Sonoma Raceway celebrates its 50th anniversary with shovel ceremony

The Raceway will kick off its year-long celebration of the motorsport facility’s 50-year history on Tuesday.|

With all the counter-culture noise going on 50 years ago, perhaps it's appropriate that one of the places celebrating its golden anniversary this year is one of the noisiest – the race track at Sears Point, now known as Sonoma Raceway.

Sears Point gets its name from the southernmost hill of the Sonoma Mountains, and was named after Frank Sears, who settled the area in 1851. As such the raceway is somewhat hilly, with 12 turns over its full 2.52 mile course.

The Raceway will kick off its year-long celebration of the motorsport facility’s 50-year history on Tuesday, Aug. 14, marking the ceremonial groundbreaking of the track on Aug. 14, 1968. The track was completed later that year, and the first official event at what was then called Sears Point Raceway was an SCCA Enduro, held on Dec. 1 that year.

Sears Point Raceway saw its first full season of racing in 1969, hosting IndyCar races, SuperBike events and others into the early 1970s when it was closed during financial struggles. The track operated sporadically throughout that decade under various ownership until in 1981 the track was purchased at auction for $800,000, and renamed Sears Point International Raceway.

In 1988, its first NHRA-sanctioned drag races were held, and Sears Point welcomed NASCAR to the track in 1989. After more than $4 million in renovation and beautification, the track was sold in 1996 to O. Bruton Smithy of Speedway Motorsports, which now owns and operates eight premiere racing facilities.

Extensive remodeling beginning in 2000 led to its “rebranding” in 2002 as Infineon Raceway, part of a 10-year strategic partnership with Infineon Technologies that ended in 2012. Lacking a comparable corporate sponsorship, the arena was rebranded simply Sonoma Raceway going forward.

Key figures from the founding of then-Sears Point Raceway will come together to mark the 50th anniversary, including Gordon Blumenfeld, a member of raceway’s founding group and Petaluma resident; Ken Clapp, an original raceway executive; and current president and general manager Steve Page.

The dignitaries will take part in a ceremony at Turn 7 with the shovel used in the original groundbreaking, which both Blumenfeld and Clapp attended, on Tuesday, Aug. 14. Other 50th anniversary events are planned all year, according to Diana Brennan, Vice President, Communications and Marketing at the Raceway.

“It will take the form of events throughout the season next year,” said Brennan. “The first actual Sears Point event in December 1968 was a private event, so we’ll honor the anniversary throughout 2019 with special events involving legends of racing, remembering some of the great events that took place here over the years.”

Details on all coming events, ticket links and more – including the raceway’s history – is online at sonomaraceway.com.

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