
Sonoma Raceway Tour
With an early start (6:30 am to be exact) we made our way for the hour drive to Sonoma Raceway. Once at the track, we enjoyed a delicious breakfast, followed by several presentations. One of those presentations I’m going to share with you today – The history of NASCAR racing. I’ll follow up with the other presentations in a future post as their scope is about the new Cars 3 movie hitting theaters June 16th.
Let’s Ride!
Here’s my ride r’ die buddies Stella from According to Stella and Nicole from SAHM Reviews. Safety first, so we donned these silly red caps, then slipped on a racing helmet. You’d think I’d be a pro at this racing stuff after taking a spin on the Las Vegas Speedway a few years ago, but Sonoma’s track is VERY different. It’s not a typical track; it has 12 turns! No oval loops here. You’re going to turn left and right and go up and down a few times. My stomach was doing circles as we hopped in the car with our experienced driver.
Pit Stop Challenge
Yep that’s right, we got our hands dirty – well actually I wore gloves. 😉 After a quick demo on how to change a pit car tire, we teamed up for the challenge. I picked blogging buddy Andrew from Mommy’s Busy.

Touring a Race Car Garage
In addition to touring the track, racing, and the pit stop challenge, we also stopped into the garage of Robin Automotive owned by Tony Nicholson. He was nice enough to give us the lowdown on maintaining race cars, and touring his car collection. Wow – did he have some sweet rides in there!

The History of NASCAR Racing
Remember those presentations I mentioned at the beginning? We learned SO much during our Sonoma Raceway tour. Creative Director Jay Ward and Ray Evernham, former crew chief of Hendrick Motorsports, gave us the lowdown on NASCAR racing. They were beaming as they presented us with racing history, and conveniently tied in the new Cars 3 film into their presentation. They were definitely in the zone.
Creative Director Jay Ward and Ray Evernham, Former Crew Chief for Hendrick Motorsports (Photo by Deborah Coleman / Pixar)
Tying NASCAR history into Cars 3
When researching for the latest Cars film, Ward shared they based their legends in the film on real legends. Junior Moon – Based on legendary NASCAR driver and mechanic Junior Johnson. Johnson’s father was a moonshiner and Junior became a bootlegger. He was a great driver, but had a stint with the law. When he came out, he became a stock car racer and champion driver. Then transferred over to a mechanic and a champion crew chief. He kept climbing the corporate ladder and ultimately brought the first major sponsor onboard to NASCAR. River Scott – Wendell Scott was the first African American making major accomplishments in NASCAR during a pre-Civil Rights era. While other drivers would pull into the pits and have a crew handle, Wendell Scott did not. He had to jack it up and change his own tires! Despite his challenges, he still managed to become the first African-American to win in the Grand National Series. Smokey – Smokey Yunkick was one of the best racing mechanics of all time. Smokey was known for finding holes in the racing rules. Smokey’s theory was that if it didn’t say you couldn’t do it in the rules, then you could. He’s known for wearing a hat, so his character in the film wears a visor. Louise “Barnstormer” Nash – Louise Smith was one of the first lady drivers ever in NASCAR. She won several times at NASCAR’s highest level back at a time when women weren’t even allowed in the pits. She drove a Nash, which the same vehicle you’ll see in the Cars 3 film.
MEET THE LEGENDS — Lightning McQueen comes hood to hood with a group of characters who represent the roots of stock car racing—and provide a link to Lightning’s late coach and mentor, Doc Hudson. ©2017 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.
About Cars 3:
Blindsided by a new generation of blazing-fast racers, the legendary Lightning McQueen (voice of Owen Wilson) is suddenly pushed out of the sport he loves. To get back in the game, he will need the help of an eager young race technician, Cruz Ramirez (voice of Cristela Alonzo), with her own plan to win, plus inspiration from the late Fabulous Hudson Hornet and a few unexpected turns. Proving that #95 isn’t through yet will test the heart of a champion on Piston Cup Racing’s biggest stage!
Ellen Beck says
This looks really interesting. Hubby would really enjoy this he is into cars and Nascar. I would enjoy it too.