![[Road Courses]](/images/buttnz/rdcrs.jpg){kind=small}
![[Ovals]](/images/buttnz/ovltrk.jpg){kind=small}
![[Drag Strips]](/images/buttnz/drgstrp.jpg){kind=small}
![[Kart Tracks]](/images/buttnz/kartrk.jpg){kind=small}
![]](/images/rtend.jpg){kind=small}
Bridgehampton Race Circuit was a 2.85 mile, 13 turn road course located near Sag Harbor, on Long Island in New York State. The historic track has now largely been converted to golf course. There is still an effort underway to try and restore the track, but success seems unlikely.
"All who have raced there know that the earth is flat and ends in the sand at turn two. The emotional rewards of driving this turn 'flat out' are just as intense as the physical consequences of blowing it". - Bruce MacInnes, Chief Instructor, Skip Barber Racing School
Last Updated: 2020-01-14
Public roads in the Bridgehampton area were used for races in the periods 1915-1921 and 1949-1953. After the tragic accident at Watkins Glen in 1952 Watkins Glen Grand Prix, racing on state maintained roadways in New York came to an end. The Town of Bridgehampton began searching for a new site, and located a parcel near Sag Harbor.
The first race on Bridgehampton Race Circuit occured on September 28th, 1957, the same year as the first race at Lime Rock and one year after the third Watkins Glen circuit came into use. The facility has always been somewhat primitive, and development has been limited by the hostility of locals who bought nearby housing on the assurance that the race track "would be going out of business soon anyway".
In 1981, the track was near bankruptcy. A group named the "Friends of Bridgehampton" was formed. The track did not operate from 1984 to 1986, reopening after a new owner took over in 1987. The owner opted to not spend on development as much as was hoped, in part due to continuing hostility from the surrounding community. Operating hours and permitted sound levels were severely limited, which combined with the distance to the circuit for most racers, caused continuing low turnouts. The last race at Bridgehampton was 1997, although there was sporadic use for driving schools for a short time thereafter. The facility is now mostly golf courses, although some of the original pavement still appears in aerial photography (the latter half of the main straight and the first several corners, at least.)
| Allan E. Brown, The History of America's Speedways: Past & Present. Comstock Park, Michigan: Brown, 2003 , ISBN 0931105617 , pp. 478. Order from National Speedway Directory |
Bridgehampton Race Circuit
Millstone Road
Water Mill, NY 11976
The map presently available is:
The Google map link shows the track in its current golf course infested condition.
For information on how these aerial images work, Click Here.
You may also wish to try using the Yahoo! Search as it may produce current news items.
Take the Long Island Expressway east. Leave the LIE at Exit 70, and turn South (right). Follow this road until it comes to a T with Route 27 (the Sunrise Highway.) Turn East (left) on the Sunrise Highway and travel on it for quite a long time; at the T (Car dealers all about) keep to the left to remain on Route 27. After passing through Watermill, look for a Hess station on the left. Turn north (left) Immediately after the Hess station. Travel north for a mile or so; in a area with open fields, look for a left turn onto Millstone Road. Take it, and travel a little further on this twisty backroad. The track will appear suddenly on the right, and you will certainly overshoot the first time you look for it.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.5 License.
