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Watkins Glen International, nicknamed "The Glen", is an automobile race track located in Watkins Glen, New York. The first races in Watkins Glen took place in 1948 on a 6.6-mile course over local public roads. For the first few years, the races passed through the heart of the town with spectators lining the sidewalks, but after a car left the road in the 1952 race, killing one and injuring several others; the race was moved to a new location on a wooded hilltop southwest of town. It was long known around the world as the home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix, which it hosted for twenty consecutive years (1961–1980). Initially, public roads in the village were used for the race course. In 1956 a permanent circuit for the race was built. In 1968 the race was extended to six hours, becoming the 6 Hours of Watkins

Glen. The circuit's current layout has more or less been the same since 1971, although a chicane was installed at the uphill Esses in 1975 to slow cars through these corners, where there was a fatality during practice at the 1973 United States Grand Prix. The first permanent course was constructed and overlapped part of the previous street course. The layout measured 2.35-mile (3.78 km) and was used from 1956–1970. NASCAR ran it's first race here in 1957. Buck Baker would complete the 44 laps first beating Fireball Roberts by 1/2 mile. The next NASCAR race here didn't happen until 1964. This time the race was extended

to 66 laps (151 miles). Billy Wade would out distance LeeRoy Yarbrough by six seconds to get the win. This would be the final start for Lee Petty. NASCAR raced here again in 1965 before taking a 21 year break. In 1965 Junior Johnson started second, but had worked his way into the lead by lap two; but on lap 13 his motor erupted and he was done for the day. Marvin Panch would lead the final 53 laps to claim the win. It would be Panch's final win in the Wood Brothers #21 car, and his only win on a road course. In 1986 NASCAR again come back to race at The Glen. NASCAR always uses "the chute" and bypasses the "the boot" part of the track; going from turn five straight through to turn ten. Tim Richmond would start on the pole, but the race would see

12 lead changes. In the end Richmond would acquire the lead for the last time on lap 79 and lead to the end to get the win by 1.4 seconds over Darrell Waltrip. Events from the 1991 race forced the track to make changes to it's layout. On the fifth lap of the race; Independent driver JD McDuffie had a wheel failure and it became detached from the car. McDuffie and another independent driver; Jimmy Means; collided heading down the high speed back straight going into turn #5 (now turn #9). McDuffie slid in first and pounded the tire barrier so hard that the car was thrown up into the air so high that Means car went under McDuffie and slammed the wall in the same place McDuffie had. McDuffie's car turned over while in mid-air and landed on it's roof. Means climbed from his race car and peered into McDuffie's car to check on his condition.

Means immediately started waving for safety crews to come. Much like Ken Schrader in the Dale Earnhardt wreck. The poor guy was the first to know, something was extremely wrong. The race was red flagged. Track workers surrounded the race car and held up sheets so no one could see what was going on. It took an hour and a half before the car was removed and the catch fence repaired. Another reason that it took so long to get him out of the car was they needed to wait for the police and the coroner to come and investigate the accident. When NASCAR returned the following year they had constructed a bus stop chicane along the back straight just before arriving at turn #5. It is near the end of the back stretch (on map it is turns 5,6,7 & 8); forcing the cars to slow and prevent an accident like the one that killed JD. NASCAR still races here once per year through 2022. David

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