Classic Car Racing Weekend at Sonoma Raceway Contributes $1.9 million to Local Economy

Classic Car Racing Weekend at Sonoma Raceway

Contributes $1.9 million to Local Economy

SONOMA, Calif. (Feb. 23, 2017) - The Sonoma County Economic Development Board has released the results of an economic impact study conducted on the 2016 David Love Memorial Vintage Car Road Races held at Sonoma Raceway last April.

The results show that the David Love Memorial Vintage Car Road Races added $1.9 million in output for the local economy, supported 26 jobs, and provided an additional $920,000 in labor income for local workers. These results take into account only the additional spending by tourists within the county.

This annual event is a popular kickoff to the vintage racing season in Sonoma, and racing teams from all over the country and globe come to compete. For tourists and attendees, the main attraction is the opportunity to enjoy a large variety of vintage race cars in action. The event takes place over three full days of racing and competition.

"It's easy to conclude that major-event weekends like NASCAR have a significant financial impact on the region, but most of the activity at the raceway are enthusiast-focused events that don't enjoy the same high-profile visibility. To see nearly $2 million of measureable financial impact from a single amateur race weekend is impressive, and extrapolated over a full year it becomes a remarkable number," said Sonoma Raceway President & General Manager Steve Page. "We are grateful to the Economic Development Board for the opportunity to serve as a test case for this project."

With an average of 340 days of on-track activity scheduled each year, Sonoma Raceway will host 27 multi-day amateur racing weekends in 2017, in addition to major events weekends like NASCAR, NHRA and IndyCar.

The EDB completed this study as a pilot project to better understand the feasibility of conducting economic impact studies for local events. The vintage car race was chosen due to the availability of quantifiable data and opportunities for representative surveys.  Because it reflects the kind of activity that makes up the preponderance of Sonoma Raceway's calendar, the event offered a unique opportunity to understand and project the total economic impact Sonoma Raceway has on the local economy.

A full version of the report can be found at the Sonoma County Economic Development Board website, at sonomaedb.org, in the Data Center under Industry Reports.  For more information, contact Sean Werkema at the Sonoma County Economic Development Board at 707-565-7578.