When word got out that NASCAR was going to stage a 1989 NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway, then known as Sears Point Raceway, in Sonoma, Calif., suffice it to say it was met with much excitement.
It meant a return to California, a state that appeared to be gone from the Winston Cup schedule after the demise of Riverside International Raceway, a road course about an hour away from Los Angeles. The track succumbed to residential and commercial development and held its last race in 1988.
It also meant there would be another road course on the schedule. Sonoma joined Watkins Glen International — which came on board in 1986 — as the only NASCAR tracks on which drivers had to do more than turn left.
But there was another element that was, perhaps, most appealing about racing at Sonoma. It was in a part of California that was decidedly more appealing than Riverside. It stood across the bay from San Francisco, across the Golden Gate Bridge and just few miles north on Highway 101 in the heart of Wine Country.
You can just imagine the appeal to a group of competitors, fans and media who were based in the South and, largely, only heard about The City by the Bay and the surrounding area.
But make no mistake, the biggest attraction by far was Wine Country. The key word here is wine.
Oh, sure, you could buy wine at the Piggly Wiggly and the South did have vineyards, but California provided some of the country’s best — and the elite were in the Wine Country around Sonoma.
When it comes to alcohol, the NASCAR fraternity was grain-based, which included beer and moonshine. There was wine at home and in restaurants, but the amount consumed paled when compared to, say, Jack Daniels and friends.
In my college days, most wine came with a screw off top and names like Boone’s Farm and MD 20-20. A fraternity brother once told me he was going to buy a bottle of “peanut noyer.” I think he meant pinot noir.
Despite its relative lack of wine knowledge, for the most…
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