Gateway Motorsports Park

About

Gateway Motorsports Park (currently known as World Wide Technology Raceway for sponsorship reasons) is a motor racing facility in Madison, Illinois, United States, just east of St. Louis, close to the Gateway Arch. It features a 1.250 mi (2.012 km) oval that hosts the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and the IndyCar Series, 1.600 mi (2.575 km) and 2.000 mi (3.219 km) infield road courses used by Trans-Am Series, SCCA, and Porsche Club of America, a quarter-mile NHRA-sanctioned drag strip that hosts the annual NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Midwest Nationals event, and the Kartplex, a state-of-the-art karting facility.

The first major event held at the facility was the CART Series 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. For 2000, the race was moved to the fall. In 2001, it was dropped from the CART series schedule, and switched alliances to the Indy Racing League. After mediocre attendance, the event was dropped altogether after 2003. It was later re-added to the schedule for 2017.