The original St. Louis Raceway Park was a 1/8-mile drag strip built in 1967 by Wayne Meinert. In1971 Meinert acquired additional land, extended the strip to a quarter mile, and renamed it St. Louis International Speedway.

The first road course was constructed in 1985. The 2.6 mile circuit was largely flat, with only a few small elevation changes, but the layout was unique; parts of the drag strip served as straights in two separate sections of the road course. The road course also crossed the drag strip deceleration zone at two points. The new circuit hosted a Trans Am Series race in 1985, Can-Am races in 1985 and 1986 and assorted Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) regional and national events.

A 1/20 mile dirt oval also began operation in 1985. The name was changed to Gateway International Raceway in 1988. In 1995 Chris Pook, promoter of the Formula 1 and CART races at Long Beach, purchased the facility. He demolished the old tracks, and began construction of the new oval, a new infield road course and a new drag strip.

The first major event held at the facility was a CART series held 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. After a few years the race was moved to the fall. In 2001, it was dropped from the CART series schedule.

The 1.25-mile oval is a favorite of many of the drivers who race at Gateway due to the unique shape and different degrees of banking in each corner. Turns one and two have characteristics similar to New Hampshire Motor Speedway while Turns three and four are similar to Phoenix International Raceway and the track’s egg shape mimics the legendary Darlington Raceway. The 1.6-mile infield road course has traditionally been used by sports-car clubs and motorcycle organizations. The road course hosted a round of the AMA Superbike Championship in 1995. Canadian Miguel Duhamel won the superbike class.

In early January 2008, it was announced that the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers would move their sponsorship from the NASCAR Craftsman Truck race to the NASCAR Nationwide Series race. The race would later be called the Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 250. At the 2008 event, Carl Edwards became the fourth driver to win two NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Gateway.

2008 was a big year for the NHRA at Gateway. Legendary 14-time Funny Car champion John Force earned his 1,000th career victory on his 59th birthday. Making the win more emotional was the fact it happened one week after his daughter Ashley beat him. Another storyline in the day’s event was Rod Fuller beating his arch rival Tony Schumacher in the finals.

At the 2008 Camping World 200, Gateway introduced its brand-new victory lane, a throwback to the one used at Rockingham. In 2009, two new events were added to the season schedule: The American Drag Racing League; a sanctioning body headquartered in nearby O’Fallon, Missouri, and the USAC .25 Midget Series, the racing league’s new quarter midget tour.

In 2010 Gateway received a second NASCAR Nationwide Series race due to the closure of Memphis Motorsports Park. On November 3, 2010, Dover Motorsports announced that Gateway was officially closing and ceasing all racing operations at the track. On Sept. 8, 2011, the official announcement was made that Gateway would re-open in 2012 as Gateway Motorsports Park and host the 15th Annual NHRA Midwest Nationals September 28 – 30, 2012.

In 2012 NHRA returned to Gateway Motorsports Park and the announcement was made NHRA would return again in 2013. The six-race 2013 NHRA Mello Yello Countdown to the Championship, NHRA’s playoffs, will kick off in the fall with four consecutive weeks of racing: the NHRA Nationals in Charlotte (Sept. 13-15), the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals in Dallas (Sept. 19-22), the AAA Insurance NHRA Midwest Nationals in St. Louis (Sept. 27-29), and the Auto-Plus NHRA Nationals in Reading (Oct. 3-6).

Cart and IRL/INDYCAR Series History

CART World Series History

Season Date                         Race Name                            Winning Driver

1997      May 24                   Motorola 300                      Paul Tracy

1998      May 23                   Motorola 300                      Alex Zanardi

1999      May 29                   Motorola 300                      Michael Andretti

2000      Sept 17                   Motorola 300                      Juan Pablo Montoya

IRL IndyCar Series History

Season Date                         Race Name                            Winning Driver

2001      August 26             Gateway Indy 250            Al Unser Jr.

2002      August 25             Gateway Indy 250            Gil de Ferran

2003      August 10             Emerson Indy 250             Helio Castroneves

IPS/Indy Lights  


Season Date                         Winning Driver

1997      May 24                   Lee Bentham

1998      May 23                   Shigeaki Hattori

1999      Not held

2000      September 17   Townsend Bell

2001      August 26             Dan Wheldon

2002      August 25             Ryan Hampton

2003      August 9                Jeff Simmons

Atlantic Championship 


Season Date                         Winning Driver

1998      May 23                   Memo Gidley

1999      May 28                   Anthony Lazzaro

2000      September 17       Case Montgomery

NHRA Full Throttle Series history

1997                                                            1998                                                            1999

Joe Amato (TF)                                      Gary Scelzi (TF)                                      Gary Scelzi (TF)

Ron Capps (FC)                                     Frank Pedregon (FC)                          John Force (FC)

Warren Johnson (PS)                       Kurt Johnson (PS)                                Jim Yates (PS)

Jon Smith (PSB)                                    Matt Hines (PSB)                                  Angelle Sampey (PSB)

Tim Freeman (PST)                              Bob Panella (PST)

2000                                                            2001                                                            2002

Gary Scelzi (TF)                                      Doug Kalitta (TF)                                  Kenny Bernstein (TF)

Jerry Toliver (FC)                                  Tony Pedregon (FC)                            John Force (FC)

Ron Krisher (PS)                                    Warren Johnson (PS)                        Jeg Coughlin (PS)

Matt Hines (PSB)                                  GT Tonglet (PSB)                                   Angelle Sampey (PSB)

John Coughlin (PST)                            Taylor Lastor (PST)

2003                                                            2004                                                            2005

Doug Kalitta (TF)                                  Doug Kalitta (TF)                                  Brandon Bernstein (TF)

Del Worsham (FC)                               Gary Scelzi (FC)                                      Ron Capps (FC)

Ron Krisher (PS)                                    Greg Anderson (PS)                            Kurt Johnson (PS)

Geno Scali (PSB)                                   Steve Johnson (PSB)                          Angelle Sampey (PSB)

2006                                                            2007                                                            2008

Tony Schumacher (TF)                      Melanie Troxel (TF)                            Rod Fuller (TF)

Tony Pedregon (FC)                            Ron Capps (FC)                                      Tim Wilkerson (FC)

Mike Edwards (PS)                              Dave Connolly (PS)                             Kurt Johnson (PS)

Chip Ellis (PSB)                                       Matt Smith (PSB)                                  Andrew Hines (PSM)

2009                                                            2010                                                            2012

Antron Brown (TF)                               Tony Schumacher (TF)                      Antron Brown (TF)

Del Worsham (FC)                               Robert Hight (FC)                                 Mike Beckman (FC)

Jeg Coughlin, Jr. (PS)                          Warren Johnson (PS)                        Erica Enders (PS)

Eddie Krawiec (PSM)                         Michael Phillips (PSM)                     Eddie Krawiec (PSM)

NASCAR History

Nationwide Series race history

1997 – Elliott Sadler

1998 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.

1999 – Dale Earnhardt Jr.

2000 – Kevin Harvick

2001 – Kevin Harvick

2002 – Greg Biffle

2003 – Scott Riggs

2004 – Martin Truex, Jr.

2005 – Reed Sorenson

2006 – Carl Edwards

2007 – Reed Sorenson

2008 – Carl Edwards

2009 – Kyle Busch

July 2010 – Carl Edwards

October 2010 – Brad Keselowski

Camping World Truck Series race history

1998 – Rick Carelli

1999 – Greg Biffle

2000 – Jack Sprague

2001 – Ted Musgrave

2002 – Terry Cook

2003 – Brendan Gaughan

2004 – David Starr

2005 – Ted Musgrave

2006 – Todd Bodine

2007 – Johnny Benson

2008 – Ron Hornaday

2009 – Mike Skinner

2010 – Kevin Harvick