Track will replace three grandstands

    WATKINS GLEN—The parent company of Watkins Glen International, International Speedway has approved approximately $1.5 million of funding to replace three more grandstands at WGI for the 2012 racing season. This latest capital improvement project will bring the amount invested into the track facility since 2001 to just over $30 million.
    “We have been focused on our fan plan over the last several seasons and this is just the next step in enhancing the experience we offer here at The Glen,” said Watkins Glen International president, Michael Printup. “The feedback we have received about this year’s improvements has been overwhelmingly positive and we are ecstatic to further address our fans’ needs. These new grandstands will not just be more comfortable, but also offer new sightlines that fans in those seats have never experienced. It’s going to be another great year at The Glen in 2012.”
    The latest round of capital improvements will replace three grandstands—the Ninety, located on the outside of Turn 1, as well as the Red, White and Blue, and McDonald’s Family Grandstands which are located at the bottom and top of the famed Esses, respectively. All three have wooden bleacher seats and will be replaced by metal structures that match the four grandstands that were built during the 2011 season. The completion of this project will add approximately 2,000 seats and mean that every grandstand, with the exception of Pit Terrace, has been replaced since the beginning of the 2005 season.
    The Glen has been undergoing a series of major capital improvements over the past 10 years including replacing four grandstands, building a new Glen Club and adding permanent showers in 2011, the addition of SAFER barriers and extended runoff areas in several turns in 2010, the new media center in 2008, track repaving in 2006, a new grandstand along the front stretch in 2005, and an upgrade to the garage and an improved water and sewer system that included the additions of showers in the Gate 1 campground from 2001 through 2004. (All projects are listed according to year they were completed).