Gateway Closed

[mikemcmasters]

Just read that Gateway has officially ceased all operations..I hate to hear of any track closing and hopefully somone buys it and brings a good bracket program back. What a waste!!

With that being said i'm going to get on my soapbox for a minute. Corporate America has ruined so many forms of motorsports to date. I classify NHRA as one of the problems. I love Midstate and the people there and I would hate to see our track go away as so many others are. I don't claim to know the ins and outs or the benefits of being a NHRA or IHRA sanctioned track. But if I had to guess it lines their pockets, costs the local tracks more money and those costs eventually trickle down to the sportsman racers. This extra money could be used for track improvements, increased payouts etc..which all would bring in more racers.....and increased revenue for the track owner..

This doesn't mean safety gets sacrifised because we are not "NHRA" sanctioned. I race on a budget but I still never sacrifice safety on my car and would never do anything to hurt myself or another racer because a part or safety device cost too much. I believe the individual track will be responsible enough to insure everyone has safe equipment. They don't want accidents or someone getting hurt, insurance is high enough as it is.

I guess the purpose of this is to educate myself a little about why we have to be NHRA sanctioned and maybe get some people thinking of ideas that may save money for our local track and insure it's around for years to come so we arent driving 3-4 hours to go racing. If that happens I probably won't be racing much longer.

MIke

[steveclark]

I agree Mike, I've kept up my NHRA membership and comp # since 85' just about did'nt happen this year they sure have got proud of them!

[stevemaas]

Im with Mike on this one. I-57 does not appear to be sanctioned and appears to be a sucessfully operating track. Besides not having a bracket finals, I do not see an issue going independent.

[scottwoodmancy]

i agree with all the above post's, however the one thing i did see 1st hand at i-57 2 years ago was a definite lack of safety rules and tech down there. i don't know if it is still like that or not but it was then, the people running the track and the racer's we came in contact with however could not have been nicer to us. that does not make it a bad place to race and our experience was a good one but sometimes rules are a good thing. with that being said i am not a big fan of nhra either as it seems to me they are in it for themselves and could not care less about the weekly bracket racer's that are truely the backbone of nhra

[jwhalen]

All above are true. It used to be a thing with the insurance but I really think the insurance can be bought these days although NHRA sanctioning is probably a benefit, I am sure Jacklyn can add to that. St Louis used to have 3 tracks running not many years ago, Gateway, Peavley, and Wentzville, now currently none. The big question is why? The problem with Gateway, only in my opinion, is it is too big. They have to have big events to make it work, weekly bracket races just don't cut it, the overhead killed them and I am only guessing to rent the track to have a big event is very expensive. As I understand the Pinks event may have been the most successful event ever held at that facility. I could never understand why they didn't have their own version of Pinks again.

[johnperko]

and now there is none,as big as the st.louis is and its racing,at one time had 5 nearby dragstrips has none,and i heard today that sikeston is up for graps too

[jwhalen]

Bret Kepner told me that they have had 10 dragstrips within 40 miles of the arch over time. Heard today that the shiek may be interested in gateway also Kenny Knowling may be trying to put something together. This is what I heard today at the motion raceway reunion over at Macon.

[johnperko]

im sure that track will be picked up,im not worry about that,i just hope run a weekly bracket program