Watkins Glen International Banquet & Catering Services in Watkins Glen, NY

Reviewing "Drive the Glen!" Amazing experience, my boyfriend can't stop smiling about it. The secret is to go in the off season- we went late October right before they closed for the season. It was us and only one other car, so we got a lot more speed. Our pace car guide was very friendly and took our pictures as well on a finish line photo op between the second and third lap. For $30, this was a steal.

Commenting solely on "Drive the Glen" Great deal and lots of fun. $30 per car gets you three laps around the track, though top speed is limited to 55 mph. That being said, if you're someone with a nice car who isn't afraid of it, show up early. Website says 45 minutes early, but you might want to be earlier. These are completely street legal cars (ex: a minivan with a clamshell on top) with regular people driving them, and the possibility of being stuck behind someone who is afraid of their own car is decent. On my run, we were stuck behind someone in a Nissan sentra doing 25-30 mph *on the straights* which was completely ridiculous. We lost sight of the pace car after one lap. You're *supposed* to keep within two car lengths, but clearly no one was policing that given the sentra, so I would do my best to drop back so I could take the exciting parts at the speed limit of 55 (e.g. the cichane, esses, etc.). It was difficult tho... 35 mph on a raceway straight is just soooo slow. So keep that in mind if you decide to go. Don't bother with tix and waiver online, they prefer if you do it all at the track, just bring a credit card. Slow drivers who have no business being anywhere near a racetrack aside, a great value and lots of fun!

The wine tasting event on July 9 & 10 was poorly organized and far too overcrowded. Timed entrances are needed.

I'm only commenting on "drive the Glen" which allows you to drive 3 laps of the race course for $30. It's a great idea and a great deal. You purchase your ticket on their website and show up to Gate 2. They run these at 12:00 and at 5:00 on most days. So you get 2 chances every day to drive on a real race track. However, because there's no passing allowed (for good reason), we ended up stuck behind some extremely timid drivers. Seriously, I've seen funeral processions go faster than this bunch. We were all told to keep 1-2 car lengths from each other. And as soon as we STARTED turning onto the track, I saw huge gaps appearing. The first lap was deliberately slow of course. Even so, the gap between most cars was probably a whole block. I was #6 car. Within the first half a lap, the pace car was nowhere to be found. I stuck to the Tesla in front of me. But he left a half a block in front of him. And every car in front of him left an entire block. The guy in back of me left a whole block. And I couldn't even see any of the 10 cars that were supposed to be following him. What a disappointment. Not the fault of the track or staff. Just some really really timid drivers. And I was driving a 2015 Honda Pilot!! Next time, I'll come early and be #1 car. Or maybe I'll bring my even less appropriate track vehicle - a Jeep Wrangler. Couldn't possibly be slower than a wrangler on a track right??

2021 Go Bowling 200. We camped in the family section. Generally well behaved group with bathrooms and showers in the immediate area. Good sized sites - some more level than others so make sure you bring lots of blocks, etc. it was also a little muddy so some had trouble leveling because the ground was soft. Bathrooms cleaned and stocked regularly. Lines gathered for the showers by mid morning but if you planned around that, you never had to wait. Water temps varies from warm to warmer, but that was okay with warm, sweaty days. Having access to the infield by crossing the track with stairs over the barriers was convenient, but it wasn't clear when it would be open. There was also a water spigot near the bathrooms to use, but no water trucks traversing the infield to fill your tanks. Joyride golf carts were all over the place, but it's not clear that there is a fee until it's too late. Personal golf carts are not allowed unless you have approval. While everyone's need is not visible, there were a lot of personal golf carts. We had a group on a golf cart using the bathrooms at 2 am next to our camper that were not very respectful, but they took it down a few notches after asking them to be quiet. This was our first road course and we had seats on the front stretch by the start/finish line. We were not used to having the concessions so spread out so your choices by your seats were pretty limited. Concessions were your typical hamburgers, tenders, hot dogs, fries and nachos. Bruce other popular concession was Riccio's pizza. If you've been to other tracks, they usually have small vendors set up selling specialty items like sausage and steak and cheese grinders. Could be COVID related.... The grandstands were sold out but not everyone makes it to their seat so we had plenty of room which was great. Getting in and out of the track was easy. We were a little disappointed that they weren't selling tickets for Saturday only. We have friends in the area that drove down to see us and we would have loved to introduce them to the NASCAR scene but it wasn't worth $160 each for a few hours. We met up at a brewery outside the track instead. The track has dumping stations - there were two just up the road from our site and there was a long line this morning. There are trucks that roam the campgrounds to empty tanks (for a fee). Plenty of garbage cans to use and garbage trucks came by daily. The camping area to the south of us was pretty raucous - fireworks, loud music and groups handing out beads to ladies who were willing to show their stuff but quiet hours were generally adhered to.