Not sure if many of you know but Gateway International Raceway in St. Louis is closed unless someone wants to buy it. It's a shame to see it close. We had quite a few slant races there during Monster Mopar Weekend. I remember seeing Mark Jeffries race there with with his Valiant way before this forum existed. He's what got me hooked on slant racing. Even though it has a nice central location in the US, they weren't the most cordial to the slant racers that went there. Now all I have left is the small 1/8 mile track in Benton Illinois. It's kind of funny but their program has gotten better since the economy went south. I think alot of the people who went to Gateway Raceway from this area started staying close to home instead of going to St. Louis. This track was known more for its Nascar and ARCA racing than its drag racing program.

Anyway, here's the newspaper article on it:


Gateway International Raceway shuts down
.By Sports Network
The Sports Network
Dover Motorsports Inc. revealed on Wednesday that it is ceasing all operations at Gateway International Raceway, which is located just outside St. Louis.

The motorsports entertainment company recently announced it would not seek any NASCAR races at the 1.25-mile track next season. Gateway held its final Nationwide Series event on October 23.

Both the Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series had been competing at Gateway since 1997.

"Gateway is a tremendous facility in a great racing community, but we are simply unable to operate it with an acceptable return," Denis McGlynn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Dover Motorsports, said in a news release.

According to the release, the majority of the track is leased from third parties. The company owns approximately 150 acres of the facility and has been in discussions with several interested purchasers.


. .

Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/11/03/1 ... z14VHkKb50

Unfortunately the owners of Gateway (and Memphis) put all their eggs in the NASCAR basket. Gateway has a HUGE tax liability that just cannot be met by the operations at the dragstrip. When NASCAR didn't give Gateway a Cup race that pretty much sealed the facility's fate.

I too really liked Gateway as a racetrack. Too bad the Slant racers got treated so poorly at MMW. After they screwed over my buddy who I taklked into sponsoring the Slant class, that was enough for me. Haven't been back since.

Always enjoyed racing you too. You used to spank me soundly on the tree most of the time.

Do you still have the Valiant?

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

St. Louis provided Slant 6 racers with some great moments. The time Ron Hamby stayed up all night rebuilding his transmission so he could nail down the national championship the next day, Rick Valent in the finals, and Dale Rose and Rodney deciding another national championship. The facility was great, much like Las Vegas, they had about the best starting line anywhere. Maybe someone will buy it so it doesn't join the industrial graveyard that surrounds it. Joel Harris showed up every year and always did well appearing in several finals and winning at least once.

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If you didn't drive it there, it's not a street car.

I still have the Valiant. I haven't raced it since the last slant race at MMW. I had hopes of taking it to Benton IL to the regular weekend program there, but that didn't happen this year or last. Just too much to do around here and not enough $$. The Valiant is starting to rust in the rocker panels but no-where else for some reason. By the way, if any of you ever race at I-57 dragstrip in Benton, you better have slicks on your car. It just won't hook up on street tires. Even a stock slant will spin. There's also an 1/8 mile strip near Harrisburg IL. It's about 10 miles east of Marion IL. It's kind of neat because its a not for profit organization(intentionally). The people who run it just do it for fun.

By the way, are there any other slanters located south of I-80 in Illinois(Illinois only)? I've never heard of any. Send me a reply if you are.

Thanks,

Joel

Other than you I have only ever seen one Slant from south of I-80. Hell I only know of 2 others beside me from north of I-80. Illinois just isn't a hotbed of Slant activity.

The one from south has long since moved on to Mercedes projects.

Is your car a 2 door or 4 door? I can't remember. I'm only used to seeing the back end.

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Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

I had some great times there too. Last was with my Big Block 65 Belvedere running in NNS. The following day was Hot Rod Drag Week and I stayed over to see Seymour race. My rig was in the Holiday Inn lot and I got robbed. Busted into my truck, trashed and stole everything that wasn't nailed down. Lots of Scott and Phil's equipment that they shared for the events,completely tore up the inside of my Lance Camper busted out the windows, cut the locks off the trailer and stole all my tools. Lucky for me they did no damage to the car. They might of got scared away at that point. As much as I wanted to I never went back......... I do hope someone takes it over. Too good to let go to waste.......

With Memphis Motor Sports park closing last year there is an article in the Memphis paper yesterday that the track will go up for auction on Dec 14th. They had the track up for sale for 6 Mil all this time. Alanabi racing came and looked at it 3 times. Maybe we will get lucky and get an owner to buy and keep it as a race track instead of a developer to make condos.
Frank

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Scrapple: Because a mind is a terrible thing to waste.
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