Watkins Glen, home to American road racing!

Watkins Glen, home to American road racing!. . , "Bring on the cars!" , These four simple words written on a postcard by Arthur H. Richards Jr., a reporter for the Elmira Star-Gazette, in 1948 launched a road race that transformed the village of Watkins Glen, ensuring its ongoing role as a welcoming host to motorsports events and the racing community., On October 2, 1948, Watkins Glen served as the venue for the first post-World War II American road race. Sports cars entered in the inaugural Grand Prix in Watkins Glen traversed a 6.6-mile course through the village, around the spectacular gorge in Watkins Glen State Park, and through surrounding farmland. Cars lined up here, behind the original start-finish line in front of the Schuyler County Court House on Franklin Street, the village's main street, while curious spectators rimmed the streets., Conceived by Cameron R. Argetsinger, a racing enthusiast from Youngstown, Ohio who summered on Seneca Lake, the event brought the excitement and prestige of European road racing across the Atlantic. It heralded the emergence of American sports car racing and featured an eclectic mix of race cars. A field of 23 cars in the Junior Prix, the qualifying race for the Grand Prix held later the same day, christened the newly created circuit. Nine MG TC Midgets, many older European factory-produced cars, and a couple homemade specials raced over asphalt, cement, and dirt roads, up and down hills, crossing a stone bridge and the New York Central's rail line along the circuit's demanding loop. Seventeen of the starters completed the first race. Frank Griswold Jr. of Wayne, Pennsylvania took the checkered flag driving his Alfa-Romeo 26.4 miles at an average of 64.5 mph, completing four laps in 24 minutes and 33 seconds., Argetsinger's outlandish dream of creating an international road racing circuit in the remote Finger Lakes Region of Upstate New York required the support of local and racing communities to implement. It brought together members of the fledgling Sports Car Club of America, Watkins Glen community leaders, the Chamber of Commerce, and local journalists and boosters. Village automobile garages and car dealerships served as team headquarters and provided technical support. State, county, town, and village governments, as well as the state park service, supported the effort, granting permission to racers to run their cars over roads maintained by multiple jurisdictions. Residents welcomed, housed, and fed visitors; admired the fast, beautifully designed sports cars; and cheered the racers., Watkins Glen hosted the Grand Prix on area public roads from 1948 to 1955, until the first permanent circuit, now known as Watkins Glen International, opened on County Route 16 in the Town of Dix in 1956. The brick memorials on either side of Franklin Street mark the location of the start-finish line from 1948 to 1952., [Photo captions, counterclockwise from top left, read] , . Cameron Argetsinger in Watkins Glen, 1949 , . 1952 Starting Line , . Grand Prix [1948 poster or program] , . 1952 Grand Prix [ticket] , . Grand Prix Race Course Start and Finish Line , . Race official 1951 [button] , . 1948 Grand Prix