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I’m not much of a race fan....NASCAR/Formula 1, I mean – never have been. However, quite a few MTMers are, and my guess is OLD_NICKatNITE is one of them. Last year there seemed to be a NASCAR craze going on within the MTM community, which I believe was mostly triggered by the untimely death of racing legend Dale Earnhardt. Although the “fever” lasted only a short while, its influence gave way to several NASCAR tracks for MTMers, and in my opinion, “Watkins Glenn” stands out from the rest.
Since this is a replica of the actual racetrack, it’s only fitting that I crank out a few facts about it. On October 2, 1948, the first Watkins Glen Grand Prix was held on a 6.6-mile course using mostly paved roads with a dirt/gravel stretch. There were fifteen cars entered the 8 lap, 52.8 mile race and only 10 finished. The winner was Frank Griswold, of Wayne, Pennsylvania, in a pre-war Alfa Romeo 8C2900 coupe. The course that exist today, which is 3.40 miles in length (short course is 2.45 miles), actually came into being in 1971, however a few minor modifications were made over the years up until 1992.
What I like about this course is it’s not just an elongated oval you drive around for 30 laps until you’re bored out of your skull, lose concentration, and ultimately lose the race. I’m sure some die-hard NASCAR aficionados will take exception to my assessment of racing on those types of tracks, however, that’s just how I feel about it. Watkins Glen at least poses some measure of difficulty by virtue of its layout; you actually have to execute a few turns! I definitely love the speed, as I’m sure most do, and it’s kind of a nice change of pace from what most would call a “typical” MTM track, consisting of rough dirt roads, mountains, jumps, and lots of things to smash into, like trees, rocks, barns, and mountains.
I can’t imagine this one was too difficult to make, nevertheless, I think OLD_NICKatNITE did a great job. If you love MTM 2 and you want that NASCAR feel, but would rather not limit yourself to driving around in circles, then by all means download this one! It gives you a great sense of speed, coupled with some semblance of a challenge, an authentic layout, NASCAR oriented billboards (including one paying tribute to The Legend himself, which is a nice touch) and the huge, cheering crowd! Again, I’m no NASCAR enthusiast, but this one gets 2-thumbs up, and a “Copey Rating” of 9 out of 10 possible points! It’s simply a fun, fun track to race. Great job, Nick!!
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