Fans pour into Sonoma Raceway for NASCAR weekend

Getting a haircut at Sonoma Raceway is one of the things Bob Nelson, a retiring bus driver from Concord, absolutely must do at NASCAR this weekend. He’s done so for the past five years, whether he needs it or not.

“If I would have got a haircut two days ago, I still would have got one today,” said Nelson, who started coming to NASCAR weekend in Sonoma County with his wife and friends 16 years ago.

Back then, the couple came with a large group of about 25 to 30 for a weekend of camping and ear-splitting racing. But over the years, the group has dwindled down to about five people, as some have either grown too old to make the trip or passed on.

But Nelson said he couldn’t stop coming to NASCAR even if he wanted to.

“NASCAR is just in your blood,” he said. “Once it gets in your blood, you’re just hooked.”

An estimated 100,000 people are expected to pour into Sonoma Raceway this weekend for a three-day NASCAR event, forming a temporary city that would be second in size only to Santa Rosa.

For many NASCAR fans, Friday was sort of the calm before the storm, a day to mill about Sonoma Raceway, buy souvenirs and catch a glimpse of their favorite driver and pit crew.

Throughout the day, NASCAR drivers took to the race track on test runs. The raceway stands were sparsely filled with fans devotedly watching the powerful stock cars blaze around the track.

It was a chance to see and hear drivers in action without the nail-biting excitement that will explode on the track for Sunday’s Toyota/SaveMart 350 race, a 110-lap, 218.9 mile contest.

“Today is spend-money day,” Nelson said. His son wanted a Tony Stewart miniature race car. His wife, Pam, said she was hoping to get T-shirts and flags of her favorite driver, Carl Edwards.

Behind a large Toyota trailer and advertising booth, cousins Tom Karaffa, 65, and Ron Hammer, 62, looked up at a “real” NASCAR race car, suspended in the air above the trailer. The car was Kyle Busch’s No. 18.

The view of the bottom of the car captivated the two men, who marveled at its powerful engine and its exhaust and oil systems.

“You can see lots of cooling stuff, too,” Karaffa told Hammer. “How the exhaust is routed to the sides.”

Hammer, who lives in Burbank, and Karaffa, who lives in Fullerton, drove up from Southern California on Thursday and are planning to stay a week in Sonoma County. The men came up with their families and are renting a house in Petaluma.

“For us, it’s kind of a family get-together. We made a vacation of it,” said Karaffa, adding that it was his and Hammer’s first NASCAR event at Sonoma Raceway. The fact that the speedway is surrounded by Wine Country is not lost on the men.

“It’s a beautiful area, and a fantastic track,” Hammer said. “We realize that some of the best wine in the world is produced here, and we want to experience that.”

When Steve Rexford, 42, first came to Sonoma Raceway 13 years ago, he said traffic was so bad from Novato that he camped out the following year. He said it took him six hours to get to and from the speedway that first year.

But he said Sonoma Raceway staff and the California Highway Patrol have made great improvements to traffic flows in and out of the complex. He said it only takes him 30 minutes to get to the track from Novato, so he commutes all three days of NASCAR weekend.

Friday morning, he and about six other friends and family members had a tailgate party in the parking lot, with barbecue and beer. Rexford said Friday also was a day for shopping for souvenirs and other memorabilia.

Though NASCAR is a high-adrenaline competition, Rexford said the atmosphere is very “respectful.”

“There’s always, ‘My guy is better than your guy,’?” he said. “But everybody is so cool.”

In the garage and pit area near the track, spectators and race fans watched eagerly as race drivers pulled in and out of their pits, rumbling to the track.

Julian Young, 19, of Escalon, was among more than a dozen people who crowded around Dale Earnhardt Jr. after he exited his car. Young was able to get Earnhardt’s autograph.

“That’s what everybody was waiting for,” he said, adding that his favorite NASCAR driver was Jimmy Johnson.

Young, who said it was his second NASCAR event at Sonoma Raceway, had no trouble describing why he comes and what attracts him to the event.

“It’s the feeling of the cars, the power,” he said.

You can reach Staff Writer Martin Espinoza at 521-5213 or martin.espinoza@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @renofish.