Watkins Glen Friday Notebook

UPDATE A good size crowd has shown up this weekend at The Glen. The camping areas are packed and as the weekend progresses more and more people are coming in. The grandstands were rather empty today, but most folks were enjoying their campsite with their family……..The track of Watkins Glen has gone green. Officials from Watkins Glen International announced today that WGI will be the first major US motorsports facility to use renewable energy to fulfill all of its energy needs. WGI has purchased 1.03 million kWh of Green-e certified renewable energy credits (RECs), which is equal to 100% of its projected energy-use. Juice Energy, Inc. helped facilitate the purchase, and arranged for WGI to be powered by wind turbines from across the US. The agreement with Juice Energy will guarantee the use of green energy at WGI for the next three years. "This is a major milestone for motorsports facilities. It is great to partner with Juice Energy on the extraordinary purchase of Green-e certified wind RECs equal to 100% of our annual electricity usage," stated Craig Rust, president of Watkins Glen International. "As the premier road racing facility in North America we are now proud to be the most environmentally conscious as well." ……The new media center The Glen built is a major improvement over the dilapidated building it replaced. All the journalists commented about how impressed they were……

07/04/08 The start of IndyCar practice was delayed due to a young deer on the track…..Several teams confirmed that the cost to go to Richmond far exceeded the reward. "We don't belong at places like that, because we don't have fenders and can bounce off the walls like NASCAR" was the comment we got.