Speaking of Watkins Glen & Staten Island....

There was a tiny bit of discussion regarding the proposed/failed ISC track on Staten Island in PattyKay Lilley's remarks to Bill McPeek in her Watkins Glen TV Times post. Seems the head Staten Island goon on that project is now prez at WGI.

There are a couple of references to Staten Island in this interesting, off beat piece posted this week by the auto racing writer of the Corning (NY) Leader. He really nails several points in his humorous, though thought provoking piece detailing his 20 years of attending and covering races at The Glen:

Things I've learned at The Glen
By Chris Gill
Corning Leader
Posted Aug 08, 2012 @ 10:40 PM

This is my 15th year of covering events at Watkins Glen International, and more than 20 new calendars of attending races there. In that span, a lot of things have changed, but what I take away from time Ive spent on the hill is what Ive learned.

Be it fan or member of the media, the experiences at the grand old race track have granted me wisdom, which I will now impart onto you.

When camping, bring everything you can fit in a mid-sized sedan. Theres nothing worse than leaving behind an item you regret forgetting i.e. playing cards, toothbrush, toilet paper.

Dont accept homemade brownies from fellow campers(or pills from a friend of a friend) lest you wish to spend the night staring into darkness until dawn breaks.

I learned how to properly drink from a funnel, without beer splashing down my shirt and into my eyes.

K9 police really dont want you petting their German Shepherd.

Youre not the most interesting person in the campground.

Girls dont find you irresistible after a case of Milwaukees Best. (maybe Schaefer- Chase?)

I learned not all Southerners sound like Ward Burton. Who knew?

Always go to the media food troth when lunch is announced, or spend a half hour standing in line with hunger pangs bouncing off the inner walls of your stomach.

The media talks a good game about the fans, but most are so far removed from being on the outside they completely lose touch.

Its doesnt matter what story youre working on (NASCAR, college basketball, astrophysics) always talk to Jeff Burton.

The men and women who built modern-day racing could have never pulled off constructing Indianapolis, Watkins Glen or Daytona in todays business-driven environment no more room for dreamers. Everyone who came after them are just caretakers.

Its unimaginable that anyone couldve screwed up sports racing worse than Andy Evans did.
Most relevant to this weekend, I learned that The Glen isnt like any other track on this side of the planet.

Not long after being hired as sports writer, without falsifying my resume, stories surfaced that International Speedway Corp., was going to sell the track. Dr. Don Panoz was going buy the place. NASCAR was pulling the lucrative Winston Cup race weekend.

Human sacrifice, dogs and cats living together ... mass hysteria!

People still showed up in droves for the annual August race weekend.

New sparkling race tracks were popping up in every major market except New York City (still a bit of a sore subject around the ISC offices, so if you run into one of the Frances this weekend, best not to pick at that scab). Meanwhile, The Glen featured all the amenities of a major facility from the 1930s electricity, character and not much else. The press executed the journalistic equivalent of a public stoning for years. Many who traveled with the NASCAR circus planned vacations around the second weekend in August, just to avoid coming here.

Fans didnt care. They kept coming, and in greater numbers than before.

It became apparent to everyone in NASCAR and at ISC that casting The Glen aside would be foolish. Regardless of the weather, wooden bleachers or current configuration of the race cars, every year people pack the infield tighter than Snooki fills out medium-sized yoga pants. The Daytona Beach brass said, Hey, not every track can claim this. Heck, lets give them a budget to fully modernize The Glen over the course of several years. Next on the agenda: Any buyers for land on Staten Island?

At least thats what I assume was said. I asked to sit in on that meeting and never got a reply. Im sure its just because my message went into the junk mail folder or something.

How The Glen survived an extraordinarily rocky 1990s and economic meltdown in the latter 2000s has less to do with who ran the place, how it was marketed or which major markets surround it, but more to do with the fans. The Glen isnt simply a place to go watch a race, there are plenty of those. The Glen is a rite of summer for tens of thousands locally, regionally and reaching into Canada. The vibe is unlike anything youll experience at an oval, which struggle to sell seats in the face of global financial strife. The energy generated by NASCAR weekend at The Glen is entirely unique, and something people wait 362 days every year to experience again.

If The Glen has taught me anything, it is this: The track, cool and unique as it is, does not define it the people who inhabit it four days out of every year do.

(Chris Gill, who covers auto racing for The Leader, can be reached at cmgill@the-leader.com or follow him on Twitter at @TheLeaderGill).

Milwaukees Best? Absolutely not. Schaefer? You better believe it. Dos Equis may have The Most Interesting Man In the World. But Schaefer creates the most irresistible one. ha ha ha

Actually, I'd like to think I spin it a different way. Ladies who enjoy Schaefer? Well, that's irresistible to ME.

I've never really set a goal to hit a road course race. I enjoyed watching Riverside on TV. And I've grown to enjoying the Glen AND playing it on Xbox. Sonoma doesn't do much for me. But if I ever get the chance to go to the Glen, I think I'd take the person up on it.

With this being largely a historical-based racing site, I'd love to hear some stories (and see some PG-13 photos) of folks enjoying The Bog (I think that's what it was called). The now-gone mud pit where folks had more fun, wrecked more cars, burned more things, etc. than enjoyed the races.

Great stuff, Chase!

I take it you don't know your current concrete shoe size?

Re: The Bog

A Bus, The Bog and Racing A 30-year-old mystery
Published on 11/01/2004

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20041101/free/411010705

WHEN THE 1974 U.S. Grand Prix is remembered, the ride most likely talked about isn't Carlos Reutemann's winning BT44 Brabham-Ford. Nor is it the 312B3 Ferraris Niki Lauda and Clay Regazzoni drove, or the Surtees TS16 of Austrian rookie Helmuth Koinigg, who would die in a crash on lap nine in the race. For those at Watkins Glen 30 years ago, one vehicle is remembered above all: a Greyhound bus.

The chartered Greyhound carried Brazilian fans to the upstate New York circuit to cheer Emerson Fittipaldi that October race weekend. Fittipaldi was entering F1's Glen round tied for first in points with Regazzoni. A high finish for Fittipaldi could potentially result in his second championship in three years, and clinch McLaren's first constructors' title.

On the Saturday before race day the Greyhound delivered the Brazilians to the main paddock area. Reportedly its driver escorted his passengers to their grandstand seats, leaving the unattended coach unlocked. The bus was then stolen, demolished, and quickly burned by a mob of mostly drunken spectators. At least 12 other vehicles, four of them reportedly stolen from race fans camping nearby, were similarly destroyed. All met their fate in the Glen's Bog, that infamous mud bowl outside the tunnel leading to the start-finish line.

The Bog had been mayhem central since the 1960s. Not only the Grand Prix event, but Can-Am, F5000 and other series annually attracted the Bogladytes, who paid $15 general admission to basically party all weekend; few of them cared much about racing. At some point the Bogladytes began bringing in old vehicles to burn in the swampy pit. By 1974 "bogging" your heap at Watkins Glen had become a tradition, performed in front of hundreds chanting, "The Bog wants a car!" as they pounded it with a hail of rocks. Despite a police presence, Glen management appeared to tolerate the lawlessness as long as it was confined to the Bog.

Eyewitnesses to the Greyhound barbecue recall seeing the $40,000 bus being driven by "a shirtless longhair" into the Bog area. He circled the pile of wrecked car hulks at high speed, the crowd pummeling the bus with whatever they could find. The Greyhound finally crashed into the car pile and stopped. In a scene right out of Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome , flaming rags stuffed into its fuel tanks ignited a thick, black plume of diesel smoke seen for miles in Schuyler County. It burned for hours.

The incident was the last straw. The Bog was bulldozed soon after the 1974 Grand Prix and is now part of the Glen's parking area. Regazzoni finished the race in 11th; Fittipaldi's fourth-place earned him the title.

The Brazilian fans celebrated at the start-finish area with their hero. When it was time to leave, Greyhound sent another coach for the ride back to New York City.

She probably does but just doesn't want any - especially the stilettos with re-bar heels.

PattyKay will confirm that my most memorable Watkins Glen area moments came from exploring the Corning Wegman's Supermarket (what I wouldn't give to have one in Charlotte) and eating at a great little Italian place in Elmira.

Made some side trips to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown and up the Finger lakes to Ithaca and the Cornell University campus.

One Monday morning, the Elmira airport was fogged in and we were finally bused to Syracuse to catch a flight out.

Corning, Elmira, Painted Post have marvelous food. Though many media members avoided the tracks, Pocono and Watkins Glen were two of my favorites.

Breakfast at the Gang Mills, NY Diner is to die for. Awesome. And Mr. Riesbeck used to throw a wonderful reception for us in the Corning Glass Museum. Nice people.

Then there was the Hot Roast Beef Sandwich at Pierri's

Back in the day it used to be a race between me and Bobby Allison/Stavola Bros. crew chief, Jimmy Fennig to see who could shower first at the former Pierri's motel just off Bridge Street (almost across from Wegman's) in Corning and get a seat in the bar at Pierri's Restaurant and get an order in for one of those delicious sandwiches.

You mean "Jimmy Finnegan" as Rusty Wallace called him on last Sunday's pre-race show?

Rusty WAS a heckuva driver - but he IS a terrible commentator. He also characterized the relationship between Brad Keselowski and crew chief Paul Wolfe as a "love fest".

I cringed for him, shoved my hands at the TV and yelled "NO! You did NOT just say that!"

I am impressed by Ricky Craven's commentary.

I believe some have risen BEYOND their level of incompetence!

Ned set the bar high to be sure. Have always been impressed with his story of recognizing his limitations as a public speaker and enrolling in a Dale Carnegie course to make improvements.

But I also enjoyed Neil Bonnett's approach to being a color analyst. He was just himself. I think Craven and even Wally Dallenbach Jr. in contemporary times remind me a bit of Neil's approach - though a bit more analytical. Again, fitting for their personalities. But DW, Buddy Baker, Benny Parsons, Rusty, Larry Mc, "Hollywood", Herman the German, etc., they just try/tried too hard to force things.

That sound's, pretty much, like Darlington once was........ Except, every bodydidsound like Ward Burton, all those Labor Day's ago Thank you very much!

An we gonna keep soundin' like Waaaard!