What It Was Like Going To A Race Weekend At An Iconic Track As Someone Who Doesn’t Watch Racing

I have a confession to make. Watching racing isn’t my thing. I love being in the hot seat myself and have the greatest respect for the drivers and engineers, but I couldn’t tell you who leads NASCAR or what’s going on in F1. Ask me to name some drivers, and I’ll say Dale Earnhardt, Jeff Gordon, Parker Kligerman, or Lewis Hamilton. I don’t go to or watch races. That all changed recently when the Autopian staff descended into Watkins Glen International for a race weekend supporting a reader who sent it in a Lamborghini. As it turns out, there’s a part of racing that really gets me pumped.

On June 26, Matt, Jason, and I descended into Havana Glen, New York, for a weekend of relaxing camping and high-throttle racing thrills. Within just a short drive from our campground was Watkins Glen International, the historic raceway known for NASCAR as well as being the former home of the Formula One United States Grand Prix. Just about everything has raced on the track above Seneca Lake, including Can-Am, Trans-Am, IndyCar, the World Sportscar Championship, IROC, Formula 5000, CART, and of course, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA). Some big names have made their waves at Watkins Glen, including Mario Andretti, Jacky Ickx, and Derek Bell.

Cars have been racing around Watkins Glen, New York, since 1948, and at first, racers sped through public streets on a 6.6-mile circuit. Several tragic crashes would lead to the course moving to a hilltop circuit that still utilized public roads. Further safety concerns ended racing on the public roads of Watkins Glen, and in 1956, a proper road-racing circuit was built. The track has undergone numerous layout changes since then, and the track has become a national icon. It hasn’t just hosted all kinds of races, either, but festivals that have included acts like Phish, The Band, The Allman Brothers Band, and the Grateful Dead.

Some have called Watkins Glen International an American motorsports Mecca. Racing fans have even given it the nickname of “The Glen.” But, prior to June, it was to me just another track I was aware of, but couldn’t really tell you much about. I knew Watkins Glen had something to do with NASCAR, and that was it. But after a weekend of fun with Autopian Members at The Glen, cheering on fellow Members Daniel Morillo and his son Joaquin as they raced in the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America Series, Watkins Glen was so much more than a place to see a race; it gave me a new perspective on racing, period.

I Was The Worst Racing ‘Fan’

If you’ve read my work for long enough, you know that I don’t really cover racing that much. Try as I might, I can never stay interested in racing for very long. There was a time I was rooting for Lewis Hamilton in Formula One, but I couldn’t really tell you anything about the car he drove or what standing he was in. I didn’t even know how the Formula One points system worked.

It was similar when I was younger and thought of myself as a fan of NASCAR. I could list off some big names from the era like Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson. I even have vivid memories of Gordon’s rainbow DuPont car and Stewart’s Home Depot car. I also put in hours of racing time in some NASCAR games on the PlayStation 2. But actually watching a race? I’d fall asleep within minutes. Statistics? I couldn’t tell you who was at the top of the leaderboard.

As an adult, not much has changed. I’ll fall asleep watching a race on television and even start to nod off while watching a race in person. Back in 2022, my friends at BRP sent me to Johnson Valley to experience the King of the Hammers. I spent maybe two hours of the whole week actually watching racing, but spent the rest of the time with the throttle pinned in multiple side-by-sides, hitting whoops and obstacles myself.

To be fair, racing isn’t the only sport that can put me to sleep. I will not make it through a basketball game, a football game, a soccer game, or a hockey game without passing out. You can forget about the Olympics and stuff like golf. Weirdly, baseball is the rare exception, and I will thoroughly enjoy watching that on TV, hearing it on a radio, or being at the ballpark myself.

It’s not that I don’t like those other sports. Athletes have the kind of skill that most people will never possess. Sorry, random guys on the Internet, but you aren’t coming close to beating Serena Williams in a match. Even NASCAR is more impressive than it looks. Those cars doing nothing but left turns? They’re so hot inside that it makes Death Valley seem cool, and it takes some finesse and muscle to keep that car on the line and not flying off the track. There’s a reason why NASCAR drivers are fit; they sort of have to be to drive those machines.

I have no idea why I’m so impressed with the details and history of racing, but I pass out moments after I try to watch it. I’ll even fall asleep watching the Isle of Man TT on a TV. Of course, I have participated in amateur racing events myself, including doing innumerable rallycross laps, a motorcycle track day, racing Tanner Foust in the desert in side-by-sides, and then our very own autocross track day. I live to be in the driver’s seat. That definitely gets my heart pumping.

Going to Watkins Glen gave me an unexpected reset. I discovered a way to enjoy racing that keeps me as amped as I am when I go to a baseball park.

Racecar Overload

Our Watkins Glen trip was different the moment we parked our cars. Instead of going to the stands or setting up in the infield, we started exploring the guts of the track. We walked by countless garages and paddocks. We saw racers and engineers planning for their big race weekend. I got up close to the massive trucks that keep a race team on the move.

I’ve always thought that these trucks were giant motorhomes with a racecar garage in them.

I was not quite correct. Yes, the rig does have a sleeper for the driver, but the part of the trailer that looks like an RV is not. Instead, that’s an office for the managers and engineers to get everything locked down before the race. The rest of the trailer is basically a garage and a high-tech shop in one.

My whole view on racing changed when we arrived at the SP Motorsports paddock, where Daniel and Joaquin were preparing to take their Lamborghinis out into the hot New York sun.

The first mind-blowing thing was just getting a close look at the cars themselves. I adored looking at the intricate details, like how these cars don’t have VINs, but are built in-house by Lamborghini and have a serial number stamped where a VIN would be.

Another fascinating detail is that, while these cars look related to Lamborghini Huracán production cars, they share only a few common parts. The body and even the underlying chassis are different in the racecar, and the vast majority of the parts are unique to the racer.

Sufficiently impressed by how these cars were different, I started looking at what parts carried over. That was perhaps even more amusing. Some of the production car’s dashboard remains in the race car, as does the distinctive VAG coolant reservoir. Volkswagen Group companies have been using these plastic globes for so long that my wife’s diesel Volkswagen has one of those. It’s silly, but I love that my wife’s car shares at least one part with a fire-breathing racecar.

The engine is also derived from a production Lamborghini V10, but hopped-up for the racer.

Honestly, that was just the beginning. The SP Motorsports team was so happy to spill all of the details about its cars. They told me the tires last for only 68 miles (110 km). Racing teams at Watkins Glen were expending so many tires that weekend that they were giving them away for free to racing fans. I lost count of how many kids and dads were walking around with used-up tires in hand.

The tires aren’t even the craziest part. SP Motorsports told me that the Lamborghini’s transmission is used up in only two races. Does it get rebuilt? Nope! The transmission is so totally used up that the old transmission is simply removed from the vehicle and a new one is installed. That new transmission will then get replaced after only two races with another new transmission.

Then there’s cooling, or the lack thereof. Our lovely members told me that it gets up to around 140 degrees in the cockpit of the car. To prepare for races, drivers suit up, put on their helmet, and get in a sauna. They intentionally expose themselves to the most horrible-sounding conditions.

I asked why they couldn’t just cool down the interior. Apparently, the team can install a cooling box or a helmet cooling system. However, a cooling system adds at least 20 pounds to the car and, statistically, makes the car 2 mph slower. Other teams aren’t doing the cooling boxes, so SP Motorsports can’t sacrifice that speed.

Then, I had my mind blown at the cost of it all. SP Motorsports estimates that they spend $100,000 on every race weekend. The car itself can be around $400,000, and the parts also come with huge price tags. Oh, and the car? It gets used for a year or so and then is sold. Surprisingly to me, the car isn’t sold to another race team, but often ends up in the hands of someone who wants a track day car.

There are some not-so-surprising details, like the fact that racing is so intense on the braking system that rotors are replaced after every race. But then we got back to the amazing stuff again, like the fact that the car has its own built-in jack system.

SP Motorsports then really made my day by letting me sit behind the wheel. That was another whole new perspective. The Lamborghini Super Trofeo cars have absurdly tiny pedal boxes where you could easily try to stab the clutch but get dead pedal instead. The cars also have a neat sequential transmission that is shifted through flappy paddles.

I walked out of the SP Motorsports paddock pumped for the race. I couldn’t wait to see the Lamborghini that I just learned about tear it up on the track. I normally don’t even care about Lamborghinis!

Also amazing was walking by the race cars right before the start. It was there that I learned that the grid had some women in it, and they were good at their racing craft. Earlier in the day, a woman was leading a different race, too. That was another part to be excited about, given that some folks still see racing as a male sort of sport.

Hot Racing

Eventually, it was time to go down to the infield and watch the Lamborghinis roar onto the track. I was pumped to see the huge field of cars thunder past our position near the start of the race, and I loved hearing those V10s fly freely.

I even got a picture of our Lamborghini heroes out on the track!

The Lamborghini Super Trofeo race was cut short by a brutal crash that caused a three-car pileup. We were at the wrong part of the track to see it, but Precision Performance Motorsports driver Brandon Gdovic sustained a concussion, a leg that broke in three places, and a pelvis that broke in three places. Thankfully, modern racecar safety technology meant that all drivers survived.

The chaotic race, which also involved a broken curb that damaged cars in an earlier race, ended with a safety car on the track. In the end, Daniel Morad and Elias De La Torre of TR3 Racing swept the weekend with Pro and overall victories at the Lamborghini Super Trofeo North America races in Watkins Glen.

The next day, I returned to Watkins Glen for two more treats. Lamborghini offered me a passenger seat inside of an Urus for a hot lap.

The hot lap kept my heart redlined for more than two minutes straight. I thought that, eh, it’s a crossover, it can’t be that hardcore. Oh my, I was so wrong.

The charismatic driver behind the wheel, Jaden, had that green menace at well over 100 mph on most of the track, and he tore that crossover through every single curve. It wasn’t just me in there, either, but a racing fan with his grandmother in the front seat. These things already weigh more than 5,000 pounds, and we were rolling four-deep.

After my hot lap, I got to walk the grid for the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen that was scheduled to happen that day. Sadly, the crowd was far too huge to get a good look at any of the cars. But it was still a blast because it was something I hadn’t ever done before.

Then, I got myself a couple of Sahlen’s hot dogs and relaxed as I watched that race unfold. I did not watch the whole six hours, as I had to drive to Connecticut for the Autopian track day, but I did stick around enough to feel the engines in my heart.

I Can Get Used To This

I came away from my Watkins Glen experience with a new outlook. I loved learning about the cars, the drivers, and the technology. I loved rooting for the cars I saw in the paddocks earlier that day. I adored that I got to experience what it’s like to go through the Esses and the Boot. I think having that interactive element made the racing infinitely more fun. I got to put human faces to the cars, and I got to touch and feel the innovative machinery that wins races.

So, I think I might start going to more races. I don’t really know which ones yet, but I am excited to see what’s out there. As it turns out, I found a part of racing I love so much, and it’s the technology and the people behind the wheel. It’s finding out how race teams work and how pumped some race fans get.

If you’re like me and there’s a sport that you’re interested in, but you don’t get the enjoyment out of it that you think you should, maybe do what I did and take a look at it from another angle. Maybe you’ll find your niche!

Top graphic images: Mercedes Streeter