Sonoma 2012: Observations

Ryan Briscoe celebrates his win at Sonoma.

The raceway at Sonoma is a 40-minute drive from my home, so it's an annual excursion for me - one I always look forward to. The surrounding area is gorgeous and the event is always well-run by a terrific staff.

In the past few years, the attendance for the IndyCar race hasn't been much to get excited about, and due to the track layout, neither has the racing. But recently, things have started to improve on both fronts. More promotion, not only around the San Francisco Bay area, but also in the nearby Sacramento area, has helped draw a growing, respectably-sized crowd to the raceway. I was a bit concerned for this year's event due to preliminary races for the America's Cup competition taking place in San Francisco harbor, but the Sonoma crowd felt about the same as last year.

The racing has often been described as a "high-speed parade" due to the lack of passing opportunities, and there was hope that track changes for this year's race would vastly improve the competitive quality of the race. Modifying turn 7 into a tight hairpin did tempt drivers to pass, but there was a great deal of contact at that spot. The modified turn 11 proved still too challenging to change things on the passing front. The overall racing is better due to the DW12 chassis being much better suited to road courses than the previous car, but I'm hoping further modifications can take place at the track to open up another passing zone or two.

One thing that is always strong at Sonoma is the hospitality turnout. Many sponsors have headquarters or regional offices near the area - new title sponsor GoPro is just an hour away - and wine country is an extremely popular business trip. It's no surprise IndyCar keeps coming back here for the very opportunity to show their sponsors and partners a good time in an area that has an abundance of terrific restaurants and inspiring vistas. Speaking of returning, although it was announced that GoPro has a three-year contract to title sponsor the race, I heard there was a meeting to discuss the sanctioning fee for the renewed contract between the track and the Series, which remains unsigned. I do expect that to be sorted out given the desire on all parties to continue the relationship.

Another meeting that happened over the weekend was focused on cutting the cost of parts for the Dallara chassis. Reports say an agreement is expected in the next few days. Personally, I hope reducing costs will help calm waters between the owners and Randy Bernard. There are plenty of things they could all focus their energy on that would bring positive results to the sport, instead of making it look like there is constant infighting going on.

Team Penske really has the secret to this track figured out and Will Power has owned it of late, so it was nice to see team mate Ryan Briscoe get the win. He's often pegged as "about to be let go by Penske," despite having grown into a solid competitor under The Captain's wing. Roger keeps bringing him back and I've always thought we'd see more wins for him, but he has the misfortune of competing during the impressive careers of Power, Dario Franchitti and Helio Castroneves.

The podium threat of Sebastien Bourdais and Simon Pagenaud continued at this track during the weekend, even though Bourdais didn't finish the race. Pagenaud finished 7th and claimed the Rookie of the Year title. It's inspiring to see new, small teams with very gifted pilots be able to compete with the big dogs; I recognize part of it is the level playing field created by the same new car for everyone, but I hope it continues a while.

In all, Sonoma 2012 was a solid IndyCar event and there's potential for future editions to grow, especially if the Series and track keep focusing on giving the racing a chance to compete with the stellar surroundings and the atmosphere of attending in person.