Third Annual Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival to Feature Moments in Time:
a Celebration of the History of Motorsports
Fine wine, food, and fabulous cars highlight program

SONOMA, Calif. (April 19, 2021) - The Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, the third annual event under that title, returns to Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif., June 2-3, 2012, featuring “Moments in Time: a Celebration of the History of Motorsports.” The program for the 26th annual historic-car event organized by General Racing Ltd. in Sonoma will focus on highlights of the 1950s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s - the eras in which auto racing began to cement its international status as a world-class spectator sport. In addition, 400 historic race cars will compete and parade around the 12-turn, 2.52-mile road course, including a number of significant cars, ranging from a 1911 National Indy 500 racer to a 1991 Roush IMSA GTO Mustang.

The “Moments in Time” timeline will then continue in 2013, as the fourth annual Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival will feature “America’s Sports Car,” the Chevrolet Corvette, as the premier marque.

“Our plan for the third annual Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival is to celebrate the important ‘Moments in Time’ from the sport and the cars that defined each era,” said Steve Earle, president of General Racing, Ltd., who has organized premier historic car events for four decades. “Our focus as always will be to bring the history of the sport to the attention of automotive enthusiasts, new and old, with the display of a number of important cars and the presence of personalities from specific events during those periods. This year these will include the winning driver of the 1952 Golden Gate Park Races, and the winning car from the 24 Hours of LeMans that same year.

“The theme will also focus on the emergence of ‘GT’ cars rather than ‘Prototypes’ as contenders for the 1962 FIA World Manufacturers Championship, the introduction of ‘Group C’ sports cars and the dominating Porsche 956 in 1982.
 
“It’s a little known fact that the City of San Francisco and its world famous park was a gracious host in the early Fifties to a number of SCCA racing events, and we’d like to take people back to those ‘amazing days’ when a major U.S. city and a fledgling sports-car club joined together to entertain the public with exciting racing action.”

The cars that are considered significant of each are would include:

1952 – Allard J2-Cadillac (Golden Gate winner). Mercedes-Benz W194 (24 Hours of  LeMans winner)

1962 – Ferrari GTO (introduced that year), the birth of the Cobra, and the introduction of the Corvette Stingray

1972 – Racing prototypes (Ferrari 312, Matra, e.g.) in the World Sports Car Championships

1982 – Group C: the Porsche 956 introduced

Fifteen unique race groups will compete on Saturday and Sunday, while the weekend will also feature the popular Wine Country Pavilion with samplings of fine foods and wines from the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. The paddock will be open to spectators, allowing everyone an opportunity to get an up-close-and-personal look at the race cars and enjoy the various car corrals dotted throughout the raceway.

The weekend’s festivities will also include the Historic Race Car Festival in the Sonoma Plaza Saturday evening benefiting Speedway Children’s Charities.

Additional information may be found at www.sonomahistoric.com. Companies interested in supporting special events during the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival should contact General Racing Ltd. at 805-686-9292.

Ticket information may be found at http://www.ticketmaster.com/artist/1129796 or by phone at 800-870-RACE (7223).

About General Racing, Ltd.:
General Racing Ltd. (founded by Steven Earle) was formed in 1970 to encourage the restoration, preservation and the use of historic sports and racing cars and envisioned an event that would unite former racing greats with enthusiastic amateurs who owned some of the rare motorcars that once graced road courses worldwide. Earle’s vision forever changed the vintage racing landscape.

In 1974, with the support of Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance organizers, he launched the inaugural one-day Monterey (Calif.) Historic Automobile Races at Laguna Seca Raceway. It was a huge success and attracted a field of 66 cars.

It also sparked the interest and vision for what would become the world’s premier historic auto race. In 1975 it became a two-day affair and the climb to recognition around the world began.

The success of the Monterey Historics spawned additional General Racing events, including the Portland (Ore.) Historic Automobile Races, the Coronado (Calif.) Speed Festival, special events at the Long Beach Grand Prix and the Kansas City Historic Grand Prix, as well as the Wine Country Classic, the forerunner to the current Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival.

In addition, General Racing assisted the organizational team from 2001-2008 at the Lime Rock Park (Conn.) Vintage Festival, held over Labor Day weekend.

SECOND ANNUAL SONOMA HISTORIC MOTORSPORTS FESTIVAL TO FEATURE MCLAREN

SONOMA, Calif. (Feb. 10, 2011) - The second annual Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, to be held at Infineon Raceway on June 4-5, 2011, will feature the iconic McLaren marque, announced Steve Earle, president of General Racing, Ltd.

“McLaren, like Ferrari and Porsche and other great names in motorsports, created the bloodlines that we worship today in historic automobile racing,” said Earle, who for four decades has devoted his life to organizing historic car racing events and is the originator of the Wine Country Classic that preceded the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival for 24 years, as well as the Monterey Historic Automobile Races.

“Choosing McLaren as our marque means we will pay special tribute to the name, the teams, and the cars that McLaren has produced in the past and will produce in the future, adding another dimension of enjoyment for both competitors and spectators.”

The first edition of the epic Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, held at the scenic 2.52-mile Infineon Raceway in 2010, hosted 375 historic race cars, some dating as far back as 1915, in a series of 13 race groups. This year's highly-anticipated event has already reached the maximum 400 entries, 26 of which are authentic McLarens that were raced since the famed Bruce McLaren of New Zealand founded the McLaren racing team in 1963.

“These beautiful machines on the track combined with the Sonoma wine country experience makes our historic car weekend unlike anything else on our schedule,” said Infineon Raceway President and General Manager Steve Page. “Adding the allure of McLaren and the racing heritage that name represents will make the 2011 Sonoma Historics a weekend we’ll look forward to all year.”

The weekend's events will include a series of "time capsule" historic races each day, the Historic Race Car Festival in the Sonoma Plaza benefiting Speedway Children’s Charities, wine country tours, seminars and other special programs to be announced.

A popular event away from the track is the Wine Country Pavilion, where the best food and wine from the Sonoma and Napa Valleys may be sampled. Admission to the Pavilion is FREE with an event ticket.

David Grandin, a local Northern California artist from Pleasant Hill in the East Bay, created this year’s event poster, depicting the No. 4 McLaren driven by Bruce McLaren in the 1968 SCCA Can-Am Series. It is attached to this press release for editorial use.

Additional information may be found at www.sonomahistoric.com. Companies interested in supporting special events during the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, should contact General Racing Ltd., at 805-686-9292.

About McLaren:
Having dominated the Can-Am series from 1967 through 1971, McLaren was considered unbeatable. There were also McLaren victories at the Indianapolis 500 for American drivers Mark Donohue (1972) and Johnny Rutherford (1974, 1976). In Formula 1 racing, the McLaren name is equally famous. Only Ferrari has competed in more F1 races in the modern era, and McLaren’s driver lineup has included the very best the sport has produced including Bruce McLaren, Peter Revson, Denny Hulme, James Hunt, Emerson Fittipaldi, Niki Lauda, Alain Prost, Ayrton Senna, Fernando Alonzo and current world champion drivers Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button.

Today, the McLaren Group, headquartered in Woking, Surrey, England, is comprised of the Vodafone McLaren Mercedes F1 Racing Team and McLaren Automotive. In 2011, the company will introduce its new road car, the McLaren MP4-12C. The carbon fiber composite chassis with a 3.8 liter twin turbo V8 engine develops 600 horsepower and has a top speed of 200 mph. The seven-speed gear box with paddle shifter will accelerate from 0 to 124 mph in under ten seconds. The MP4-12C’s shapely form and extraordinary performance pays tribute to McLaren’s racing heritage.

About General Racing, Ltd.:
General Racing Ltd. was formed in 1970 to encourage the restoration, preservation and the use of historic sports and racing cars. Founder Steven J. Earle envisioned an event that would unite former racing greats with enthusiastic amateurs who owned some of the rare motorcars that once graced road courses worldwide. Mr. Earle’s vision forever changed the vintage racing landscape.

The success of the Monterey Historics spawned additional General Racing events. The Wine Country Classic, now re-named the Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival, held at Infineon raceway (formerly Sears Point), has grown each year, and in 1997, a third venue was needed to accommodate the interest. Thus, Speed Festival, at NAS Coronado was created.

General Racing’s expectations are high and have proven to set the gold standard in historic automobile racing. Only cars with documented racing pedigrees are accepted, and must bear the same livery details as they did in their racing years.



Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival
WHAT: Sonoma Historic Motorsports Festival
WHEN: June 4-5, 2011
CIRCUIT: 12-turn, 2.52-mile road course
TICKETS:  $40 day/$60 weekend; Youth (Ages 13-20): $20 day/$30 weekend; Children 12-and-under FREE and parking is FREE. Each ticket includes entry to the Wine Country Pavilion.
INFORMATION: 800-870-RACE, infineonraceway.com <http://infineonraceway.com> /historics, ticketmaster.com <http://www.ticketmaster.com>