Infineon Raceway

Sonoma, CA

Infineon Raceway is one of two remaining road courses on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series circuit and was the last of several which was added to the calendar. Watkins Glen International is the other road course the Series still visits annually.

Strategy at this track consists of braking, shifting and execution of right and left-hand turns at top speeds.

The first road course event was held in 1954 on the runways of an airport in Linden, N.J. In an effort to attract a large fan base, NASCAR allowed European marques to join the US auto giants. Buddy Baker captured Pole honors, but it was a Jaguar driven by Al Keller that took the win. This win was the first and only event in Winston Cup history ever won by a foreign automobile manufacturer.

The heavy, large stock cars appeared at the 2.5-mile dirt road course in Willow Springs, Calif., Elkhart Lake, Wis., Bridgehampton, Long Island (N.Y.), Bremerton, Wash., Watkins Glen and Riverside Raceway in Southern California before the Series visited the Napa/Sonoma wine country region just 30 miles north of San Francisco, in Northern California in 1989.

The Infineon Raceway complex consists of a 2.52-mile road course, the 1.949-mile road course and a quarter-mile drag strip.

Riverside Raceway (where Bobby Allison holds the record for race wins with 6 and Darrell Waltrip collected 9 poles - 1 more than David Pearson) hosted its final Winston Cup Series event in 1988 and the 11-twisting turns that ranged from high to low elevations at Infineon Raceway were added to the schedule the following year.

Because the track configuration prevented the usual passing and side-by-side competition by stock cars, the course was reconfigured, and Turns 4 through 7 (the carousel and hairpin turn 7) were eliminated. A straightaway now starts at the top of the track's highest point and runs downhill to what used to be Turn 7. This change allows competitors more opportunities for swapping positions.