# Cameron Argetsinger > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cameron_Argetsinger > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Cameron_Argetsinger.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Argetsinger > Source revision: 1345748257 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{Short description|American sports car enthusiast (1921–2008)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2024}} {{Infobox person |name = Cameron Argetsinger |birth_date = March 1, 1921 |birth_place = [Youngstown, Ohio](/source/Youngstown%2C_Ohio) |death_date = April 22, 2008 |death_place = Watkins Glen, New York |occupation = Lawyer, [Auto racing](/source/Auto_racing) executive |spouse = Jean Argetsinger }} '''Cameron Argetsinger''' (March 1, 1921 – April 22, 2008) was an American sports car enthusiast, lawyer and [auto racing](/source/auto_racing) executive best known for creating the [Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course](/source/Watkins_Glen_International) in [Watkins Glen, New York](/source/Watkins_Glen%2C_New_York), and making it the home of the [Formula One](/source/Formula_One) [United States Grand Prix](/source/United_States_Grand_Prix) from [1961](/source/1961_United_States_Grand_Prix) through [1980](/source/1980_United_States_Grand_Prix).O'Malley, J.J. and Green, Bill (1997). ''Watkins Glen, From Griswold to Gordon: Fifty Years of Competition At the Home of American Road Racing''. ==Biography== ===Early life=== Argetsinger grew up in Youngstown, where his father, James Cameron Argetsinger, was general counsel and secretary of the [Youngstown Sheet and Tube Company](/source/Youngstown_Sheet_and_Tube_Company). {{cite book | last = Stewart | first = John Struthers | title = History of Northeastern Ohio (In Three Volumes) | year = 1935 | publisher = Historical Publishing Company | location = Indianapolis, IN | pages = 868–870 }} He spent the summers of his boyhood in [Schuyler County, New York](/source/Schuyler_County%2C_New_York) visiting his grandparents and, later, his family's summer home. He inherited a love of fast cars from his father and in 1947 bought a sports car so he could become a member of the nascent [Sports Car Club of America](/source/Sports_Car_Club_of_America). ===Watkins Glen Sports Car Grand Prix=== Before long, Argetsinger began to dream of organizing a sports car race in and around the town of Watkins Glen. "It's been said, and it's not entirely wrong, that I did it because I had an [MG-TC](/source/MG_T-type) and didn't have a place to race it," he told ''[The New York Times](/source/The_New_York_Times)'' in 1998.{{Cite news |last=Siano |first=Joseph |date=September 4, 1998 |title=The Hallowed Ground Of Sports Car Racing |language=en |work=The New York Times |url=http://timesmachine.nytimes.comhttp//timesmachine.content-tagging.us-east-1-01.prd.dvsp.nyt.net/timesmachine/1998/09/04/679259.html?pageNumber=97 |access-date=November 13, 2023}} From 1948 through 1952, the [Watkins Glen Sports Car Grand Prix](/source/Watkins_Glen_Grand_Prix) was held on a circuit that followed public roads through the village and around the nearby gorge. While the event was hugely popular, the deaths of drivers and spectators in crashes forced it to move off the New York State public roads after four years. The Grand Prix ran on two different layouts on county roads until the present location was bought and the track built.O'Malley, J.J. and Green, Bill (1997). ''Watkins Glen, From Griswold to Gordon: Fifty Years of Competition At the Home of American Road Racing''. Pp. 2-4. ===Home of the United States Grand Prix=== In 1953, Argetsinger was named executive director of the new Watkins Glen Grand Prix Corporation. Three years later, the group purchased {{convert|550|acre|km2}} of land and built a 2.3-mile permanent racing facility, designed to imitate the winding country roads on which the race had originated. Soon the circuit was attracting some of the world's best road racers, including [Stirling Moss](/source/Stirling_Moss), [Jo Bonnier](/source/Joakim_Bonnier), [Phil Hill](/source/Phil_Hill) and [Dan Gurney](/source/Dan_Gurney), for the [Formula Libre](/source/Formula_Libre) races, which ran from 1958 through 1960. These events set the stage for Argetsinger's bid to host the ultimate American road racing event: the Formula One United States Grand Prix. His timing was perfect: the United States Grand Prix saw disappointing crowds at in its first two runnings at [Sebring, Florida](/source/1959_United_States_Grand_Prix), and [Riverside, California](/source/1960_United_States_Grand_Prix). The race found a home in upstate New York in [1961](/source/1961_United_States_Grand_Prix), and Watkins Glen became the focal point of American road racing for the next two decades.O'Malley, J.J. and Green, Bill (1997). ''Watkins Glen, From Griswold to Gordon: Fifty Years of Competition At the Home of American Road Racing''. Pp. 15-17.Herzog, Brad (2005). [http://www.bradherzog.com/cornell_driving.htm Driving Force] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623050727/http://bradherzog.com/cornell_driving.htm |date=June 23, 2006 }}, ''Cornell Alumni Magazine.'' In 1969, Argetsinger attempted to purchase the raceway in order to improve its financial operations. When the Grand Prix Corporation refused to sell, he resigned as executive director and moved to [Midland, Texas](/source/Midland%2C_Texas), where he went to work for [Chaparral Cars](/source/Chaparral_Cars). ===Auto racing executive=== Argetsinger moved to Denver in 1972 to become the Director of Professional Racing and then executive director of the Sports Car Club of America. In 1977, he returned to his law practice in Schuyler County, New York. He became president of the International Motor Racing Research Center in Watkins Glen in 2002. ==Career Award== Argetsinger was a member of the inaugural induction class of the [Sports Car Club of America Hall of Fame](/source/SCCA_Hall_of_Fame) in 2005.{{Cite web |url=http://www.racingarchives.org/mainpages/newsarchive.htm |title=Racing Archives |access-date=August 6, 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060828115737/http://www.racingarchives.org/mainpages/newsarchive.htm |archive-date=August 28, 2006 |url-status=dead }}{{Cite web |url=http://www.scca.com/News/News.asp?IdS=03C4EC-548EFF0&Id=430&~= |title=Inaugural SCCA Hall of Fame Class Announced |access-date=January 12, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927190637/http://www.scca.com/News/News.asp?IdS=03C4EC-548EFF0&Id=430&~= |archive-date=September 27, 2011 |url-status=dead }} In 2005, Watkins Glen International renamed its trophy for the Indy Racing League race champion the "Cameron R. Argetsinger Trophy". Each year, the winner receives a sterling-silver replica and their name is added to the nameplate at the base of the sterling-silver cup. ==Notes== {{reflist}} First recipient of SCCA Woolf Barnato Trophy (1948) Recipient of Bob Akin Memorial Award (2007) from the Road Racing Driver's Club (RRDC) ==See also== * [Formula Libre](/source/Formula_Libre) * [Formula One](/source/Formula_One) * [Sports Car Club of America](/source/Sports_Car_Club_of_America) * [United States Grand Prix](/source/United_States_Grand_Prix) * [Watkins Glen Grand Prix](/source/Watkins_Glen_Grand_Prix) * [Watkins Glen International](/source/Watkins_Glen_International) * [Watkins Glen, New York](/source/Watkins_Glen%2C_New_York) ==References== * O'Malley, J.J. and Bill Green. Watkins Glen, From Griswold to Gordon: Fifty Years of Competition At the Home of American Road Racing. 1998. * Siano, Joseph. "The Hallowed Ground Of Sports Car Racing." The New York Times. September 4, 1998. * Herzog, Brad. [https://web.archive.org/web/20060623050727/http://bradherzog.com/cornell_driving.htm "Driving Force."] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060828115737/http://www.racingarchives.org/mainpages/newsarchive.htm Racing Archives]. *[https://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/27/sports/othersports/27argetsinger.html?em&ex=1209441600&en=30b572c544720b9a&ei=5087%0A NYTimes Obituary] ==External links== * [http://www.ilovethefingerlakes.com/history/famous-people-argetsinger.htm Biography of Cameron Argetsinger] * [http://www.silhouet.com/motorsport/tracks/wat.html History of Watkins Glen] {{DEFAULTSORT:Argetsinger, Cameron}} Category:Auto racing executives Category:Formula One people Category:Sports Car Club of America Category:1921 births Category:2008 deaths Category:American motorsport people Category:Businesspeople from Youngstown, Ohio Category:Cornell Law School alumni Category:People from Watkins Glen, New York Category:20th-century American businesspeople Category:12 Hours of Sebring drivers Category:World Sportscar Championship drivers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Cameron Argetsinger](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Argetsinger) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Argetsinger?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.