No love loss between me and Gateway but I hate to see a track go , nice track just idiots running it . From the word on street it will not get back open because of dificulty selling it and back taxes. the New MAR is supposedly under way which will be north of Troy Mo. http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/...html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4cd21e89d6a89dc8,0
that ****s.. thats a nice track too.. remember when i was moving from the east coast we stayed in stl and we watched street night there..
There are a few interested parties trying to buy Gateway. Does not look to be closed for good.... -Abone.
It was a nice "super track", if you like modern drag racing. I'd much rather go to places like Bowling Green, Mo-Kan, etc, than those tracks where you sit so far away from the track its easier to watch the racing on the jumbotron screens that watch the cars.
Storm King is right on, Gateway is a very nice facility and I hope someone may save it. But nothing beats the likes of MoKan, I trip back to my home 1950's track everytime I have the priviledge to go there. ~Sololobo~
The new version of MAR looks pretty cool. I always enjoyed racing at the old one. If Gateway goes away it looks like y'all will have a good alternative.
There are two problems with the Gateway facility- one, the yearly tax burden is between 1.4 & 1.8 million, and two, the property itself is owned by several different en***ies. The operator of the facility, Dover Properties, only "owns" something like 10% of the property, and leases the rest of it from (I think) three other parties. While it's possible that it will reopen, the obstacles are large.
Parking has been an issue all along at Gateway, especially for any large event; i.e. NASCAR, NHRA, etc, ..........and there's NO room for expansion in any direction. It's gonna be a tough sell to ANYONE when you have a $1.8 MM annual burden (bonds for the reconstruction came due this year) to meet before you ever open a gate. The new MAR sounds good but in today's economy you're taking one Hell of a risk. We ran a 1/8 mile strip back in the 70s. We did virtually 80% of the construction ourselves and ran the place as a club with NO ONE receiving ANY pay the entire time we were in operation. Even back then the weekly operating expenses were critical. I can easily see construction costs for MAR (the way they're talking now) hitting $8 - $10 MM, ....... and then you need to get it open, draw a crowd, pay insurance, ...................... Don't get me wrong; I wish them ALL the best and I honestly hope it happens, but the realist in me says 'wait and see.'
Gateway/Dover did it to themselves. Hard to work with on bringing a show there, wanted to much to start and if show got big they dug their hands in deeper . We tried to bring an the Mondello Olds national there , we had a a few clubs pitching in help to make it happen for the love of Olds but Gateway wouldn't comit to a date and wanted guarenteed atendance for a first show. . Its just to hard to open a new track , this area had a few failed attempts and if it dont reopen soon it may never happen . I heard ADRL made an offer but the property owners wont sell, want to maintain a lease and that will not be smart business rght now
Geez MAR now gateway we need to get behind em boys are they go away I hope the new MAR can get the magic the old one had alot of damm fun at the orig and some of the nicest people on the planet! we in the nothland miss MAR.......
From what I hear the new mar is in the works but they are having a hard time finding land that they will be permitted to build on, at least thats what i am hearing. it's just a matter of time gir will be purchased and re-opened. I hate to see it closed since I am only 25 min from it. Only time will tell... They lost nascar and wfc, can't say you didn't see it coming.
it amazes me how fast it went to ****. granted its been a while since I was there, but the last time I was on the grounds was at a normal weekly bracket race and it was full of cars. I guess bad management will kill a place just as fast as bouncing the winners checks......
It sure is a downer when tracks close. Here in NZ things are actually looking up. A brand new race track,about 10 million worth has opened. Also a brand new million dollar dedicated drag strip is being built. Can't keep good car guys down for long.
Last time I was at Gateway was when the OLD Gateway was there! It was at the 1985 Car Craft Nats. Had a great time then. Even got my car on the October '85 cover of CC as a result. Someone will step in an buy the property, in any case. It may or may not be a motorsports facility in the end, but something will happen. Look at what happened to the Pikes Peak Int'l Raceway in Colorado Springs - beautiful facility, room for expansion north and south, NO chance of housing encroachment (it abuts the Ft Carson bombing range on the track's west side!) - but the promoters of a "possible" NA$CAR facility near Denver bought the PPIR facility and mothballed it. Only a few SCCA-type events are run there, and that's it.
Actually the seating at Gateway is very close to the track, mainly because there was nowhere to expand! That would be nice if the ADRL bought the track but i'm not holding my breath.
supposedly ,ADRL tried to buy gateway but wouldn't deal with the lease BS, they want an all or nothing deal . I dont blame them http://www.marpark.net/ MAR has a site so we can track them
i'm hoping MAR goes through thats the first track I ever watched at(the old one) and this new one sounds great to me! I will keep my mouth shut on Gateway and their wonderful hospitality towards some of the racers and the greed but c'mon $15 on a friday night to listen to some highschoolers band, watch a bunch of idiots, and a few real cars but alot of normal street traffic, lets not forget drifting! and you wanna race o thats $20 bucks and your faster than 12.00 and you have a chip in your windshield your not running but the 19 second civic full of drunk kids has the front plate falling off and is spraying oil down has no problems in tech! I had some bad experiences with some of the track officials there as of late! but still sad to see it go!
Unless they get a serious offer to buy it,I would expect an auction there sometime next year. Dover closed down the Memphis facility last year after a pending sale fell through. I got an email from the Dover PR director last week about the auction of that track and equipment next month. http://www.morrisauctiongroup.com/auction_detail.php?id=148667 They took the tax write-offs for that property this year and are probably looking to 'finalize' the auction $$ after Jan 1 to offset by the Gateway write off in 2011. If I have them figured out, look for the Gateway auction late next year.
I have a pic.of the track back about 1973 or 74 when it was no more than 2 lanes of black top and bleachers.My 64 Fairlane is on the far side in the pic.as I think about it some more, it may have been called international speedway then.
Gateway is or was a great track and I have been standing in the bleachers for many races there. I hate to see it close and i hope a deal is struck so the racing will continue.
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