Gateway International Raceway
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| Location | Madison, Illinois |
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| Track length | 1.25 miles (2.01 kilometres) |
| Track shape | Oval |
| Banking | Turns 1 & 2 - 11° Turns 3 & 4 - 9° Straights - 3° |
| Major events | NASCAR Busch Series, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series |
| Capacity | 60,000 |
| Address | 700 Raceway Blvd, Madison, IL 62060 |
| Owner | Dover Motorsports |
Gateway International Raceway is a race track in Madison, Illinois, USA. It hosts a NASCAR Busch Series event and a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on a 1.25 mile oval, and also has a quarter-mile drag strip that hosts an annual National Hot Rod Association event. The facilities are owned by Dover Motorsports, a group that also owns Memphis Motorsports Park, Dover International Speedway and the Nashville Superspeedway among others.
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 apparently use, as seen by some, as a politcal pawn by CART, and its 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, its was dropped from the CART series schedule, and switched to the Indy Racing League. After mediocre attendance, the event was dropped altogether after 2003.
While the track is a fairly short track (1.25 miles) by modern NASCAR standards, it does not compensate for this with high banking. Rather, it is unique in that the turns are banked differently, and are also of different radii.
There is also an infield roadcourse used by sports car clubs, and motorcycle organizations through the warmer months. This roadcourse hosted a round of the AMA Superbike Championship in 1995. Canadian Miguel Duhamel won the superbike class in blistering hot conditions.
Gateway has been linked with a Nextel Cup race often in recent years: however, many in the St. Louis area believe that the track must be expanded (it currently seats only about 60,000) for such a race to occur.
Contents |
[edit] Race history
[edit] CART & IRL Results
See main article Emerson Indy 250
[edit] Busch Series race history
- 1997 - Elliott Sadler
- 1998 - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- 1999 - Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- 2000 - Kevin Harvick
- 2001 - Kevin Harvick
- 2002 - Greg Biffle
- 2003 - Scott Riggs
- 2004 - Martin Truex, Jr.
- 2005 - Reed Sorenson
- 2006 - Carl Edwards
[edit] Craftsman Truck Series race history
- 1998 - Rick Carelli
- 1999 - Greg Biffle
- 2000 - Jack Sprague
- 2001 - Ted Musgrave
- 2002 - Terry Cook
- 2003 - Brendan Gaughan
- 2004 - David Starr
- 2005 - Ted Musgrave
- 2006 - Todd Bodine
[edit] Records
- NASCAR Busch Series Qualifying: Martin Truex, Jr., 33.328 sec. (135.022 mph), 2005
- NASCAR Busch Series Race: Kevin Harvick, 116.595 mph, July 29, 2000
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Qualifying: Ted Musgrave, 33.294 sec. (135.159 mph), 2005
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Race: Jack Sprague, 113.726 mph, May 7, 2000
[edit] Current Events
- NASCAR Busch Series - Gateway 250 presented by Shop 'n Save
- NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series - Missouri/Illinois Dodge Dealers Ram Tough 200
- ARCA RE/MAX Series - Shop 'n Save 150
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Gateway International Raceway Official Site
- Gateway International Raceway Page on NASCAR.com
- Trackpedia guide to driving this track
- High Resolution image from Google Maps
- Maps and aerial photos
- Street map from Google Maps or MapQuest
- Satellite image from Google Maps, Microsoft Virtual Earth, or WikiMapia
- Topographic map from TopoZone
- Aerial image or topographic map from TerraServer-USA
| Current NASCAR Busch Series racetracks |
|---|
| Atlanta, Bristol, Brooklyn, Michigan, Charlotte, Darlington, Daytona, Dover, Fontana, California, Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Joliet, Illinois, Kansas City, Las Vegas, Loudon, Madison, Illinois, Martinsville (1982–1994, 2006), Memphis, Mexico City, Miami, Milwaukee, Montreal (2007), Nashville, Phoenix, Richmond, Sparta, Kentucky, Talladega, Watkins Glen |
| Current NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series racetracks |
|---|
|
Atlanta - Bristol - Brooklyn, Michigan - Charlotte - Daytona - Dover - Fontana, California - Fort Worth - Indianapolis - Kansas City - Las Vegas - Loudon - Madison, Illinois - Mansfield - Martinsville - Memphis - Miami - Milwaukee - Nashville - Phoenix - Talladega - Sparta, Kentucky |
| Tracks of the Indy Racing League |
|---|
| Ovals Indianapolis Motor Speedway Chicagoland • Homestead • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Michigan • Milwaukee • Motegi • Nashville • Richmond • Texas Road/Street Courses Former Tracks |
| Tracks of the Champ Car World Series |
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| Current Tracks (2007)
Assen • Cleveland • Edmonton • Houston • Las Vegas • Long Beach • Mexico City • Mont-Tremblant • Phoenix • Portland • Road America • San Jose • Surfers Paradise • Toronto • Zhuhai • Zolder Former Tracks (Ovals) Former Tracks (Road Courses) Former Tracks (International) |
| Tracks of ARCA |
|---|
| Berlin • Chicagoland • Daytona • DuQuoin • Gateway • Illinois • Iowa • Kansas • Kentucky • Michigan • Milwaukee • Nashville • Pocono • Salem • Talladega • Toledo • USA Int'l • Winchester |
