From The Glen to The Palace

This October, for the first time in twenty autumns, a hamlet in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York will be without of Formula One auto race. Watkins Glen, population 3000, has hosted the United States Grand Prix every year since 1961, but this summer the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation could not come up with the prize money demanded by the International Federation of Auto Sport (known by the French acronym of FICA). "In 1970 the Formula One purse was $244,000. Last year we put up one million; this year they wanted 1.2 million," says Malcolm Currie, Executive Director of the Corporation. "If you can't afford something you obviously don't buy it."

Saturday, the first annual United States Grand Prix of Las Vegas will be run on a specially-constructed, 2.2-mile circuit that will be torn down immediately following the event. "The prize money is hard to ascertain because it is all handled through FICA," says Larry Aldenhoevel of Caeser's Palace, the Las Vegas hotel sponsoring the event. "but I do know that the man who wins is in for a lot of money."

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According to the New York State Department of Tourism, the 18 to 20 racing weekends a year at the circuit just southwest of Watkins Glen are responsible for 23 million dollars of revenue annually. "Just how much of that comes in from the Grand Prix is impossible to say," Currie says, although he says it is by far the most lucrative event.

Despite the estimated 250,000 people that annually attend racing events at the circuit, the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation has traditionally been plagued by financial trouble. In 1971, the corporation was forced to finance a renovation of the facility by selling the track to the Schuyler County Industrial Development Agency. The Agency then issued bonds and leased the track back to the corporation, which continued in the capacity of operator.

This August, faced with the potential loss of the Formula One race and already in debt to FICA for a substantial portion of the prize money from the 1980 race, the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation field for bankruptcy. Obviously any chance the Corporation had of raising 1.2 million dollars to finance this year's race disappeared at that point, and FICA officially removed the event from the 1981 schedule.

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Vic Franzese is the owner of the largest hotel in the Watkins Glen area, the Glen Motor Inn. He is also the Chairman of the Industrial Development Agency, which technically still owns the circuit and hopes to regain control of it.

"The Corporation is in a state of financial chaos," Franzese says. "It applied to the court and was granted Chapter 11 status, which means it can still operate the facility until further notice."

And the facility has continued to operate, with a hastily planned Indy-style race taking the place of the Formula One event this season, and a full schedule of races--minus the Grand Prix, naturally--on the tap for next year.

But the question is larger than just the financial survival of the Watkins Glen corporation. If a town like Watkins Glen corporation. If a town like Watkins Glen that has supported racing for two decades is suddenly unable to continue to host a Formula One event will other racing organizations, and other races, disappear from the international auto racing scene as well? Franzese thinks so.

"There is a Formula One event currently scheduled for June 13, 1982 in Detroit that is in jeopardy," he says. "The reason is that FICA has upped its demands for prize money from 1.25 million to two million, and the organizers just can't pay it. Also, I think--and you have to check on this--that the Spanish Grand Prix and Austrian Grand Prix are off the 1982 schedule as well for the same reason. Two million dollars is just unreasonable--no track in the world will pay that."

Yet obviously somebody has, for the United States Grand Prix will take place as scheduled Saturday in Las Vegas.

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"The first thing you have to understand is that when we decided we were interested in running a Grand Prix, Watkins Glen was still in the running," says Aldenhoevel by phone from Caeser's Palace. "Our Grand Prix had nothing to do with Watkins Glen not picking it up. Conceivably, there could have been three Grand Prix in the United States this year. (A Formula One event in Long Beach, California took place in July.)"

Aldenhoevel says Caeser's Palace has signed a contract with FICA to run a United States Grand Prix in Las Vegas for each of the next four years. No other racing will be done at the site; the track will be torn down and reconstructed every fall.

"The course is constructed over 2.2 miles of track and it covers 75 acres of ground," Aldenhoevel explains. "Much of that ground is our parking lot and we need it back as soon as possible."

It is not surprising that no other racing will take place at the track--Caeser's Palace is not a racing organization, it is a casino. The Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation is solely a racing organization, however, and if it is to survive it will survive by promoting auto races. Hence, this year's Indy-style event.

"Actually, this year's race was much more exciting than the past few Grand Prix have been, from a pure racing point of view," says Franzese. "Rick Mears won an awfully good event that had four or five lead changes and real good racing. But what goes on around the Grand Prix is more exciting than the race itself."

The Corporation is hoping the last-minute nature of the Indy race and general confusion surrounding it ("The hardly promoted at all"--Franzese) led to the disappointing turnout. "We have Can Am, Trans Am, Formula Atlantic, Six Hour Endurance and Indy-Style races scheduled for next year," Currie said. "The race track is still running."

And he believes that racing at Watkins Glen can survive and flourish without the Grand Prix--which he is not expecting back.

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And so this weekend the world's top drivers and the whole of the International Circus Show that is Formula One racing set up shop in Nevada for what is officially termed the United States Grand Prix of Las Vegas. While Aldenhoevel may stress that the event has nothing to do with the traditional U.S. Grand Prix, the comparison is inevitable. Meanwhile, 2500 miles east, Franzese is not nearly as pessimistic as Currie regarding the return of Formula One racing to Watkins Glen.

"I think a Grand Prix will come back, but it all depends on prize money," he says and reiterates that he feels two million dollars is unreasonable. "I would have to say the Grand Prix weekend is twice as big as any other around here. Everyone misses that."