Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma at Infineon Raceway
But THAT is just the last event of a weekend of racing that is the IndyCar® Series‘ only visit to Northern California….
Motorheads of Northern California, unite! I know. I’m a “throwback” sometimes. I really don’t mind if someone burns a little bit of hydrocarbon-based fuel to push a race car around a track. (Think what a small fraction of the world’s combustion it actually represents.) You can generate global-warming gases during a lot of activities, for example, generating ELECTRICITY! (That is why the calculation of the pollution of electric cars has to consider how the electricity was generated.) Some of my “environmentally conscious” 
neighbors don’t see the inconsistency of (or just DON’T CARE about) heating their homes burning FIREWOOD (and generating particulates that get trapped in a California VALLEY) in the wintertime, or of hosing down their driveways during a drought. Some of them work/worked on “weapons of mass destruction,” so a little pollution/stupidity probably does not bother them all that much! When thinking about nuclear war, many other things pale in comparison, in either the “pollution” or “stupidity” category.
The Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma (1) at Infineon Raceway (“Think outside of the oval.”), is a 75-lap, 173-mile course in going fast up and downhill and around 12 corners at speeds, and under G-forces, that are somewhat difficult to comprehend. Sure, Danica Patrick (sponsored by my hosting company, GoDaddy) will be there. She is not only the first female Indy car driver to actually win an Indy car race, but she is also the first Indy car driver to appear in back-to-back editions of the annual Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue (according to the Sonoma News online).
Hélio Castroneves, the popular Brazilian who won the Indy 500 THREE TIMES and is the only Indy car driver to have won a season of Dancing with the Stars, will also be racing!
But hold it right there! Racing fans will also have access to arguably some of the biggest names in the history of open-wheel racing! The big headliner…? Mario Andretti, a man whom I watched (live and in person!) drive to victory, “running on fumes,” on the road course, Road America, at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Andretti “is the only driver in history to win the Indianapolis 500, Daytona 500 and Formula One world championship. In fact, no American has won a Formula One race since Andretti’s victory in the 1978 Dutch Grand Prix.” Andretti will be joined by Al Unser Jr., Rick Mears, and Johnny Rutherford. “Mears won the Indianapolis 500 four times, while Rutherford won the event three times. Unser Jr., meanwhile, took the checkers in Indianapolis twice.”
The weekend includes the Firestone Indy Lights race, the Historic Grand Prix (which includes some of the most famous and valuable formula cars of the past), and the Formula Car Challenge.
I won’t get to go, but some of you can write to me about it! For a complete race schedule and ticket information go to infineonraceway.com, ticketmaster.com, or call 800-870-RACE.
And don’t feel too guilty….
-Bill at
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