Yesterday (Sunday, May 10), you likely saw Shane van Gisbergen kick serious butt at Watkins Glen International to earn his second consecutive victory on the 2.45-mile road course and seventh win overall. There were a couple of things that were different about this triumph compared to last year.
First, the race was extended from 90 to 100 laps, an extra 24.5 miles. I’ve held the opinion that the race was too short at 90 laps for many years. But that’s not why we’re here.
The much more significant difference was that NASCAR chose to move the race from the traditional second Sunday in August to Mother’s Day weekend. That move came with a lot of issues.
First, there’s a staunch group of fans who are opposed to racing on Mother’s Day in general. Traditionally, this was a weekend off in NASCAR, spent with family. A lot of drivers and teams cherished that time with their immediate family, away from the grind.
Second, Watkins Glen in early to mid-August is just about perfect, weather-wise. While it is possible to have hot weather that time of year, the more likely forecast would be for highs around 80° with low humidity. It was a comfortable race to watch in person.
The nights could be a little chilly, but manageable. Nothing a light jacket or a sweater couldn’t fix.
Third, Watkins Glen’s NASCAR race weekend is traditionally very popular with families. You see a lot of children camping with their parents, younger people taking in the happenings, along with the diehard race fans.
Having the race weekend in May means that all of those kids are still in school. You would have to arrive late or leave early since pulling kids out of school for any reason that doesn’t involve illness is explicitly frowned upon these days. Even without the bad weather, campers with children were likely planning to leave as soon as they could for that very reason. My friend Rusty and his family were in that boat since his kids had school on Monday.
It wasn’t all that long ago that Watkins Glen was considered to have one of the most vibrant campgrounds during NASCAR weekends. A place that went below the radar, if you will.
Finally, spring in Upstate New York can be rather sketchy. Depending on what happens in the winter, you could have a situation in which deep frost might not have melted all the way. That results in very soft and muddy soil, even without rain. You wouldn’t want to even step on that grass.
As a long-time resident of New York, I’m well aware of what spring can be like here. Last year, there was frequent rain that always seemed to fall on Saturdays. Dirt tracks that ran on Saturdays had a bunch of cancellations. It was Memorial Day before they could get into any rhythm.
This year has been similar. The winter saw long periods of below-normal, very cold weather. That allows frost to get really deep in the soil. Not only has there been a lot of rain this spring, but temperatures have been below normal as well. That not only makes it really hard to race on dirt, but the soil cannot fully dry out and become suitable to do anything on.
What we saw last weekend was a continuation of that cool and clammy weather. I’ve covered 25 race weekends for Frontstretch at Watkins Glen between NASCAR, IMSA and SRO America dating back to 2009. This was by far the coldest of the bunch. The nasty 2023 ARCA Menards Series race that I referenced Saturday regarding the Mission 200 at the Glen is a close second since it was raining and almost dark when that ended.
Friday was miserable. ARCA qualifying was cancelled and replaced with a practice session since it was 40° and raining at the scheduled start time. Stephen Mallozzi noticed something else that I admittedly did not that morning.
Am I surprised that flakes apparently showed up Friday morning? Not particularly. When I was putting together NASCAR on TV This Week for Watkins Glen, I saw weather reports for the three local stations in Elmira that indicated a chance of mixed precipitation for late Thursday night/early Friday morning.
Also, it’s snowed in New York in May before. When I was a senior in high school, we had a snowstorm on May 18, the day of my younger sister’s junior prom.
This past weekend, the grounds were a complete mess. Mud was everywhere. If you slipped and fell, you had to change your clothes. Luckily, I did. Even the souvenir alley was a mess. Boots were mandatory, even for the media.
Of note, the campground picture above was from the B section on the inside of the backstretch. It was generally one of the better areas as far as mud was involved, but as you can see, there were problem areas.
Because of the muddy conditions, WGI had to institute parking changes for Sunday.
To orient you, Lot 3 is located outside of the track behind the straight between turns 1 and 2. Lots 4-6 are located to the west of the track on hillsides. In the past, Lot 3 was a premium parking lot while Lots 4-6 were regular free parking lots.
There were also messages all weekend on the track’s social media that indicated that campers couldn’t enter or leave after 8:30 p.m. ET. Why? They had been employing tractors all weekend to pull trailers into or out of lots because people were getting stuck. The operators went off-duty at that time. I personally saw this happening Sunday morning as one camper had his trailer pulled out so that he could be ready to leave as soon as the race ended.
Put all of this together and you end up with the quagmire that was last weekend. None of this was WGI’s fault. It’s unlikely that they requested Mother’s Day weekend for NASCAR. They got stuck with it.
Almost everyone was angry about the date change. We didn’t even get to on-track activity before track president Dawn Burlew announced that next week’s NASCAR race weekend will be back in September as a Chase race (for Cup).
Local NBC affiliate WETM talked with unhappy campers about the change during load-in day on Wednesday. While some fans liked it, others were not happy with NASCAR over the move. One described it as “Playing Russian Roulette with the weather.”
I tend to agree. When Formula 1 raced at Watkins Glen, its annual race was around the first weekend of October. You likely had similar weather to what we had last weekend. While it could be nice (and it was when the sun came out), it could be brisk.
No one was expecting the high winds that kicked up during the race. Seeing a tent on the track to draw a caution is really unusual. Can’t predict that at all.
While we don’t have official numbers, I’m pretty sure attendance was down over previous years. Being in New York, I’ve been inundated with digital ads for the Watkins Glen weekend on social media and Google ads for the last three months, many of which featured pictures of Connor Zilisch.
While it’s always good to advertise upcoming weekends to get the word out, Watkins Glen hasn’t traditionally needed to get it out there to that degree. Remember that the track had a series of sellouts in the late 2010s. The internet advertising blitz was a signal to me that ticket sales weren’t great.
Moving the race next year back to September, where it ran in 2024, will bring a new set of issues. However, it should be more comfortable for everyone involved.
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the Frontstretch email newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the Frontstretch Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
On top of all of that crap, the race pretty much sucked. Follow Shane all day……
Remember this is the same organization that thought the Southern 500 should be run in California not Darlington. And it took several years to get that back in order.
Back in the F1 days when the race was held at the first of October I used to put the snow tires on my car to be ready for the quagmire the Glen turns into when there’s lots of rain.
Remember the BOG!
And if Chase Elliot had won, you would have written a completely different article…
I agree with Daylight. I live only 15 minutes from Martinsville and for over 50 years been attending races there on and off. My Dad and I went for 25 straight years to both races up until maybe 10 years ago. When NASCAR started pushing the dates earlier in the spring and later in the fall from the traditional late April and late September dates, we stopped going. I just couldn’t take the cold for 5-6 hours any longer and neither could he. And apparently, so did at least 1/3 of the others. Attendance is at least that much less now. But a summer race under the new multi-million dollar lighting system that is barely used for Cup would be great on a hot slick track.
Count me among that group. I’m a few hours away from Martinsville. The first race I attended there was in the early 80s, when I was six years old. I’m close enough to get up early, drive down and tailgate for a bit, tailgate after while the crowds thin out, and still get home at a reasonable hour. (Always a designated driver in our group.) Between not wanting to plan a trip during possibly cold weather, and the cold hurting the racing, I quit going awhile back. Probably won’t return at this point, but I’d bet many will with more logical scheduling.
Who’s idea was it to change the date?
Glad reason seems to be winning the day here, moving it to (hopefully) early September. Now, let’s fix a few other scheduling issues. NASCAR isn’t football, where 90% of the attendees arrive, watch the game, and go home. For many, camping has always been an integral part of the NASCAR experience.
Martinsville late March: Cold, and snow isn’t unheard of into early April at Martinsville. Also, Martinsville is at its best when the track is hot and greasy, so the cars aren’t on rails.
Bristol early April: Cold, and though snow is unlikely, it’s not out of the question.
Martinsville early November: Cold. Is NASCAR actively trying to kill Martinsville?