Steve Page and the Amazing Sonoma Raceway!
Our speaker for November 21 was Steve Page, the President and CEO of Sonoma Raceway. Steve discussed the development of the Raceway from its roots as a “great track, zero infrastructure” local operation to its current position as a modern sports facility serving tens of thousands of racing enthusiasts around the year.
The Raceway always had a bowl shape that allowed visitors to sit above the track and see the entire track during a race, unlike most other tracks where visibility is severely limited. The development of the NASCAR phenomenon into a national racing obsession fueled the growth of the Raceway when a major national race track owner purchased it in 1996 and eventually put over $100,000,000 into capital improvements. Steve guided these improvements through concerns about native American burial grounds, endangered wetlands and the ever-present Highway 37 obstacle. In 2000, after several years dealing with those issues, the Raceway began a 2-year project involving, among other things, moving 10,000,000 tons of dirt!
The Sonoma Raceway is now one of the premier racing facilities in the country. The Raceway is always busy, hosting racing school, a go-cart track, corporate events, a highway survival course, a home-built car race and a variety of other events. Sonoma Raceway is also a leading donor to charitable causes, including the establishment of the Speedway Children’s Charities. Well done, Steve, and thank you for taking the time to give us an insight into the history and present activities of a major Sonoma County business!
