The Glen

The Glen is an astounding and unlikely success story which continues to be written today.

Law student Cameron Argetsinger dreamed of bringing European style competition to the village where he spent his summer vacations, and he drew up a challenging course of asphalt, cement and dirt roads in and around the village of Watkins Glen. The dream became reality on October 2, 1948, "The Day They Stopped the Trains," in the first post-World War II road race in the U.S. For five years, the top names in American sports car racing visited the small village and huge crowds came out to watch them race. A 2.3-mile permanent circuit was built in 1956. The following year, The Glen hosted its first professional race, a NASCAR Grand National Stock Car event, and international competition began in 1958 with the running of a Formula Libre race.

On August 9, 1986, over 88,000 fans witnessed Tim Richmond's triumph as the NASCAR Winston Cup Series returned to The Glen for the first time in the modern era. Since then, the NASCAR Winston Cup race at Watkins Glen has grown to become New York State's largest weekend sporting event and has seen some of NASCAR's biggest names take the checkered flag... names like Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon.