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N0KFQ > TODAY 02.10.16 15:23l 58 Lines 2737 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 9049_N0KFQ
Read: GUEST
Subj: Today in History - Oct 2
Path: IW8PGT<CX2SA<N0KFQ
Sent: 161002/1413Z 9049@N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA BPQ6.0.13
1948
Checkered flag waves at first postwar U.S. road race in Watkins
Glen, New York
On this day in 1948, the first American road race since World War
II takes place in Watkins Glen, a tiny town near the Finger Lakes
in New York. In 1961, the Watkins Glen event was added to the
Formula One Grand Prix schedule and for the next 20 years it was
a destination for the world's best drivers. Compared to Monte
Carlo and other sophisticated stops on the Formula One circuit,
Watkins Glen was scarcely even on the map (Sports Illustrated
poked fun at its "courage and cornpone, sophistication with straw
in its teeth"), but the race was named the best Grand Prix of the
season more than once.
Road racing-that is, racing sleek sports cars on real roads
instead of custom-built tracks-had fizzled out in the United
States during World War II, but was revived in Watkins Glen by an
enterprising young law student named Cameron Argetsinger.
Argetsinger was a fan of European road racing in particular and
fast driving in general and he was convinced that the village's
twisting, scenic lanes and byways would be perfect for a
Grand-Prix-style event. (He was motivated by more than civic
boosterism, however: as he once explained to a reporter, "I had
an MG-TC and didn't have a place to race it.") Argetsinger spent
months planning the race-he plotted its course by arranging and
rearranging magazines on his living room floor-and finally
settled on a 6.6-mile, mostly paved route around the town's
perimeter.
Before the race could happen, Argetsinger needed to get
permission from nine different state agencies and the New York
Central railroad, which agreed to suspend train service through
Watkins Glen for the afternoon so that the drivers could cross
the tracks safely. (As a result, some people refer to October 2
as "the day the trains stopped.") Twenty-three cars participated
in that first race; Argetsinger and his MG finished ninth.
By the end of the decade, the event was drawing 100,000
spectators each year and in 1956, after a couple of race-day
accidents on the public roads, the town built a brand-new course
especially for its Grand Prix. In 1961, the Watkins Glen race
became the only American stop on the Formula One tour ("A
biscuit," one reporter wrote, "reincarnated as a brioche").
In 1981, citing financial difficulties, Formula One dropped the
race from its schedule. Since then, there have been U.S. Grand
Prix races in cities from coast to coast-in Long Beach, Las
Vegas, Detroit, Dallas, Phoenix and Indianapolis-but none as
successful or celebrated as the ones at Watkins Glen.
73 - K.O., n0kfq
N0KFQ @ N0KFQ.#SWMO.MO.USA.NA
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E-Mail : kohiggs@gmail.com
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