Sears Point

The undulating Sears Point in the Sonoma mountains replaced Riverside as NASCAR’s annual Californian road race when the former grand prix venue closed in 1988. As only one of two road races on the NASCAR calendar at that time, many drivers found it hard to adapt, but Jeff Gordon won three races in a row from 1998 to 2000, and his road course prowess was confirmed by a similar run at Watkins Glen from 1997-99. Sears Point was built in 1968 but closed within two years. However, it soon reopened to house the Bob Bondurant racing school. Long Beach promoter Chris Pook bought it in 1980 and repaved the track five years later, before selling it to Bruton Smith in 1996. Dan Gurney won a one-off Indycar race here in 1970, and America’s senior open wheel championship visited annually from 2005 to 2018. Infineon acquired the naming rights in 2002 and it has officially been known as Sonoma Raceway since that deal expired in 2012.