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Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival. June 2-3 2017
I managed to get away on Friday and stayed through Saturday before returning home from the track that is north of San Francisco over the Golden Gate bridge. The course first opened in 1968 and was known for years as "Sears Point"\.
It later became "Infineon Raceway" and recently named "Sonoma Raceway."
Anyway I stopped in and wanted to share some of my photos with y'all.
(Ken Hyndman )
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I wonder what was wrong with 'Sears Point' as a name...
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Ray,
It is all about money ! In 2002 Sears Point sold its naming rights to the German technology company "Infineon" for a ten year partnership which they did not renew in 2012. The track is currently known as Sonoma Raceway although it is said that management is searching for a new company interested in acquiring the naming rights.
( So this could be your chance mate, to get your name out there for the world to see. "Bell International Raceway" sounds pretty good don't you think ?)
(Ken H)
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Here is one for Steve.
1971 Pontiac Firebird.
This one is for me as I have to admit I was a fan of "The Intimidator," Dale Earnhardt.
Dale's 1994 Chevy Lumina.
(Ken Hyndman photos )
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Ken- nah...people may link it to Bell Tea- something Americans may have heard of but not drink.
I feel- RAYS RACEWAY has a good bite to it
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Administrator
Awesome pics Ken. Did the stock cars get a race, or were they just on display?
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Administrator
Originally Posted by
khyndart in CA
Here is one for Steve.
1971 Pontiac Firebird.
(Ken Hyndman photos )
Thanks Ken, Pontiac actually had a pretty good presence in Nascar Grand American, particularly with the gen 2 Firebird. Herb Adams was involved in building and racing a couple of these cars, though I don't know if this is one of his.
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Steve,
They did race but it was late on Saturday and I had to get back home and all the finals were on the Sunday.
Perhaps next time. The best race for me was the Historic Trans Am. The lead changed every lap !
More on that later. I took a lot of photos and have to figure out how to present them without making it too boring.
There were a lot of categories, something for everybody and I could not do them all justice.
Ken
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Administrator
Thanks for the pics of the 'Tirebird' Ken, they're really great. This is one of my all-time favorite Trans-Am cars, even though it never actually had any success in period. It was one of the cars built for the 1970 season by the factory Pontiac team, T/G Racing, but when Jerry Titus was killed, the team really fell apart. I don't know if this car was driven in 1970 by Titus, but it reappeared in 1971, now sponsored by BF Goodrich, who wanted to promote their new radial street tyres. I'm pretty sure the car actually raced on radial street tyres.
Note also that the Tirebird doesn't have all those plastic front aero parts that were standard on Trans-Am models, and also appeared on the T/G Racing cars in 1970. It just has a simple front spoiler.
As for the brakes, Bruce Thompson may know more, but I think from memory the rules were opened up in 1970 allowing for after-market brakes. I'm pretty sure the factory backed Dodge Challengers and Plymouth Cudas also used Hurst-Airheart brakes. I'm pretty certain I can't use these.
Also, I can't use rotors that are drilled or slotted, although vented are OK.
Thanks again Ken, keep the pics coming.
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Semi-Pro Racer
It is a cool car and it would be neat to see one of this model built for HMC. I think you are right re the tyres Steve that BF Goodrich used it to promote the new T/A Radial tires...
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Administrator
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Semi-Pro Racer
Really great photos Ken. Love those cars and the way they are all prepared and kept in period state. A real credit to all of the 'caretakers'.
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Semi-Pro Racer
Great photos, fantastic period cars and a spectacular autocourse.... a day of bliss I bet.
Thanks for posting
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