The Month Of May: America’s Great Race Courses at their Best

Last year, it was announced that NASCAR’s Watkins Glen race weekend was moving from its long-running August date. Since 1986, only twice has it not run in August, in 2020, during the height of the COVID pandemic, and 2024, where the race ran in September to include the track in the NASCAR Playoffs. The 2026 date would be on Mother’s Day, May 10, in 2026.

Logistically, the race weekend has been a nightmare. Restricting access to campgrounds, issuing arrival deadlines, stuck cars and campers, a lot due to the moist spring ground in upstate New York. But, the racing has been fantastic all weekend, as is expected from what I believe is America’s greatest race course.

In the middle of the country, however, there’s another famous racing event that traditionally runs the entire month of May. From free testing, a “grand prix” on the road configuration, then countless practice sessions, qualifying, and the biggest sporting event in the world, Indianapolis absolutely has a claim to America’s greatest race course.

While Watkins Glen and Indianapolis have been near each other for many years on the NASCAR schedule, May 2026 provides us an opportunity to see both tracks at their best. This is not an exhaustive history of the two tracks, but more some thoughts about how the two have a similar history, triumph, tragedy, years of dormancy, and being the American icons of their respective racing disciplines.

History

There’s no argument that Indianapolis has the richest history of these two tracks, opening in 1909, 40 years before the first Watkins Glen Grand Prix, which was actually miles away from the current track. Both have hosted rounds of the Formula 1 championship, both for similar amounts of time.

The town of Watkins Glen hosted its first Grand Prix in 1948, running through the town itself, and around Watkins Glen State Park. The course is all on public roads, and can be driven today. In 1952, the death of a 7-year old spectator and statewide ban of auto racing on state routes led to the relocation of the track to its current location.

At this time, the Indianapolis 500 mile race had already become the great test of man and machine. A prestigious, historic race that drivers from all around the world wanted to claim victory in. In 1950, the race officially became part of the Formula 1 championship, not many F1 drivers participated, but it gave the race much more legitimacy on the international stage. 

In 1961, the FIA no longer sanctioned the 500 mile race as part of the F1 schedule. Coincidentally, this was the first year of the new United States Grand Prix, hosted in Watkins Glen on their brand new race course. After two tumultuous years in Sebring and Riverside, The Grand Prix finally found a long-term home and hosted the race through 1980. 

The Grand Prix was a true success, and confirmed Watkins Glen’s status as the motorsports destination in the country. In 1971, the course was reconfigured to mostly what we see today, with the boot, and the pit road and front stretch located to where they are now. This allowed for more speed, and brought some welcome improvements for drivers and spectators alike. However, as Formula 1 was entering a new era, and the track being located where it is, a pair of fatal crashes, and a debt to the FIA, it was the end of F1 in Watkins Glen, and the end of the United States Grand Prix as it existed through the 60’s and 70’s – but we’ll get back to the USGP later.

Around the same time in Indianapolis, surprisingly, Formula 1 presence in the 500 increased after the race was no longer on the F1 calendar. Lotus made their debut, and wins by Jim Clark and Graham Hill made the international perception a reality for the race. Both The Glen and Indianapolis were synonymous with international motorsport.

During both World Wars, Indianapolis lay dormant. In World War I, the track was used as an aviation depot. Watkins Glen had silent years as well, following their debt to the FIA, the track went bankrupt and was not used until Corning teamed up with International Speedway Corporation to purchase the track – a move that would save the track and result in much of how the course looks today. 

Risk

Just to be clear, this is not about how a dangerous track is better, but danger and increased risk can create a reputation, both negative and positive for a track. We, as humans are fascinated by danger, that’s why we watch these guys strap into these land rockets and compete. Motorsport has always been dangerous. The early days in Indianapolis were deadly, with 12 deaths in the first decade alone. As speeds increased, things got even deadlier, through the 1930s, with 23 deaths between drivers, crew members, riding mechanics and spectators. 

Watkins Glen as we know it wouldn’t exist if not for a fatal incident. As morbid as it sounds, both tracks have foundations in tragedy, and the scars and reminders of such incidents are seen on both tracks today, mostly in the safety improvements over the decades.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway has to be at the forefront of safety. They experimented with many different safety devices, from foam barriers, and eventually SAFER barriers. Watkins Glen, on the other hand has retained many of the features it’s had over the years. Armco barriers, similar to guardrails on the side of any highway in the country, still line most of the track. Though they have experimented with many different alternatives in other parts of the track, from the absorbing foam in Turn 1 that Jimmie Johnson famously crashed into in 2000, to the addition, and removal of sand traps, and now tire bundles enforcing a racing line in NASCAR.

Indianapolis, being an oval, has minimal options for reconfiguration when it comes to safety concerns. Watkins Glen, however has made massive changes to the layout to promote safety. After the deaths of François Cevert and Helmut Koinigg, Watkins Glen reconfigured the esses, to attempt to reduce speed, especially as they carried incredible speed down that backstretch.

In 1991, the next major reconfiguration became necessary after a severe crash for Trans-Am driver Tommy Kendall and the death of NASCAR driver J.D. McDuffie. Those speeds down that stretch kept increasing, leaving minimal margins, and after a brake failure and collision with another car, McDuffie was along for the ride into those armco walls. The car flipped, violently, and McDuffie was killed. After that, the track added a chicane, now known as the “bus stop” just before that turn, slowing the cars down, and giving drivers a ton more time to react if they did have any brake issues heading into the sharp descending right-hander. McDuffie was the last driver to die in a major event at Watkins Glen.

Indianapolis, however, continued to claim lives of drivers for decades, some of that is just the nature of the cars that drive there. Indycars travel at excess of 235 MPH, and part of what makes Indianapolis Indianapolis, is the speed – and maintaining it for 500 miles. One part failure is all it takes for disaster. Though, for a decade, the speedway did not claim a life. Gordon Smiley’s death in 1982 was the last death until Jovy Marcelo in 1992. In 1996, after claiming the pole, Scott Brayton was killed in a practice accident, after running over debris. Brayton’s death was the last death during an Indianapolis 500 race or practice. In 2003, Chip Ganassi driver Tony Renna was killed in an accident while testing, where his car went airborne, with reports saying the car ended up in the grandstands. This led to more safety changes, and Renna’s death has been the last of an Indycar driver at the speedway.

Though they made both tracks safer, the safety changes have not reduced the amount of spectacular incidents, however. Scott Dixon had a big crash in 2017, getting airborne after contact. Even Mario Andretti had a crash during a test session in 2003, with the car doing a full backflip in the air after the nose of the car was damaged. A lot of that is due to improvements made to the car as well as the track. While the speeds still make everything incredibly dangerous, drivers are way more likely to walk away from spectacular wrecks at Indianapolis.

The same goes for Watkins Glen, wild rides for Ryan Newman and David Reutimann are first to come to mind. The way the track funnels down with that same old armco barriers on the side leads to cars bouncing into traffic, flipping, and overall huge messes on the track. In 2016, Brad Keselowski had a brake failure during a test and had a massive accident similar to Johson’s crash. 5 years earlier, Denny Hamlin had a similar crash as well. Both Keselowski and Hamlin walked away.

Diversity of Racing

Indianapolis is absolutely the most important oval track in the world. It’s built for speed. And Indycars, as the name would imply, are built for the circuit. While other racing series visit the speedway, they rarely provide interesting racing. In NASCAR, the oval circuit got so boring that they moved the NASCAR races to the infield road course for a few years. The Indy road course is interesting, and one with such a complex, weird history. 

And this is where we get back to the United States Grand Prix, in 2000, Formula 1 returned to the speedway, to its brand new infield road course. The race had some interesting moments, and hosted some cool crossovers including Jeff Gordon and Juan Pablo Montoya’s car swap. But the United States Grand Prix at Indianapolis is synonymous with controversy, and is widely considered a failure. 2005 was a complete embarrassment for F1, and set the series back decades in getting a foothold in the US. It was so bad, the event ended in 2007, and F1 didn’t return to the US until 2012.

The Indianapolis Grand Prix IndyCar race has become a modern staple of the series, but it does just feel like a supplementary event leading into the big 500 mile race. It has had some truly fantastic racing, but its largely overshadowed by its much bigger oval counterpart. IMSA and other series come to the road course, but the history isn’t really there. Indy’s history is rich, but only on the oval side.

Watkins Glen, however, is always a favorite. Even after losing the F1 Grand Prix, the 6-hour endurance race became a huge event for the track. In 1986, NASCAR began its time as a mainstay at the track. Since then, it’s been an exciting part of the schedule, and for a good part of its tenure was one of the two times NASCAR turned right during the year. It also hosted a similar car swap between Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart.

Watkins Glen’s combination of speed and finesse has led to compelling stories no matter what series, or even what class you’re paying attention to. NASCAR has had complete thrillers, last lap dramatics, 2001 saw Jeff Gordon inch one out against Jeff Burton, Marcos Ambrose’s wins in 2011 and 2012, Chase Elliott’s first win, the battle between Chris Buescher and Shane Van Gisbergen, and even Connor Zilisch chasing down Jesse Love, and another incredible SVG drive this past weekend. 

The sports car races are just as compelling, there’s just something about Watkins Glen that makes it so even after 6 hours, there’s still much to be settled in the final moments of the race. Indycar also had a tenure at the track, never a mainstay, but the racing was always interesting. We got a couple of bonus races, too when the Boston IndyCar race fell through. 

Impact Beyond Motorsports

There’s no race course on the planet that’s more famous than Indianapolis. That’s guaranteed, and even for those who aren’t motorsports fans, it’s an attraction each year. Whether it’s the Snake Pit in its various forms, or just the event experience, it’s transcended motorsports.]

Watkins Glen has, but more regionally. People know of Watkins Glen as “the place where the track is”, the town itself is beautiful, at the southern end of Seneca Lake. It’s made the town an icon in the finger lakes, and the track draws tens of thousands of visitors each year. It also held the record for the largest concert, Summer Jam 1973, with an estimated attendance almost 200,000 greater than Woodstock, featuring The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, and The Band, with recordings from the Glen popping up on various live releases from all three bands. In more recent years, Phish also held festivals on the grounds. 

As we wrapped up Watkins Glen this week, the attention of the racing world turns back to Indianapolis. A place where history continues to be made, this week with Katherine Legge announcing she will attempt the double – Indianapolis and NASCAR in Charlotte. Being the first woman and non-American to attempt the feat. While that’s awesome, we think she already ran our favorite cross-discipline double, running The Glen and the Indy 500 in the same month. If you couldn’t tell from the Glen photos, we’re Kat fans.

Note: All photos of modern-day Watkins Glen taken by Rich. Photos of Indianapolis are used under Creative Commons license, and credited as necessary.