Sonoma Raceway’s food runs laps around the rest...

When Steve Page became president of what had been the old Sears Point Raceway, he found a dustbowl of brown hills, gas-guzzling and exhaust-spewing race cars, traffic jams, drag racers, racy car fans, neighbors who opposed any expansion of the raceway or its activities, and a very rocky road course.

Of course, up until that time, the course had been rocky in more ways than one for the Sears Point Raceway.

Ground was initially broken for a road-racing course on the site in August, 1968, by Marin County residents Robert Marshall, Jr., an attorney from Point Reyes, and Jim Coleman, a developer from Kentfield. One year later they sold their new development to Filmways Corp. of Los Angeles for a few million dollars. Filmways closed the track in May, 1970.

A group of new investors leased the track from Filmways in 1973, and racing legend Bob Bondurant and Bill Benck took over management and control of the raceway in 1974. For the next few years, ownership bounced around from Filmways again and other purchasers, each paying less.

In 1996, Speedway Motorsports, Inc. (SMI), which now owns eight raceways around the country, bought the property and, through a hefty 10-year naming rights deal, changed the name to Infineon Raceway, which eventually became Sonoma Raceway.

Shortly after purchasing the raceway, SMI lured Steve Page away from the Oakland A’s to run the operation (but only physically, as Page is an unrepentant A’s fan to this day).

Sonoma Raceway is a “road course,” meaning it runs beyond an oval and wanders around local hills with ups and downs and unusual raceway turns. Hence Page’s and Sonoma Raceway’s motto: “Think Outside the Oval.”

And that Page does. Thank heavens. After bouncing around several universities “finding myself,” Page finally graduated with a degree in political science from University of California at Berkeley in 1980.

When the Walter Haas family (founders of Levi Strauss) bought the Oakland A’s in 1980, Page talked his way into a job by “making enough of a pest of myself he hired me.”

“I did everything from selling tickets,” says Page, “to becoming Director of Special Projects including spring training, retail sales and community relations.”

When Page arrived at Sears Point, the place was “run down, old, tired and dysfunctional.”

“(It had) one dirt road that became impassible in the rain,” he says. “There was no infrastructure, and it was extremely rustic.”

As Page describes, construction crews moved 10 million cubic yards of dirt and transformed the dusty old racetrack into a modern sports facility with a road course.

“I give lots of thought to operating an environmentally sound raceway,” Page add.

Page has brought Sonoma Raceway to be a certified Green Business and the first raceway in the United States to install solar power and to recycle motor oils. It was the first racetrack to host an electric motorcycle race, Indy cars running on ethanol and NASCAR autos running on a blend.

On the food side, it is widely known that racetrack food had relied for decades on fried Twinkies, hamburgers, corn dogs and even fried butter to provide “the food race fans expect.”

Enter Victoria Campbell, former catering manager at the Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa. When Page and Campbell met, they immediately started to talk about better food at the track. He got Speedway caterer Levy Restaurants to hire Campbell to revamp the raceway’s food. When Campbell left to become general manager of Ramekins Culinary School, Events & Inn, a huge search led to Karen Schirmuhly, assistant manager of food services at Oracle Arena.

Fast forward to today, when - thanks to the efforts of Page, Campbell, and Schirmuhly – guests at the Sonoma Raceway can enjoy Wine Country Grill, Sears Point Taqueria, Real Strong Humboldt Redwood Deck and Yogurt Time with excellent tri-tip sandwiches, taco bowls, and even a chicken breast pesto sandwich on focaccia, barbecued ribs, tacos, meatballs at booths under the grandstand, all produced under Chef Gilbert Verdugo, a Pasadena native.

Wine Country Deli makes espresso drinks, fresh fruit from Frog Hollow Farm, and salad, children’s meals and gluten-free foods.

Yogurt Time (under the grandstand) serves both smoothies and soft-serve yogurt.

Page, Campbell and I helped plant an organic garden to supply veggies to raceway customers with the help of Lydia Constantini of Sonoma Mission Gardens and Sonoma students.

Speedway Children’s Charities, which is the national charity of Speedway Motorsports, Inc., gives generously to youth programs and organizations throughout the Bay Area, including the Sonoma School Garden Project, Sonoma Valley Education Foundation and Boys & Girls Clubs in many locales.

Be sure to try the tasty food during this summer’s racing season – the Toyota/SaveMart 350 NASCAR weekend runs June 26 to 28. Visit racesonoma.com.