Sonoma’s Split From IndyCar Mostly Due To Financial Losses

The sparse crowd led to Sonoma's demise

The Verizon IndyCar Series held its final event at Sonoma Raceway yesterday, and track President & GM Steve Page said the decision was made because the venue loses "between $200,000-$250,000 every time IndyCar comes here," according to Bob Padecky of the Santa Rosa PRESS DEMOCRAT.

Page said, "We have a good fan base and my staff loves IndyCar. … [But] the last four years we have not broken even. In the 14 years we've made money only a handful of times. I majored in political science in college but even I can do simple arithmetic. We are not a nonprofit operation."

Padecky notes next year's IndyCar weekend slot "already has been replaced by a function that will net the speedway $75,000." Page said there is a "waiting list to use the track."

Alexander Rossi races before sparse crowd

Padecky notes the "last of something always feels like the [loss] of something."

While IndyCar did not have the "hold on Northern California motorsports fans like NASCAR, the drag or the bikes," it had athletes that were "mature and personable, who didn't frequent the police blotter or say something that would launch an investigation."

IndyCar drivers "represent the sport well and Sonoma Raceway ably gave them that stage." What the drivers "couldn't do, nor could Sonoma Raceway, was affect the spread of declining interest in their sport." Santa Rosa PRESS DEMOCRAT