The last Sonoma race was held at the previous road course passage was in 1997 on October 5 at a Truck Series event, There, Joe Ruffmann won the race but controversy erupted when Rich Bickle blamed a loss of top-ten finishes on rookie Boris Said, Rich Bickle cut down a tire, and in reply, Boris Said ran in to Bickle and waited for him to come around and crash him, NASCAR after a brief red flag for a massive crash in a wall of tires, disqualified Said and placed him $10,000 for his actions.