NASCAR endears itself to Sonoma County . . .

[av8]

. . . one weekend each year when the circus comes to Infineon Raceway (real name Sears Point International Raceway).

I love this race, preferring to watch it from the comfort of my living room rather than drive the 20 miles to the track. I attended the race in 1991, when the attendance wasn't nearly what it is now, and even then it was a 1-1/2 hour trip home, 1 hour of which was spent getting out to the main gate. Most of the access roads to the raceway are two-lane county roads through largely agricultural Sonoma and Napa counties, and adjacent Solano County. One of the principal feeder roads is State Highway 37 that traverses the top of San Pablo bay on a *-like roadbed several feet above the water. It's one lane in each direction, only about 7-8 miles long, but a massive bottleneck with no option for turning back or even pulling off to wait out the traffic.

Road racing isn't considered part of true NASCAR racing by most fans, but we Prune Pickers have been loving it since the mid '50s when NASCAR raced at Paramount Ranch (near Malibu) and Riverside International Raceway.

It's time to watch the action!

[enjenjo]

I'm with you mike, in the living room in air conditioned comfort. Last race I went to was a Michigan, and I saw more of the race on the TV recap, than I did at the track.

[Leon]

I like Tony Stewart's comment - if they race two races on a road course each year, Nascar should include two races on a dirt track.  Now that could be some real fun