Drag Racer, 75, Dies After Crash At Sonoma Raceway

SONOMA (KPIX) — A 75-year-old street racer, and Napa resident, died Wednesday at the Sonoma Raceway when the racer's vehicle hit a wall at 100 or more miles per hour, county sheriff's officials said.

At about 6:15 p.m., the California Highway Patrol reported the death, which occurred at a drag racing program at the raceway at 29355 Arnold Drive in Sonoma.

The driver was racing his 1976 Ford Pinto on the facility's quarter-mile drag strip when the accident happened, according to the Sonoma Raceway.

The raceway said this is the first on-track fatality in the 30-year history of their Wednesday Night Drag program.

The identity of the racer was not immediately released.