Watkins Glen International, September 25, 2005 2005 September 28
On Sunday, September 25 I went to Watkins Glen International for the IRL IndyCar race. Also on the schedule were the IRL Infiniti Pro Series and a race for vintage F-1 cars. The Glen was my 15′th new track of the year and 25′th track overall to see a race at.
We left my house at 5:30 AM to drive up to The Glen. Waking up at 5:00 AM to make the trip wouldn’t have been so bad, but there was an accident about 3:00 AM about 100 yards east of my house and all of the police and fire engine sirens (not to mention lights) woke me up and I probably didn’t get back to sleep until about 4:30. The ride up was pretty uneventful and we made it into the parking lot around 10:30. After walking around for a little over an hour and grabbing a Bratwurst for lunch we went to our seats to watch the vintage F-1 race. While there wasn’t much passing the race was pretty fun and it was neat to see the old F-1 cars racing (the cars competing were built from 1972-1982). The winner of the event was Bobby Rahal. The only disappointment with this race was they didn’t do a standing start.
The second race of the day was the Infiniti Pro Series. This race was more competitive then the vintage F-1 race and Jeff Simmons won the race after battling with Marco Andretti throughout the event.
The headline race of the day was the IRL IndyCar event. During pre-race introductions, pole sitter Helio Castroneves and 16′th place starter Danica Patrick* received the loudest ovations. The race was not quite as competitive as the Infinit Pro Series race but was still enjoyable. Scott Dixon took the win while Dan Wheldon clinch the championship.
I’m really much more of a fan dirt short track racing, but I’d go back to The Glen next year to see the IRL again.
My 2005 racing stats after the September 25′th IRL race at The Glen:
Races: 43
Tracks: 25 (15 new)
States: 14 (3 new)
* The attractive female Indy Car driver who has been getting so much attention lately, who, by the way, still has never won an automobile race.