Ken Clapp has seen it all. He remembers when Sears Point was home to a big dairy farm, not race cars.
Clapp was on hand 40 years ago when construction began to transform the rolling Sonoma hillsides into a world-renowned road course. Two decades after that, the longtime track owner/promoter was instrumental in bringing NASCAR's top division to Northern California.
Now, 20 years later, Infineon Raceway will honor Clapp today with a place on its Wall of Fame, a fitting prelude to the 20th Toyota/Save Mart 350.
"I was really surprised," Clapp said of the honor. "I never, ever dreamed it would happen to me. I've walked by and seen the busts (on the wall), thought it was a very nice touch and even speculated about what drivers would be up there some day – but not an old man like me."
Clapp, now 69 and a senior NASCAR consultant, will be enshrined at noon during the first day of Sonoma's NASCAR weekend.
"I was never in it for the money," said Clapp, who owned and/or promoted several racetracks scattered across Northern California and Oregon, including Stockton 99 Speedway.
Good friends with longtime NASCAR President Bill France Jr., Clapp saw the potential for Cup racing in Northern California. A Danville resident, he promoted weekly NASCAR racing at Santa Clara County fairgrounds in San Jose, drawing 6,000 fans a week as the top Saturday night program in the nation.
When Riverside International Raceway was sold for redevelopment in the late 1980s, two Cup races became available. Clapp tried to convince San Jose authorities, then track officials at Monterey's Laguna Seca to go after the dates.
"They just didn't get it," Clapp recalled. "Bill Jr. even offered to move NASCAR's headquarters to Monterey. (NASCAR) really wanted to make it happen. I started looking at other options, and Sears Point was the only deal in town."
So, one Riverside Cup race went to Phoenix International Raceway. The other went to Sears Point.
"A lot of people give me credit for bringing Cup racing to Infineon, but it really was a team effort," Clapp said.
He credits former Riverside president Les Richter, a retired NFL star with the Los Angeles Rams, with helping to convince France that Sears Point could work for Cup racing. Then-track president Greg Long, a former IBM executive, also pushed for the deal. When 32,000 spectators showed up for Sears Point's first National Hot Rod Association nationals in 1988, they knew they had an audience that could support a major event.
"We had a vision," Clapp said. "We knew it could be really special, but we didn't know how big it would become."
With crowds well over 100,000 on race day, the Toyota/Save Mart 350 has grown to be the biggest annual sporting event in Northern California. Prize money has multiplied tenfold from $550,000 in 1989 to a track-record $5,588,135 this year.
"Clearly, (NASCAR) brought Infineon to a new level," current track president Steve Page said. "If NASCAR hadn't come to the track … it would be a much different facility, probably operating at a local level as opposed to a top-level professional facility."
Page, a former executive with the A's, was hired in 1991 for his current job on the recommendation of Clapp, then a NASCAR senior vice president.
"The best thing I'm proud of is hiring Steve Page," Clapp said. "He's kept the place going all these years."
Said Page: "The passion Ken has for this place really comes through. He was here when they turned that first shovel of dirt. You can see the pride he takes in everything here."
In NASCAR, Sonoma has become synonymous with exciting, unpredictable road-course racing.
"Infineon Raceway is one race on the schedule that I absolutely love and look forward to coming and running," two-time Sonoma winner Tony Stewart said. "The people at the racetrack are always great. It's an awesome crowd that's very energetic and loves to see the Cup Series run there."
Four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon, a Vallejo native, grew up just 10 miles from Sears Point. But he really didn't have much experience on the course until he started Cup racing. He now dominates Infineon, with five victories and five poles.
"All of our wins have been special," Gordon said of his Sonoma memories.
But his 2000 victory ranks as his all-time Infineon favorite.
"I was leading the race, my seat belts came undone, the caution flew, I went into the gravel pit, and I was able to come to pit road, latch my belts back up," Gordon recalled. "It was a hot day. I was exhausted. It was just one of those days where it seemed like everything was trying to go against us, and we still fought through and won the race. That was a spectacular day and win, and a huge moment for the team."
Current track owner Bruton Smith and Speedway Motorsports Inc., which purchased the raceway's 800 acres in 1998, invested more than $70 million in 2001 to bring the facility up to state-of-the-art standards.
"They have kept up with the times, as well as brought a tremendous amount of diversity to the sport," driver Jeff Burton said. "One of the things that Sonoma has done is bring a different culture, a different type of race fan, which I think is really cool. The racetrack is so unique. It's very different, (and) the location is incredible."
Clapp has witnessed all 19 Cup races at Sonoma and expects to enjoy Sunday's race, too.
"God willing, where else would I be?" he said.
Call The Bee's Debbie Arrington, (916) 326-5514.
