Watkins Glen celebrates the 70th anniversary of the Corvette

Corvette production began 70 years ago in 1953 for a sports car conceived by GM Stylist Harley Earl while serving in 1951 as Grand Marshal.   The races were held on a death-defying 6.6-mile circuit that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.  Drivers started on Franklin Street in downtown Watkins Glen, climbed a long hill, braked hard to enter the state park, raced across the old stone bridge spanning the gorge, emerged, crossed the NYC railroad tracks and plunged down a long sweeping curve, braked for a hard left/right to finish where they started.

On display at the Subway parking lot downtown were the # 1 1959 SCCA BP Nikey Chevrolet Purple People Eater owned by Phil Schwartz and the # 4 1960 Le Mans Camoradi team Corvette owned by Dominick Testa.

 Brian Barker, Director of Education and Community Outreach for the National Corvette Museum (NCM) drove this C8 Corvette Convertible from Bowling Green KY to lead a symposium with Alan Blay, encyclopedic editor of On Solid Ground, published by the Solid Axle Corvette Club and owner of 1953 Corvette 075 shown above.

Brian and Alan led an informative symposium, entitled All You Ever Wanted to Know about Corvette, hosted by the International Motor Racing Research Center (IMRRC).

This # 21 1989 ex-Fred Baker Corvette Challenge car brought by Will Bernatovich was on display downtown and at the US Vintage Grand Prix races held by the Sports Car Vintage Racing Association (SVRA).

Jim Glass’ wife and his crew, Simon Lane & wife, Ray & Zach Zisa and Chuck Ward & wife took part in the traditional race re-enactment staged on the original road course.