Sonoma Raceway

Sonoma Raceway

Sonoma Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway and Infineon Raceway is a 2.52-mile (4.06 km) road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The road course features 12 turns on a hilly course with 160 feet of total elevation change. It is host to one of only five national NASCAR races each year that are run on road courses (including two races at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York and the Nationwide Series-only races at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada and Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin). It is also host to the IZOD IndyCar Series and several other auto races and motorcycle races such as the American Federation of Motorcyclists series. Sonoma Raceway continues to host amateur, or club racing events which may or may not be open to the general public. The largest such car club is the Sports Car Club of America.

With the closure of Riverside International Raceway in Riverside, California after the 1988 season, NASCAR, wanting a west coast road course event to replace it, chose the Sears Point facility. Riverside International was razed for a shopping center development.

In 2002, Sears Point Raceway was renamed after a corporate sponsor, Infineon. However, as with many renamings of sports complexes, many people still call it by its original name. (It was never affiliated with Sears, Roebuck and Company, having been named for the nearby Sears Point Ranch founded in the 1850s by settler Franklin Sears.) On March 7, 2012, it was announced that Infineon would not renew their contract for naming rights when the deal expired in May, and the track management is looking for a new company to take over naming rights. Until it can find a new corporate sponsor, the course is simply identifying itself as "Sonoma."