Gateway won’t ask for any NASCAR races beginning in 2011
Gateway International Raceway will not play host to any NASCAR events in 2011, parent company Dover Motorsports Inc. announced Wednesday.
The 1.25-mile track, which seats 54,000 and sits just outside St. Louis, has two Nationwide Series and one Camping World Truck Series events on its 2010 schedule. The Oct. 23 Nationwide race will be the last NASCAR event at the track.
The events are not expected to be realigned within Dover Motorsports’ current facilities. Dover’s Nashville Superspeedway already has two Nationwide and truck events while Dover International Speedway has two Nationwide and one truck event.
One of Gateway’s Nationwide events this year had been moved to the track from Memphis Motorsports Park, which Dover closed at the end of 2009.
“We have a group of extremely dedicated and talented employees who make Gateway a great destination and we deeply appreciate all the support we have had from the racing community over the years – from racing fans and drivers to sponsors, team owners and sanctioning bodies,” said Dover Motorsports President Denis McGlynn in a news release. “However, economics dictate that we evaluate all of our options for this facility, including its possible sale.”
Dover adjusted the value of its tracks at the end of 2008, after several years of negative cash flows for those tracks that didn’t have Sprint Cup dates. Gateway, which controlled one Nationwide race and one truck race at the time, had its value dropped from $17.5 million to $10 million.
“This was a difficult decision in light of the many years of earnest and continued efforts on everyone’s part to develop a viable market for these events in one of our nation’s greatest cities,” said Gateway General Manager Terry Harmeson.
