Laguna Seca race official as county gives approval, will be 2019 season finale.

As expected, the Monterey County Board of Supervisors approved a three-year deal that brings IndyCar back to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. On Tuesday, July 17, the racing organization announced that the track will host the final race of the 2019 season on Sept. 22.

The excitement was palpable at a press conference held in the Laguna Seca paddock following the supervisors’ unanimous decision, attended by former drivers Bobby Rahal and Danny Sullivan, both winners at the track during IndyCar’s previous stint on the peninsula. Races were hosted annually at the site between 1983 and 2004.

“So many things to say,” IndyCar's Mark Miles, president and CEO of Hulman & Company, told the assembled group. “There is a spiritual attachment to this place."

Hulman & Company owns both the IndyCar series and the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Monterey County, which owns the track, operated with Sports Car Racing Association of Monterey Peninsula, will pay $1.2 million to IndyCar in sanctioning fees in 2019, and $1.5 million for the following two races. County officials cleary hope the relationship will continue after this contract period ends.

“We’re looking toward a long-term future of improvements to the facility,” says Dewayne Woods, assistant chief county administrative officer. The famed circuit had once hosted national and international touring series, but had lost some of its drawing power. The county took over the location more than a year ago. Several capital improvements are planned for racetrack, including drainage, new restroom facilities and a signature bridge over the front straight.

“The county is building the business,” Woods adds. “I look forward to more announcements about this facility.”

According to a county staff report, sanctioning fees and other expenses will be covered by sponsorships, ticket sales and other income related to a race weekend. The optimism is based, in part, on the track’s 2019 status as the schedule’s championship finale, as well as an exclusive agreement between NBC and IndyCar for series broadcast rights. Miles says the Hulman organization and network executives outlined themes to highlight next year, one of them being the title race.

“They will be putting their full weight behind it and so will we,” he says.

Sonoma Raceway had hosted the season-concluding weekend since 2016 (with this year’s event set for Sept. 14-16). Sonoma has appeared on the IndyCar schedule since the series abandoned Laguna Seca in 2004.

The Sonoma race’s title sponsor, GoPro, did not renew naming rights for the current season at the Northern California track.

“It would be great to keep Sonoma, too,” Rahal observes. “But great ones like this you don’t want to see go.”

The WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca date was apparently set to follow next year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship weekend. Although IMSA has yet to release their 2019 schedule, the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix takes place Sept. 7-9 this year. And in his statement to the crowd, Sullivan alluded to a “race weeks” in the county.

“We’re going to have an exciting month of September,” he said.

Sullivan won the 1988 event at Laguna Seca in a Penske Chevrolet. He now lives in the area. Rahal took the checkered flag four times here. He compares the circuit favorable to other iconic raceways around the world—except that Laguna Seca has one advantage.

“Nobody has the Corkscrew,” he points out. “When people see the Corkscrew for the first time, it’s like ‘Holy smokes!’”

 Start times, support races, ticket prices and other information for next year's IndyCar Monterey Grand Prix have yet to be announced.