Whether its amateur or professional SCCA road races, AMA and AFM motorcycle racing, exotic SportsCar sports cars, vintage cars or the raw power of NASCAR Winston Cup, NASCAR Trucks and NHRA drag races, Sears Point Raceway has played host to some of the racing world's top events and its greatest moments.

Racing legends such as Mario Andretti, Al Unser, Dan Gurney, Kenny Roberts, Shirley Muldowney and Don "The Snake" Prudhomme, as well as modern day stars including Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Ron Hornaday Jr., Miguel DuHamel and John Force, have all left their indelible marks at this unique and historic facility.

Sears Point is arguably the world's busiest racing facility, with track activity scheduled an average of 340 days a year. It is the nation's only high-performance automotive industrial park.

Under the ownership and vision of Speedway Motorsports Incorporated, Sears Point is poised to reach new heights in facility development and in the quality of events it offers fans. What follows is a brief history of how Sears Point Raceway came to be North America's most complete and versatile motorsports complex:

1968
The 2.52-mile road racing course was constructed on 720 acres by Marin County owners Robert Marshall Jr., an attorney from Point Reyes, and land developer Jim Coleman of Kentfield. The two conceived of the idea of a race track while on a hunting trip. Ground was broken in August and paving of the race surface was completed in November. The first official event at Sears Point was an SCCA Enduro, held on December 1, 1968.

1969
The track was sold to Filmways Corp., a Los Angeles-based entertainment company for $4.5 million. From 1969 through early 1970, Sears Point hosted a variety of events, including USAC IndyCar races, NASCAR stock car races, SCCA races, and drag races.

1970
Dan Gurney won a 150-mile USAC IndyCar road race with a field that included Mario Andretti, Mark Donahue and Al Unser. Not long after, the track closed in May and became a tax shelter for Filmways after losses of $300,000 were reported.

1973
Hugh Harn of Belvedere and Parker Archer of Napa arranged to lease the track through Filmways vice president Lee Moselle for $1 million. Bob Bondurant, owner and operator of the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving, announced that he would move his school from Ontario Speedway in Southern California to Sears Point. The Pacific Region of the Sports Club Car of America announced it would hold a driver's school and series of non-spectator races at the track. A work party was organized to help pull weeds that threatened to take over the track.

1974
Bob Bondurant and partner Bill Benck took over management and control of the leased raceway from Archer and Harn. American Motorcycle Association national motocross races in the hills north of Turn 7 become popular with Bay Area fans, but were phased out by the end of the decade because of rising insurance costs.

1977
Moselle, a lawyer with no racing experience, comes aboard and hires Jack Williams, the 1964 NHRA top-fuel drag racing champion, to be his operations chief, and Art Glattke to handle public relations. Moselle was under orders from Filmways to clear spectator restrictions with the county of Sonoma and to build a major-event schedule. A group calling itself Black Mountain Inc., which included Bob Bondurant, William J. Kolb of Del Mar and Howard Meister of Newport Beach, purchased the track from Filmways for a reported $1.5 million. Two months later, in May, Kenny Roberts did wheelies on the final two laps while he waved to a crowd of 20,000 for a runaway victory in the AMA-Sonoma Motorcycle Classic.

1980
The Black Mountain Group took on an additional partner -- the Long Beach Grand Prix Association -- in hopes of improving marketing and public relations.

1981
The Long Beach Grand Prix, headed by Chris Pook, decided to rename the track Golden State International Raceway. The Black Mountain group obtained an injunction to keep Filmways from claiming the property after defaulting on payments. Black Mountain claimed Filmways gave false financial projections when it sold the property in 1979. Bondurant resigned as president of Golden State Raceway in a dispute with Pook over the Long Beach Grand Prix's management plan. Filmways regained ownership of the track and Williams, Rick Betts and John Andersen purchased the track from Filmways at an auction for $800,000. The track was renamed Sears Point International Raceway.

1983
Ford became a major sponsor at the track. Williams named Dr. Frank N. Scott Jr. of Aptos and Harvey "Skip" Berg of Tiburon as partners.

1985
The track was completely repaved, in part with funds donated from the "Pave the Point" fund raising campaign. It was also in 1985 that the first shop spaces (Buildings A,B,C, and D -- in the main paddock area) were built.

1986
Berg, president of a real estate acquisition and management firm headquartered in Seattle, took control of the track and became major stockholder in Brenda Raceway Corp., which controlled the track until 1996. Berg named Darwin Doll, vice president and general manager of Michigan International Speedway, new track president.

1987
One of the most significant moves in the track's history occurred. Sears Point signed a five-year contract with the National Hot Rod Association for the California Nationals. The first event was held in the summer of 1988. Additional buildings constructed on the property brought shop space to more than 700,000 square feet.

1988
Berg hired Glen Long, an IBM executive, to be the track's new president. Mike Yurick was named general manager. The NHRA nationals were a resounding success, with an estimated 32,000 spectators on hand to watch Joe Amato edge Dick LaHaie in victory by a one hundreths of a second margin.

1989
The NASCAR Winston Cup Series debuted at the raceway, with Ricky Rudd taking the inaugural victory. Sears Point Raceway arrived.

1991
The Skip Barber Racing School replaced the Bob Bondurant School of High Performance Driving. The NASCAR Winston Cup race drew 70,000 spectators in its second year at the track. The 15-year association with International Motorsports Association (SportsCar) GTP series, was suspended. Steve Page, a marketing executive with the Oakland A's, succeeded Long as track president.

1994
More than $1 million was spent on a beautification project and construction of a 62-foot-high, four-sided electronic lap leader board in the center of the road course. A medical facility and an 18-nozzle Unocal gasoline filling station were constructed.

1995
A major $3 million renovation plan was kicked off that included posh tower VIP suites and a two-story driver's lounge/emergency medical facility. Trans-Am and SportsCar races returned to Sears Point. The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is added to the major-events schedule.

1996
The Russell Racing School signs a 10-year contract with Sears Point Raceway in February to headquarter its world renowned driving school in Sonoma. The Skip Barber Driving School moves to Laguna Seca. In May of 1996, the NASCAR Winston Cup race drew a record 102,000 spectators -- the largest single-day crowd for a Northern California sports event. Sears Point Raceway owner Skip Berg sells the track to O. Bruton Smith, chairman of Speedway Motorsports, Inc. in November of 1996. Speedway Motorsports also owns Atlanta, Bristol, Charlotte and Texas Motor Speedways in addition to Sears Point Raceway.

1997
Kragen signs a contract through the year 2001 to joint sponsor the annual NASCAR Winston Cup event. The event will be renamed the Save Mart/Kragen 350 for the 1998 season.

1998
Major renovations begin at Sears Point Raceway with the creation of "The Chute," an 890-fooot high-speed stretch that will be used for all NASCAR-sanctioned events. The stretch connects existing Turns 4 and 7 and is officially opened on May 5 by NASCAR star Jeff Gordon. The re-design of the road course shortens the circuit from 2.52 miles to 1.949 miles but increases the Winston Cup race from 74 to 112 laps, provding fans with more action. The Chute will be used for Winston Cup, Winston West, Southwest Series and Craftsman Truck Series events.

In June, NASCAR marks its 10-year anniversary with Sears Point Raceway and Vallejo native Gordon comes away for the victory in the Save Mart/Kragen 350 Winston Cup race.

1999
Jeff Gordon joins Rusty Wallace and Ernie Irvan as the only two-time winners at Sears Point when the Vallejo native wins the Save Mart/Kragen 350 NASCAR Winston Cup race in June.

The first-ever running of the American Le Mans Series takes place at Sears Point in July as J.J. Lehto and Steve Soper guide BMW to the Prototype victory. This marks the return of exciting sports car racing to Sears Point as a main event for the first time since 1997. The race is televised live by NBC.

Progressive Insurance signs on as the title sponsor of the AMA Superbike event, which is won by Mat Mladin. The native of Australia would go on to capture his first-ever AMA Superbike championship. His only win of the year would come at Sears Point. NHRA drag racing winners include Doug Kalitta (Top Fuel), Whit Bazemore (Funny Car) and Jim Yates (Pro Stock).

2000
Sears Point Raceway gains unanimous approval from the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors by a 5-0 vote to begin work on a $35 million Modernization Plan that will transform the facility into one of the premier motorsports venues in the country. The comprehensive project will take two years to complete and inlcudes 64,000 Hillside Terrace seats, repaving of both the road course and drag strip and increased run-off around the entire track.

Jeff Gordon becomes the first three-time NASCAR Winston Cup winner at Sears Point Raceway, taking the Save Mart/Kragen 350.

In other racing news, Allan McNish sets the fastest lap ever recorded at Sears Point since the raceway opened in 1968. McNish, piloting an Audi R8 during the American Le Mans Series Grand Prix of Sonoma, covers a single lap at 112.440 mph. Doug Kalitta joins Gordon as a three-peat winner, claiming his third consecutive Top Fuel title at the Fram Autolite Nationals NHRA event.