find Sonoma much easier
than Watkins Glen. For some reason, I've never been very fast at the
Glen, but I've done rather well at Sonoma.


  26.   chevyfan98 posted:
  02.02.2017 - 9:21 pm
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I've always wondered that too. I think the cup race needs to be a bit
longer and the Xfinity race needs to be a bit shorter.


  27.   Sean posted:
  02.02.2017 - 11:34 pm
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It's especially weird because Winston's original deal with NASCAR was
that they would only sponsor races that were scheduled to be 250 miles
or longer (which presumably was the reason that most of those 1974 races
that had their lengths reduced by 10% due to the OPEC oil crisis still
advertised the same race differences, and cut the 10% off from the
beginning of the race instead of the end.) Somehow, when Watkins Glen
and Sonoma were added, Winston no longer cared about their original
requirement, which is the reason so many short tracks fell off the
schedule, the twin 125s stopped being points races, and so on.


  28.   simonracer posted:
  02.03.2017 - 5:58 am
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Does anyone run 250 mile or longer road course races with a single
driver anymore? Formula One hasn't run a race longer then 200 miles or
so since about 1970, though they've run races that aren't the Indy 500
that were longer then 300 in the past. NASCAR ran 500 and 400 mile races
at Riverside well into the 70s but turned those into 500 and 400
kilometre races later. I wonder if maybe there's an FIA regulation
preventing longer races from being run without co-drivers somewhere.


  29.   Mannoroth posted:
  02.03.2017 - 7:25 am
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25. Sonoma is more difficult than Watkins Glen. At Sonoma, you don't
have almost any time to relax, because there's no proper straightaway -
all you do the entire lap is turning left and right and concentrating on
the most difficult turn, turn 11. And after running all those 110 laps
without any break, you have definitely enough (I ran one full Cup &
Truck race and couple of short races there in NR2003).
At Watkins Glen, there are 3 long straightaways, where you can easily
rest for a while. Plus, all the turns are much faster than those at Sonoma.


  30.   Mile501 posted:
  02.03.2017 - 8:28 am
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#29 - As you said, the turns are faster at Watkins Glen. I think that's
why I don't do as well there. We all have different strengths and
weaknesses, and at least on a road course, I do better with slower-speed
turns.


  31.   Tide1732 posted:
  02.03.2017 - 9:14 am
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A Old 'Watinks Glen' format is still active?


  32.   Seibaru posted:
  02.03.2017 - 9:35 am
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Watkins, Tide.

If by old you mean no chicane at the Bus Stop, then yes, they still do
run events without the Bus Stop Chicane. NASCAR is not and will not be
one of them, but there are series that do not use the Bus Stop.


  33.   Seibaru posted:
  02.03.2017 - 9:37 am
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@28 NASCAR WAS planning on running a six hour exhibition endurance race
for the NASCAR Euro guys at Aragon in 2013, but I think it was called
off. Probably a good move, as NASCAR Euro's races are timed to thirty
minutes.


  34.   simonracer posted:
  02.03.2017 - 10:14 am
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I'd presume that would be with driver changes though. I can't imagine
NASCAR making people drive for six hours straight in 2013, but then
again I wouldn't have imagined NASCAR having a six-hour race for the
Euro Series.


  35.   Seibaru posted:
  02.03.2017 - 10:48 am
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@34 Yeah, I don't know if there would have been driver changes. It was
never stated, at least not to my knowledge.


  36.   JSPorts posted:
  02.03.2017 - 1:43 pm
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It would certainly be very interesting to see a timed race in NASCAR. I
wish they would let the track promoters decide if they wanted to race to
a distance or a time.


  37.   Mannoroth posted:
  02.03.2017 - 2:11 pm
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30. I won both at Sonoma and Watkins Glen in my first starts, so I can
do both. All you need to do is just get used to the track, but properly
- until you run consistent laps with no bigger difference than two
tenths of a second, then you ARE ready for the race and all you have to
know is just how to race properly with your opponents, how to correctly
make a pitstop with the speed limit and be good at restarts. Then it's
just about the equipment and handling, if you have it activated as well.

I've been racing for nearly 9 years in NR2003. Mostly just some short
races, but I also ran 54 full races in all 3 series.


  38.   Anonymous posted:
  02.03.2017 - 3:15 pm
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Timed races? Thats a stupid idea


  39.   Seibaru posted:
  02.03.2017 - 5:18 pm
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Tell NASCAR Euro that.


  40.   42KylePetty42 posted:
  02.03.2017 - 9:06 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Finally!! My idea I've had for years is NASCAR needs make all road
course races timed and this would end all road courses being a strategy
game on who pits for the final time first. It would put the racing back
into road racing


  41.   Leo posted:
  02.03.2017 - 9:18 pm
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@40 - That strategy only matters because NASCAR* insists on closing the
pits under yellow. Without that, you've got no issues and the race can
play out naturally, but with such a restrictive rule in place, teams
have no choice but to run on such a strict strategy plan.

*it's not just NASCAR, but Indycar as well. Perhaps even American road
racing in general. See the 2013 Watkins Glen Cup race and the 2015 Mid
Ohio Indycar race.


  42.   Bandit posted:
  02.04.2017 - 7:25 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (3)

-That strategy only matters because NASCAR* insists on closing the pits
under yellow. Without that, you've got no issues and the race can play
out naturally, but with such a restrictive rule in place, teams have no
choice but to run on such a strict strategy plan.

This is why NA&CAR is gay today and not many people watches it anymore.
Too many damn policies, procedures they try to police instead of letting
men out on the track "be men" and actually race ..go back to the late
80's and watch some races on YouTube. You will see what I'm talking about


  43.   sdchargers4ever posted:
  02.04.2017 - 8:39 am
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"gay" as a pejorative? still? really?


  44.   #BowmanNation posted:
  06.02.2018 - 7:08 pm
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Should really use the gp layout. Really want to see my home race with
cars racing in the boot


  45.   Walleyewhacker posted:
  07.10.2018 - 10:24 am
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Name the NASCAR drivers that won Cup races at Riverside, Watkins Glen,
and Sonoma. They are all retired now.

I'll start it off with my favorite road course driver who was the master
of heal and toe driving, especially when you had to use the clutch for
up and down shifts, and that would be Ricky Rudd.


  46.   Ryan posted:
  07.10.2018 - 6:50 pm
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I'm going to say Rusty Wallace and Geoff Bodine were two who did.

It's no surprise that they're all retired now where there hasn't been a
race at Riverside since the late 80's.

Not sure if there are any others.


  47.   John posted:
  08.09.2018 - 1:20 am
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I read that NASCAR never ran the boot. That is weird I thought they did
because the NASCAR 2001 video game only races with the boot. Weird.


  48.   Corey posted:
  08.09.2018 - 7:28 am
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The only time I've seen a NASCAR Cup car run the boot, was during the
Hamilton/Stewart ride swap. Also, I believe it is the only time an F1
car has run the inner loop.


  49.   Alex posted:
  08.09.2018 - 9:45 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

The boot was actually built specifically for Formula 1, and they used it
in the 70s and early 80s. The races were routinely over 100 laps, and
adding the boot shortened the lap count while simultaneously adding a
new challenge for the drivers.


  50.   Canadianfan posted:
  08.09.2018 - 10:18 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

@49 Yes Alex that's true it was added in 1971 due to a series of serious
accidents in the late 60's and 1970. Graham Hill was nearly killed at
Watkins Glen in a practice crash in 1970.


  51.   John posted:
  08.10.2018 - 11:20 am
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It is the 2002 NASCAR video game that only runs with the boot not the
2001 version. I always assumed NASCAR used to race the boot because it
was in that video game. I have no idea why the video games only runs
with the boot, and they never mention in the instructions that NASCAR
doesn't run it. Weird.


  52.   Trent posted:
  03.08.2019 - 9:42 am
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This track is one of my favs, we have sat in the Reisbeck section since
i was 7 or 8 and this year will be our 8th straight year we are going.
watkins sure delivers some great action, i was very glad to have
witnessed the '12 race.


  53.   LJTolitoYouTuber posted:
  03.08.2019 - 10:52 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (3)

Chase Elliott and Tony Stewart won their first races here


  54.   34McDowellFan posted:
  03.08.2019 - 10:57 am
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Tony Stewart's first win at Watkins Glen was his 15th career win, so I
have no idea what you're talking about

Although Steve Park did get his first win here


  55.   GoPM21 posted:
  03.08.2019 - 11:28 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

@53
Wrong. Move along.


  56.   Corey posted:
  03.08.2019 - 11:57 am
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

@53 Nope, Chase Elliott, Steve Park, AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose
all got their inaugural wins here. Tony Stewart's came at Richmond.


  57.   Trent posted:
  05.09.2019 - 9:57 am
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my favorite track on the nascar circuit


  58.   Timothy_Eklund posted:
  10.10.2019 - 1:39 pm
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The Arca Menards Series will be returning here in 2020.


  59.   Bodyblower posted:
  03.27.2020 - 8:53 pm
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Are we going to do the INDYCAR iracing event?


  60.   JSPorts posted:
  04.20.2020 - 1:03 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Top 10 drivers since 2017:

1st: Martin Truex, Jr.
2nd: Chase Elliott
3rd: Denny Hamlin
4th: Kyle Busch
5th: Erik Jones
6th: Daniel Suarez
7th: Ryan Blaney
8th: Kurt Busch
9th: Brad Keselowski
10th: Kevin Harvick


  61.   Canadianfan posted:
  05.16.2020 - 12:52 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

From Dustin Albino:

In his daily coronavirus briefing today, @NYGovCuomo announced @WGI
could reopen starting June 1 without fans.


  62.   Canadianfan posted:
  06.29.2020 - 2:00 pm
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From Adam Stern:

@WGI is in discussions with @NYGovCuomo's administration about trying to
get a waiver for August for the NASCAR industry regarding two-week
quarantine rule that includes North Carolina, per sources.

? Cuomo did grant one to @Mets and @Yankees players coming back from
Florida.


  63.   Canadianfan posted:
  07.02.2020 - 6:05 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

From Adam Stern:

@WGI is talking to @NYGovCuomo about having some fans on site for the
August NASCAR weekend, but it would only allow people who live in New
York/within 150 miles of the track.


  64.   Canadianfan posted:
  07.04.2020 - 10:35 am
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From Adam Stern:

NASCAR industry execs are increasingly skeptical that @NYGovCuomo will
grant the sport a quarantine waiver for the August @WGI weekend, which
would put that race in serious doubt.

? If the WGI weekend was canceled, @NASCAR could move the Cup race to a
roval in the Southeast.


  65.   Canadianfan posted:
  07.07.2020 - 1:08 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

From Adam Stern:

@NASCAR's Quarantine Waiver For Watkins Glen Race Appears Unlikely:

? Daytona's road course is the most mentioned potential replacement
circuit in play.


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