1955 Watkins Glen. Most cars stayed in town at their motel or in a local car agency or gas station. It was common to see exotic cars going down a village street. This is Howard Hanna in his Maserati Grand Prix car.
The Ferrari 166 coupe of John Sharpe is just off the jack outside tech inspection at Smalley’s. Driven by Fred Woodmansee, the little V12 was a DNF.
1955 Watkins Glen. Brooks Stevens Excalibur sits in front of the local Pontiac dealership. Many local schools just accepted teen boys wouldn’t be at school. Here a bunch admire this very unusually styed car.
1956 Watkins Glen. The first race on the new course. One of the first Elva’s in North America in front of a Healey 100s and alongside Bob Wilson’s Allard J-2-X
Despite cloudy weather and the SCCA removing sanction, the folks came to see the new track. It was not 100% completed but the entrants voted to race despite Jim Kimberley’s telegram asking them to withdraw. Amazing is that telegram was read to dri
John Clapp gets his Porsche 1500 ready in front of the Pontiac dealership. Clapp was quick and finished 2nd in the Schuyler Carrera for FP & GP cars.
Old Tech. Some younger readers may not recognize what is happening, but this shot is performing a wheel balance on Bob Bucher’s Allard JR. The little wheel has an electric motor that spins the cars wheel and a strobe looks for the imbalance.
We’re not sure what is happening here. Dozens of race cars on the starting grid, but of all different classes. More cars are coming into the course on Wedgewood Road. Could it have been a track familiarization run on Thursday or Friday?
The grid for the he first race on the new course, the Seneca Cup. This field was basically unrestricted, but most cars were DP Healey’s, Triumph’s and a couple Morgans. You can see Bill Millikens’s monster 4WD Archie Butterworth #2. The race was
The second race was the Collier Brothers Memorial and the new MGA’s placed 1 to 8. BARCboy Sherm Decker won and gets congratulations from starter Tex Hopkins. The two would meet many more times as Decker won a lot of races.
Tech Inspection has Bob Goldich’s Ferrari next to the Milliken Butterball Special. This was a Brit F1 car from 1948 that Milliken brought to the US and rebuilt in the Cornell Aeronautical Lab where Milliken taught.
The winning D Type Jag driven by George Constantine. I’ve seen a retouched color shot of the car being light blue. I was there and remember it as being a kind of mustard light yellow. Does anyone have a color photo of that car?
The fabulous last turn at the original Glen course. Bill Sadler’s car handled terribly with its new Chevy engine replacing the original 4 cyl. Behind him is the Excalibur of Hal Ullrich and the Ferrari of Bob Goldich. Sadler finished 9th, Goldich
The last lap of the first race weekend at the new Watkins Glen circuit. George Constantine takes the checker from Tex Hopkins. Thanks to Doc Wyllie and the drivers who said “hell no” to the SCCA and raced. If they had cancelled, the Glen as we kno
A long story here of an HM special driven by BARC member Ed Licht. The car was built in Rochester by the Morgan family. They brought it to the Glen to race but neither had a competition license. Ed was suggested and drove the car but it didn’t fi
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