Gateway Motorsports Park

Gateway Motorsports Park


Gateway Motorsport Park's starting line tower
Location 700 Raceway Boulevard
Madison, Illinois 62060
Capacity 78,000
Owner Curtis Francois
Address 700 Raceway Blvd, Madison, IL 62060
Opened 1970 (1970)
Major events NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, National Hot Rod Association, American Drag Racing League, (former: IndyCar Series, CART, NASCAR Nationwide Series, USAC Silver Crown Series)
Oval
Length 2 km (1.25 mi)
Banking Turns 1 & 2 – 11°
Turns 3 & 4 – 9°
Straightaways – 3°

Gateway Motorsports Park (formerly Gateway International Raceway) is a race track in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis, Missouri. After being shuttered by former owner Dover Motorsports Inc. on November 3, 2010, it was announced on September 8, 2011 that the facility would re-open and host an NHRA Full Throttle Series event from September 28–30, 2012. St. Louis real estate developer and former professional racer (INDYCAR Indy Lights) Curtis Francois has signed a one-year lease to run the track. It hosted a NASCAR Nationwide Series event and a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on a 1.25-mile (2 kilometer) oval, a 1.5-mile (2.4 km) infield Road Course used by SCCA and various car clubs, and also has a quarter-mile drag strip that hosts an annual National Hot Rod Association event. The facilities were owned by Dover Motorsports, a group that also owned what is now Memphis International Raceway, along with Dover International Speedway, and the Nashville Superspeedway.

The first major event held at the facility was a CART series held on Saturday May 24, 1997, the day before the Indy Racing League's Indianapolis 500. Rather than scheduling a race directly opposite the Indy 500 (as they had done in 1996 with the U.S. 500), CART scheduled Gateway the day before to serve as their Memorial Day weekend open-wheel alternative without direct conflict. After a couple years, track management grew increasingly dissatisfied with its apparent use, as seen by some, as a political pawn or statement by CART. This event had poor attendance as fans generally chose to travel to the Indy 500 for the weekend instead. For 2000, the race was moved to the fall. In 2001, it was dropped from the CART series schedule, and switched alliances to the Indy Racing League. After mediocre attendance, the event was dropped altogether after 2003.

Track history

The 1.25-mile (2.01 km) oval is a favorite of many of the drivers who race there due to the unique shape and different degrees of banking in each corner. Turns 1 & 2 have characteristics similar to New Hampshire Motor Speedway while Turns 3 & 4 are similar to Phoenix International Raceway and the track's egg shape mimics the legendary Darlington Raceway. Several NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams test at GIR in preparation for these events.

There is also a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) infield road course used by sports car clubs and motorcycle organizations through the warmer months. This road course hosted a round of the AMA Superbike Championship in 1995. Canadian Miguel Duhamel won the superbike class in blistering hot conditions.

Motorcycles lined up to race

In early-January 2008, it was announced that the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers would move their sponsorship from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race to the NASCAR Nationwide Series race, and was called the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. At the 2008 event, Carl Edwards became the fourth driver to win two NASCAR Xfintiy Series events at GIR.

2008 was a big year for the NHRA at GIR, as legendary 14-time Funny Car champion John Force earned his 1,000th career win overtaking Ron Capps. Making the event doubly special was that it take place on his 59th birthday only one week after losing to his daughter Ashley Force in the finals at Atlanta for her first career win in the Funny Car series. Another was that Rod Fuller beat his arch rival Tony Schumacher in the finals, which became a big win for him as it represented one of the very few times Schumacher would be beat in an historic season for The Sarge, who won 15 races with seven of them consecutively with 31 round wins in a row, en route to his fifth consecutive Top Fuel title and his sixth overall.

Looking down the drag strip at dawn

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Gateway was sponsored by Camping World, becoming the Camping World 200. Coincidentally, the race was won by defending Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday, Jr. driving the #33 Camping World-sponsored truck for Kevin Harvick Inc..

In 2010, Gateway received a second Nationwide Series race due to the closure of Memphis Motorsports Park. The date was the former late fall event at Memphis. This was the last NASCAR event held at Gateway until 2014, as Dover Motorsports announced it will not seek sanctioning for the three events held there in 2010. The track did not make an announcement concerning any of the other events the track holds.[1] The former Nashville Superspeedway got Gateway's place on the schedule in July, while the race date for October would still be vacant. The NHRA did not schedule any races at Gateway for 2011 either.

On November 3, 2010, Dover Motorsports announced that Gateway was officially closing and ceasing all racing operations there.[2] On September 8, 2011, it was officially announced that Gateway would re-open in 2012 and host the 15th AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals from September 28–30, under the leadership of Curtis Francois.[3] On December 6, 2012, USAC announced that the track would have a USAC Traxxas Silver Crown Series date in 2013 on June 1.[4]

In February 2013, Francois announced the addition of Chris Blair as Executive Vice President and General Manager. In addition, plans were announced for the addition of a world class karting facility (which opened as the Gateway Kartplex in June 2014), an off-road venue (which opened in May 2015 with a TORC Series event) and a revitalization plan for the track's road course.

On October 25, 2013, it was announced that the Camping World Truck Series would be returning to Gateway on June 14, 2014 for the first time since 2010.[5]

Track length of paved oval

The track length is disputed by the major series that run at Gateway Motorsports Park. The NASCAR timing and scoring use a length of 1.25 miles (2.01 km).[6] This length was used by IRL in their races between 2001 and 2003, too.[7] The CART measured for the inaugural race in 1997 a length of 1.27 miles (2.04 km).[8] This length was also used in the following races between 1998 and 2000.[9]

Race history

CART and IRL results

Main article: Emerson Indy 250

NHRA Mello Yello Series history

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

This race was marked by tragedy as Darrell Russell died in a second round crash

2005

2006

2007

2008

2009

2010

2012

NASCAR Nationwide Series race history

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race history

Records

* Keselowski and Sorenson tied for the fastest laptime in qualifying, both setting a new identical track record. By virtue of being higher in owner's points, Keselowski was given the tiebreaker and credited with the pole.

Other events

Metallica's Summer Sanitarium Tour made a stop at Gateway on July 3, 2000. Other artists featured at the concert were Korn, Kid Rock, Powerman 5000 & System of a Down.

The Illinois State Police uses Gateway to train new Troopers in high speed vehicle operations (Emergency Vehicle Operations Course).

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Gateway didn't host races during 2011 season | NASCAR Nationwide Series
  2. ↑ Dover Motorsports officially shuts down Gateway | NASCAR Nationwide Series
  3. ↑
  4. ↑ 2013 USAC Traxxas Silver Crown schedule
  5. ↑ Gluck, Jeff (October 25, 2013). "Trucks will return to Eldora, skip Rockingham in 2014". USA Today. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
  6. ↑ Gateway Motorsports Park at NASCAR.com
  7. ↑ 2001 race result on champcarstats.com
  8. ↑ 1997 race result on champcarstats.com
  9. ↑ 2000 race result on champcarstats.com
  10. ↑ http://www.midiv.org/PDF/Track_Records/gir.pdf
  11. ↑ "Castroneves wins Emerson pole". Chicago Tribune. August 10, 2003.

References

External links

Coordinates: 38°39′03″N 90°08′07″W / 38.65080°N 90.13537°W / 38.65080; -90.13537

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