Rolex Series not coming to Laguna in ’10

Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca CEO/General Manager Gill Campbell is scrambling to try to put together a schedule for the world-renowned race track for next season.

Normally, there have been five major events at the 2.238-mile, 11-turn permanent road course. That's the max allowed by contract with the County of Monterey.

The raceway is actually a concessionaire at what is a County park. The Sports Car Racing Association of the Monterey Peninsula (SCRAMP) oversees the operation of the track, which includes scheduling the Skip Barber Racing School, club events and so on. But, the ultimate governing body is the County.

Last year, we only had four major events and, thus far, there are only three on the schedule for 2010.

"I hope to announce the remainder of the schedule within the next 30 days," Campbell said last week. "It's been a frustrating year."

Part of the frustration came with the Grand American Rolex Sports Car Series pulling out for 2010. "They said it was too expensive to come to the West Coast," Campbell said.

That leaves us with the Monterey Sports Car Championships featuring the American Le Mans Series as the season opener May 21-23 with a six-hour ALMS feature on the 22nd. That's two hours longer. Monterey Herald