Highlights of Sonoma Raceway as it marks its 50th anniversary season
From a vision that turned into reality, through ownership and management changes and with a parade of legends racing on the track, here are highlights of Sonoma Raceway as it marks its 50th anniversary:
1968
Robert Marshall Jr., an attorney from Point Reyes, and land developer Jim Coleman of Kentfield conceived of the idea of a race track on 730 acres at the southeastern point of Sonoma County while on a hunting trip. Ground is broken for the Sears Point Raceway 2.52-mile road course on Aug. 14 and construction completed in November. A Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) enduro on December 1 was the first race.
1969
March 8-9: The San Francisco National Open marks the first National Hod Rod Association-sanctioned drag race in Sonoma.
March 29-30: National Championship points event under the SCCA marks the first road-course spectator event.
June 8: The raceway hosts its first NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model Division race, won by Ray Elder in his 1969 Dodge.
Also this year: The first of many ownership changes takes place only four months after opening. Filmways, a Los Angeles-based entertainment company, buys the facility for $4.5 million.
1970
Dan Gurney wins a 150-mile USAC IndyCar road race with a field that includes Mario Andretti, Mark Donahue and Al Unser. But not long after the race, the track closes down to become a tax shelter for Filmways after $300,000 reported losses.
1973
Hugh Harn of Belvedere and Parker Archer of Napa arrange to lease the track from Filmways for $1 million.
Bob Bondurant moves the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving from Ontario Speedway in Southern California to Sears Point Raceway.
1974
Bondurant and partner Bill Benck take over the leased raceway.
1975
Filmways is back in the picture, hiring Jack Williams, the 1964 NHRA top-fuel drag champion, as operations chief.
1979
A group called Black Mountain Inc., which includes Bondurant, William J. Kolb of Del Mar and Howard Meister of Newport Beach, purchases the track for a reported $1.5 million.
1981
Bondurant resigns as track president in a dispute with the LBGPA group and Filmways regains ownership of the track, and then sells it to operations chief Williams, Rick Betts and John Anderson for a reported $800,000. The new owners rename the track Sears Point International Raceway.
1985
The track is completely repaved, in part with funds donated from the “Pave the Point” fund-raising campaign.
1987
In one of the most significant moves in track history, the raceway signs a five-year agreement with the NHRA to host the California Nationals.
1988
July 31: The first NHRA nationals is a success, with an estimated 32,000 spectators. Joe Amato edged Dick LaHaie by .01 second in the top-fuel championship.
1989
NASCAR signs a one-year contract to hold a Winston Cup race at the track and a track record 53,000 spectators attend the nationally televised race.
1991
Steve Page, a marketing executive for the Oakland A’s, becomes the track president.
1995
A $3 million renovation begins, with tower VIP suites as the centerpiece, a new media center and a driver’s hospitality lounge.
May 7: Dale Earnhardt wins his only NASCAR road-course race.
1996
The track is purchased for $38.1 million by O. Bruton Smith and his publicly traded Speedway Motorsports, Inc. The company makes an additional purchase of 890 acres of adjoining property on the west to help traffic congestion and parking for the 1998 Winston Cup race.
1997
Page outlines a $25-$30 million track improvement proposal designed to improve the spectator experience and reduce traffic slowdowns leading to the track.
1998
Sears Point officials spend more than $1 million reconfiguring the road course by adding a fast “chute” between turns 4 and 7. The change allow spectators to see more of the race than in previous Winston Cup events.
2001
Aug. 5: Phase Two of the raceway’s modernization kicks off at the conclusion of the NHRA FRAM Autolite Nationals when drag racers John Force and Gary Scelzi rip up portions of the drag strip on bulldozers.
2002
March 27: NHRA stars Gary Scelzi and Kenny Bernstein take the ceremonial first pass down the refurbished quarter-mile drag strip, which features a 660-foot concrete launch pad and has been separated from the road course and moved in front of a new permanent grandstand.
June 22: Raceway takes finishes modernization and announces new naming right partner, becoming Infineon Raceway.
2004
Angelle Sampey becomes the first female NHRA Nationals winner in Sonoma capturing her first Pro Stock Bike win at Infineon Raceway and resetting the elapsed-time record (7.048 seconds).
The California Outdoor Sports Championships marks the first national cycling event at the raceway.
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