Uppers and Downers at the 2026 Watkins Glen USVGP

For me, the “Upper” of the weekend was Rick Mooney winning the Dick Mooney Memorial Race for group 6 in honor of his dad.  And hugging Rick’s mom Pam, now recovered from a horrific accident while vacationing in Portugal.

Rick held off some serious contenders in the Group 6/12a race.

Glenn Kurkjain was the overall winner in Group 12a, driving his # 93 2002 ZO6 GT2 that he took off the street; followed by young fast and smooth Cord Kisthardt in his # 21 2002 ZO6 T1.

Jeff Lyman # 77 2008 C6 and John Shannon # 16 2007 C6 T1 rounded up the top Corvettes in Group 12a

Mike Origer # 969 1969 and Edward Sevadjian driving # 35 1969 for Michael Williams, both in big block Corvettes, were the closest contenders in Group 6.

Ray Zisa # 4 1990 won his class in Group 12a, followed by Steve Smith # 14A 1992 and Rick Ortman # 26 1988 in C4 Corvettes.

Rick Hutchins # 11 1989 ex Jon Miller, DNS the final race on Sunday.

Steve Yarborough, driving the # 76 1963 for Del Hardy, Gordon Gardner # 37A 1972 and Brian Cantele # 46 1969 rounded out the rest of the Corvettes in Group 6.

Casey Putsch # 3 1965 and # 13 Sam Every 1969 DNS the final race on Sunday.

Bill Schwacke, a stalwart in his # 55 1955 solid axle Corvette, won his class in Group 4 despite getting clipped in the right rear by an errant Michael Greenburg in his 1967 Morgan + 4.

Jeff Bernatovich, another stalwart in his 1990 SCCA GT1 won his group and as usual was the class of Group 10.

As for the “Downers”, there’s always wait until next year.

Jody O’Donnell in the # 33 1963 took a hit that bent the left rear trailing arm beyond repair, putting arguably the fastest C2 in vintage racing out of action for the weekend.

Claire Schwendeman # 37 1968 C3 and Martin Hosek # 39 2011 C6 eliminated each other in a freak accident going up the esses on the out lap for qualifying.  From what I gather, Martin happened to be zigging when Claire happened to be zagging.

Dick Payne # 77 1970 also got hit the next day that ended the enthusiast’s weekend after doing the hugely popular race re-enactment Friday afternoon on the 6.6-mile original race course.

Drivers start on Franklin Street downtown and complete 2 laps going at a decent clip on narrow 2-lane public roads for an experience that is truly unmatched anywhere in historic road racing.  

Twenty-two Corvettes made it to Watkins Glen this year, several seen for the first time.

The car show on Saturday was packed as always including our friend Tony Vickio who made the short trip from home in his 1965 fuelie coupe.

A bench dedicated to the late Michael Printup was unveiled late Saturday afternoon at the base of the Pyramid.  Michael, formerly president of Watkins Glen International followed by the Trans Am series was a wonderful man we lost all too soon at age 60.

Photos thanks to our friends Richard Martin, Pete Gorski (Visors Down), Matthew Boyce and Mike Bratton.