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Infineon Raceway
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Sears Point Raceway Sonoma |
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| Location | 29355 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, California, 95476 | |
| Time zone | GMT-8 | |
| Capacity | 102,000 | |
| Owner | Speedway Motorsports, Inc. | |
| Operator | Speedway Motorsports, Inc. | |
| Broke ground | 1967 | |
| Opened | 1968 | |
| Construction Cost | $70 million USD | |
| Former Names | Sears Point Raceway | |
| Major events | AMA Superbike Supercuts Superbike Challenge Indy Racing League |
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| Surface | Asphalt | |
| Circuit Length | 2.52 mi (4.05 km) | |
| Turns | 12 | |
| Lap Record | 1:21.688 (Marco Werner, Audi Sport North America, 2004, LMP1) | |
| NASCAR Course | ||
| Surface | Asphalt | |
| Circuit Length | 1.99 mi (3.2 km) | |
| Turns | 10 | |
| Lap Record | 1:15.950 (Jeff Gordon, Hendrick Motorsports, 2005 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup) | |
| IndyCar/Motorcycle Course | ||
| Surface | Asphalt | |
| Circuit Length | 2.22 mi (3.57 km) | |
| Turns | 11 | |
| Lap Record | 1:16.4913 (Ryan Briscoe, Chip Ganassi Racing, 2005 ) | |
Infineon Raceway, formerly Sears Point Raceway, is a road course and drag strip located on the landform known as Sears Point in the southern Sonoma Mountains near Sonoma, California, USA. The course is a complex series of twists and turns that go up and down the hills. It is host to one of only five NASCAR races each year that are run on road courses (including two races at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York and the Busch-only races at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico City, Mexico and at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, Quebec, Canada). It is also host to the Indy Racing League, Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series and several other auto races and motorcycle races such as the American Federation of Motorcyclists series.
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 corporation, Infineon. However, as with many renamings of sports complexes, many people still call it by its original name. Despite its name, it was in no ways affiliated with Sears, Roebuck and Company, having been named for the nearby geographical feature.
The standard road course at Infineon Raceway is a 2.52 mile (4.05 km), 12 turn course, however the track was modified in 1998, adding the Chute, which bypassed turns 5 and 6, shortening the course to 1.95 miles (3.14 km). The Chute was only used for NASCAR events such as the Toyota/Save Mart 350, and was criticized by many drivers, who prefer the full layout.[1] In 2001, it was replaced with the 70° turn, 4A bringing the track to its current dimensions.[2] Most races, including the Grand American Road Racing Association's Grand Prix of Sonoma, use the full course, while American Motorcyclist Association and Indy Racing League events use a modified 2.22 mile (3.57 km), 12 turn course. This layout, opened in 2003, skips much of the Esses and run from Turn 10 to Turn 11 (the hairpin) for additional safety for motorcyclists, including runoff available in the motorcycle Turn 11 (the main Turn 11 has no runoff, and is a very slow turn, similar to the Loews hairpin at Monaco). The raceway also has a quarter mile (400 m) drag strip used for NHRA drag racing events, and is located on part of the front straightaway on the course.
See Also: List of NASCAR race tracks
Contents |
| Driver | Car | Date | Speed | Time | Layout | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fastest Lap | Marco Werner | Audi R8 | July 17, 2004 | 110.641mph | 1:21.688 | Full |
| NASCAR Qualifying | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet Monte Carlo Stock Car | June 24, 2005 | 94.325mph | 1:15.950 | NASCAR |
| NASCAR Race | Ricky Rudd | Ford Taurus | June 23, 2002 | 81.007mph | NASCAR | |
| IRL Qualifying | Ryan Briscoe | Panoz Honda | August 27, 2005 | 108.248mph | Indy Course | |
| IRL Race | Tony Kanaan | Dallara Honda | August 28, 2005 | 91.040mph | Indy Course | |
| AMA Qualifying | Ben Spies | Suzuki Superbike | May 19, 2006 | 83.343mph | 1:35.893 | Motorcycle |
- Most Wins (Nextel Cup): Jeff Gordon, 5 ('98,'99,'00,'04,'06)
- With two laps to go Ricky Rudd spun Allison to take the lead. Instead of the checkered flag, Rudd received a black flag being penalized 1 second. This then gave the win to Allison.
Lately Infineon Raceway has been dropping sports car races from its schedule. It last hosted the American LeMans Series in 2005. The Speed World Challenge dropped Infineon this season. That leaves Grand Am as the only sports car league left to use Infineon. However, in 2007 only the Daytona Prototypes were used.
Infineon Raceway has a permanent seating capacity of 47,000 [1]. This includes the grand stands and terraces around the track. During major races, hospitality tents and other stages are erected around the track, which brings the total capacity up to 102,000 seats.
- Toyota/Save Mart 350 - considered one of NASCAR's top ten annual races
- FRAM Autolite Nationals
- Motorola Indy 300
- Jaguar Wine Country Classic
- Supercuts Superbike Challenge
- AMA Superbike - Supercuts Superbike Challenge
- NASCAR NEXTEL Cup - Toyota/Save Mart 350
- NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series - FRAM Autolite Nationals
- Indy Racing League IndyCar Series - Motorola Indy 300
- Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series - Sonoma 400k
- ^ http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=99758&p=irol-faqi#14336 SMI Frequently Asked Questions: Track Seating capacity
- Infineon Raceway Official Site
- Infineon Raceway Page on NASCAR.com
- Trackpedia guide to driving this track
- High Resolution image from Google Maps
- Infineon Raceway is at coordinates Coordinates:
- NASCAR's Best Races
- Various track layouts and info
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Current Circuits (2007) |
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ISC Tracks SMI Tracks Other tracks |
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Current Circuits (2008) Former Circuits: Former European Le Mans Series Circuits (2001 only) |
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| Ovals | Indianapolis Motor Speedway · Chicagoland · Homestead · Iowa · Kansas · Kentucky · Milwaukee · Motegi · Nashville · Richmond · Texas |
| Road/Street Courses | Detroit · Mid-Ohio · Sonoma · St. Pete · Watkins Glen |
| Former Tracks | Atlanta · California · Charlotte · Dover · Gateway · Las Vegas · Loudon · Michigan · Nazareth · Phoenix · Pikes Peak · Walt Disney World |
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Former Tracks (1956-1981) Road Courses International |