Locals aren’t known for being the biggest race fans: the seem to complain more about the traffic than express any interest in getting to know the fans, drivers and race experience. Let’s change that Sonoma – let’s get educated.
Sonoma Raceway is an internationally respected track that has been offering auto and motorcycle racing since 1968. The track has 340 days of racing each year; whether it’s locals paying a fee to drag race on Wednesdays (get out that Prius!) or the recent Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival that draws thousands of historic race car enthusiasts from around the world.
NASCAR’s Sprint Cub Series will return to Sonoma June 26-28 for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. Thousands of fans will book hotel rooms and camp out at the track for a week of racing action, bringing loads of economy goodness to Sonoma Valley and lots of race action (and an excuse to day drink, as if we needed another excuse).
Sonoma Raceway and NASCAR want to help you get to know the race better. As a long time auto racing geek, so do I! Starting June 3, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Preview Show debuts on Comcast SportsNet Bay Area at 8 PM.
The preview show will feature Bay Area native, and one of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time, Jeff Gordon, who will retire at the end of the season. You’ll be able to hear the stories of Carl Edwards’, one of the most popular NASCAR drivers, and Kyle Larson, who is from Elk Grove. They’ll also feature interviews with two-time Sonoma winner Tony Stewart, current Sprint Cup Champion Brad Keselowski, team owner Chip Ganassi, and 2012 Sonoma winner Clint Bowyer.
This is the 17th year for the show, and it’s a great chance for locals to learn more about NASCAR as it prepares to land in our backyard later this month. For most Sonoman’s CSN is Comcast channel 40 or 33. Learn more about the weekly schedule and the show at csncalifornia.com.
Tickets are affordable and still available for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. racesonoma.com
Everyone already knows NASCAR and the Raceway very well, which is why the Raceway is desperate to boost attendance. There aren’t enough rednecks or Republicans in Sonoma Valley to fill the seats.
It recently abandoned a plan to turn the track into a racetrack, rock concert, event center & theme park venue. The management said the permitting process was going to be too costly and long. If they didn’t know that before filing the request, it could explain why their business model of driving round and round loudly in circles isn’t working either. It was no secret that opposition in the valley to the expansion request was growing louder quickly and that a drawn out permit process wasn’t going to generate any good press for a track looking to increase good will and attendance.
The track was originally approved by the county for the same reason all noxious and environmentally destructive developments are approved: the developers promised to create jobs. The jobs are mostly seasonal, low-paying and held by people who live outside the Valley, where housing is affordable for those earning the cheap wages the track pays. Most of the track’s revenue also leaves the Valley.
In exchange, the Valley gets traffic jams, air and noise pollution, and larger swarms of drunks. Local hotels pick up a few guests who can afford $350 – $400 a night rooms, but most NASCAR fans are more culturally and financially comfortable in RV’s at the track with full coolers of beer. That at least keeps them off the roads and out of the rest of the valley.
Most expect the track to refile its permit request as its balance sheet turns redder. In the meantime, the Valley can hope that fans will continue to have a generous choice of seats on most nights.