NASCAR TRACKS & LAYOUTS
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY AT GATEWAY After being a regular venue for other racing series for nearly 25 years, World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway is finally going to host the NASCAR Cup Series.
T
he 1.25-mile oval that sits in the
shadow of St. Louis’ famed Gateway Arch has already played host to the Xfinity Series, Camping World Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series, CART and IndyCar. On June 5, an elusive Cup Series race will finally happen. With more than half the available tickets already sold for the inaugural event, Gateway appears as if it will host Cup Series races for years to come. Gateway’s oval opened to a CART race won by Paul Tracy on May 24, 1997. Elliott Sadler won the first NASCAR race at the facility, an Xfinity Series event later that July.
The track was operated by Dover Motorsports for several years, but in late 2010, the group announced the track was closing and ceasing all racing operations. Former Indy Lights driver turned St. Louis real estate developer Curtis Francois purchased it with the vision of transforming the track into a world-class motorsports facility. Gateway’s resurgence has not gone unnoticed. The Truck Series returned in 2014 and IndyCar followed suit in 2016. The latter event quickly became the series’ most popular race outside of the Indy 500. Now, with more than $40 million in
improvements to the facility, June’s Cup Series race will very likely be the largest event in Gateway’s history. Improvements include upgrades to camping areas, a large interactive fan area near the track’s garages and a renovation of the track’s hospitality suite tower. Gateway’s egg-shaped oval looks similar in shape and size to Darlington raceway. However, Gateway is not as steeply banked as Darlington. Turns 1 and 2 have 11 degrees of banking and have similar characteristics to New Hampshire. Turns 3 and 4 feature 9 degrees of banking and are similar to Phoenix. With such a unique layout, Gateway remains a favorite track for both fans and drivers. June’s Cup Series race is an event all race fans should circle on their calendars.
FIVE THINGS TO KNOW ABOUT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
1
Kevin Harvick, Martin Truex
LOCATION:
Jr., Kyle Busch and Brad
Madison, Illinois
Keselowski have all won at
TRACK LENGTH:
Gateway in the Xfinity Series.
1.25-mile
Harvick, Bubba Wallace, Cole
paved oval
Custer, Christopher Bell, Justin
TURNS: 4
Haley and Ross Chastain have
TRACK RECORD:
won there in the Truck Series.
23.7206 seconds,
2
The track’s facilities also
189.709 mph (Will
include a quarter-mile
Power, Team Penske,
drag strip, a 2-mile road
2017, IndyCar)
course and a state-of-the-art karting track.
3 4
Metallica held a concert at the track in 2000 during their “Summer
Sanitarium Tour”. Gateway is currently the only motorsports venue in America to
host NASCAR, IndyCar and NHRA racing.
5
To celebrate Rusty Wallace’s retirement in 2005, the Xfinity Series
race was named the Wallace Family Tribute 250. Rusty, Kenny and Mike all ran the race.
34
POLE POSITION 2022
PHOTOGRAPHY: GETTY IMAGES
