When you first walk into the Grandstands at Infineon Speedway, in Sonoma, your first impression is that it’s much like any other sports venue.
By Scott Hargis
Published: August, 2006
When you first walk into the Grandstands at Infineon Speedway, in Sonoma, your first impression is that it’s much like any other sports venue. You walk through a dimly lit, concrete tunnel lined with food vendors, souvenir stands and filled with families clutching their tickets and looking for the restrooms.
Then you emerge, blinking, into the intense sunlight and find yourself overlooking the track, which is busy with official-looking people performing obscure tasks and carrying themselves as insiders always do in the presence of outsiders. You find a seat, balance your chili dog on your knee and await developments.
So far, you could be in AT&T Park, McAfee Stadium or Monster Park, but here’s where the resemblance ends — without warning, a whining, buzzing noise builds to over 115 decibels, an intensity that not only precludes conversation, but all rational thought processes as well.
It takes maybe three seconds for the sound of a race car to build to the point where you feel it like a physical force pushing you back into your seat. The sound peaks, and your attention is riveted to the track where a blue-and-lime-green rocket on wheels is flying by at what looks like Warp Factor Eight.
In another three seconds, the car has traversed the space in front of the grandstands and is out of sight around a corner. The roar subsides. You start breathing again and find that your chili dog has fallen off your knee and is resting upside-down on your shoe.
This is NASCAR.
There are people who spend thousands of dollars to witness this — travel expenses from as far away as Southern California, weekend passes, programs, beer, souvenirs and yes, hot dogs. There are also people who would willingly spend thousands of dollars to avoid it.
And they aren’t the people you think they are.
Scott Bianchini, from Pacifica, would qualify in most people’s minds as a stereotypical NASCAR fan — he sports a long, bushy beard, wears a camouflage baseball cap and remembers fondly the days of dirt tracks, unpaid drivers who changed their own oil and the early culture of the sport. He had come to Infineon to watch the qualifying heats, but says he’s drifting away from NASCAR because of the corrupting influence of the money that has taken this sport from its red-dirt, southern roots to the mainstream of American culture.
It’s less sport and more entertainment now, says Bianchini, who grew up with NASCAR and admires drivers Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Denny Hamlin.
Conversely, Ben Balester, a chef at Poggio in Sausalito, was in the stands, wearing designer sunglasses and watching avidly as his friend Austin Cameron drove car number 28 in the qualifying rounds. A chef? From Sausalito? Yep. And he’s not alone.
NASCAR is in, like iPods and Mini Coopers. And with this new breed of fan comes money and a new kind of NASCAR. Bubba from Georgia is here, so is Raj from Berkeley and Erika from San Francisco’s Marina District.
NASCAR drivers today are celebrities in their own right. And they aren’t all southern good ol’ boys, either. While the unofficial home state of stock car racing is South Carolina, drivers today hail from all over. At the recent Nextel Cup Series Dodge/Save Mart 350 weekend, driver Jeffrey Gordon of Vallejo, CA was inducted into the Raceway’s Wall of Fame.
And as it becomes more lucrative, stock car drivers’ status have climbed as well. Recently, Juan Pablo Montoya, a well-known Formula One Grand Prix driver, announced that he is switching to Stock Car racing, in part because of the money involved.
So what is it about NASCAR?
In the abstract, it’s hard to understand. Most NASCAR tracks are simple ovals, and the cars go around and around and around and… you get the picture. There’s always the potential for a spectacular crash, but the action is fairly tame, as compared with, say, World Cup Soccer or a good boxing match.
NASCAR fans seem to relish the chance to bear witness to the raw power and speed of the cars. There is certainly strategy and finesse going on behind the wheel, but the fans can’t really see it from the stands, and for the most part seem oblivious of it. They’re showing up for the thrill.
But it’s also big business. The Infineon Speedway does not release revenue or attendance information, but the most recent economic impact study (1999) projected overall revenues, including hotel, restaurant and ticket sales approaching $1 million, and a large event like the Nextel Cup Series in June will attract 100,000 fans, an official with the track said.
With this kind of revenue, municipalities are eager to get in on the action. But local citizens aren’t always so eager.
The proposed Riverside Motorsports Park in Atwater, CA is facing opposition from citizens, County Supervisors and even chicken farmers concerned mainly with noise pollution. Also cited in the 3200-page environmental report released by Merced County were issues stemming from the anticipated 50,000 fans expected to attend races at the new complex.
The biggest issue is traffic, says Bill Nicholson, Merced County Planning Director. With a county population of just over 200,000, an influx of 50,000 race fans is a serious issue, both in terms of traffic control and air pollution. Fifty-thousand idling cars, lining up to enter the facility create a lot of smog.
Proponents cite the economic benefits of the increase in visitors; but Tom Grave, spokesman for Citizens Against the Roadway (CAR) says, Are we willing to sell out the health of our people for some economic gain? Fifty years from now, somebody’s going to say ‘How did you let that happen?’
Health and traffic issues notwithstanding, NASCAR seems here to stay.
With broader popular appeal than any other sport in America, it seems able to please both urban sophisticates and its rural base equally — occupying a middle ground that would be the envy of any politician. A day at the races will thrill you, deafen you and satisfy your inner Bubba. Bring your earplugs, and hang on to that chili dog!
NASCAR fans (from left): John Creen of Modesto and two young fans; Desi Madrid of Santa Rosa; pit crew member Ben Johnson of Owensboro, KY; unidentified man enjoying a corndog. Top (from left): Infineon Raceway, Sonoma; fans crowd the fence to see the action. Photos by Scott Hargis
Above left: Nascar number 88 is driven by Dale Jarret; Pit Stop area at Infineon Raceway; NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon of Vallejo receiving “Wall of Fame” plaque; Car 11 driven by Denny Hamlin; NASCAR stock car. Photos by Scott Hargis
