A chicane is a tight corner inserted into a straight on a racetrack to slow the speeds on the straight. It's normally put in just before a corner at the end of a straight. If you look at the track map for watkins glen (http://www.theglen.com/seating/index.jsp) and look at the track section labeled the inner loop you will see a chicane. before the inner loop was put in they had a problem with racecars flying (literally) off the track at the end of the straight.