Round 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Gateway Motorsports Park. Madison, Illinois.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Gateway Motorsports Park. Madison, Illinois. August 23-24.


This Saturday's race will be the second IndyCar race at Gateway Motorsports Park, since the Indy Racing League held the Emerson 250 in 2003, which was won by Hélio Castroneves, driving for Team Penske in a Dallara IR03-Toyota Indy V8.

Gateway Motorsports Park was originally called St. Louis Raceway and in 1967 was developed by Wayne Meinert as a 1/8 mile drag strip. Four years later and With the purchsase of more land, St. Louis Raceway over the next four years, expanded into a full quarter-mile drag strip and renamed St. Louis International Raceway. Drag racing remained the main form of motorsport throughout the '70s and '80s but with increasing demand from road racers, a new 2.6-mile course was built and opened in 1985, incorporating the drag strip. The venue was renamed Gateway International Raceway and hosted Can-Am, Sports Car Club of American (SCCA) and Trans Am events.

In 1995, the venue was purchased by former Long Beach Grand Prix promoter Chris Pook, who had plans to create a new oval course, to host IndyCar and NASCAR races. The original track was demolished and a new oval and infield road course were built and opened in 1997.

The venue's inaugural race was the Motorola 300, the sixth round of the 1997 CART season, held on Saturday May 24 and won by Paul Tracy, driving for Marlboro Team Penske, in a Penske PC-26 - Mercedes-Benz IC108C. Rather than holding a race that conflicted with the Indy Racing League's Indy 500, as had been the case in 1996 with the U.S. 500, CART scheduled the race the day before the Indy 500 to serve as their Memorial Day weekend race. After a couple of years, track management grew increasingly dissatisfied with its use, which was seen by some, as a political pawn or statement by CART. The event had poor attendance, as fans generally chose to travel to the Indy 500 for the weekend instead. In 2000, the race was moved to the fall, Autumn but with spectator attendance of only 25,000, it was dropped from the CART series calendar in 2001 and switched to the Indy Racing League. Spectator attendance continued to be an issue and the event was dropped after 2003.

In 2010 Dover Motorsports, Inc., who had purchased the venue from Pook, hosted two Nationwide Series races at Gateway However, following their closure of Memphis Motorsports Park. Attendance figures were disappointing and the Dover group, citing their inability to run the operations with acceptable returns, officially announced Gateway was officially closing and ceasing operations as of November 3, 2010.

Less than a year later, Curtis Francois a retired racing driver who raced in Indy Lights at Gateway in 2002 and now real estate developer, purchased the 160-acre venue, investing $20 million and opened it in 2012. Key to reopening Gateway was the commitment to drag racing and the partnership with the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). Francois signed a long-term deal with the NHRA starting with a signature event in September 2012 and subsequently adding NASCAR truck events.

Some Trivia:
The team with the most wins. Team Penske, 1997, 2002, 2003 and 2017

Track Layout:

The 1.25-mile (2.01 km) oval has a unique egg shape, with different degrees of banking. Turns 1 and 2 have characteristics similar to New Hampshire Motor Speedway, while Turns 3 and 4 are similar to Phoenix International Raceway, while the track's egg shape mimics the legendary Darlington Raceway. There is also a 1.6-mile (2.6 km) infield road course. Alongside would be a separate NHRA-sanctioned drag strip. Today, Gateway has undergone an $11.5 million revitalization project.

1985-95 full course layout:


1997 to date:


Track length: 1.25-mile (2.01 km)
Turns: 4

Lap record:
Will Power, May 25, 2017. 23.721, 189.642 mph (224.447 km/h).
Team Penske
Dallara DW12-Chevrolet IndYCar V6
Verizon IndyCar Series.

Last year's race:
Qualifying was cancelled due to rain and the grid was decided by the points table, which gave Scott Dixon Pole.

Dixon made a good start from Pole but Alexander Rossi’s wasn't so good and Will Power, perhaps mindful of how Penske teammate Josef Newgarden zipped past him on the outside of Turn 1, on Lap 1 last year, did the same to sweep around the outside of Newgarden and Rossi to take second place. The third Penske of Simon Pagenaud moved into fifth, while Marco Andretti shot up from 10th to claim sixth ahead of teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay and the sole Schmidt Peterson car of James Hinchcliffe. However, there was an incident in the middle of the pack, Sebastien Bourdais losing control of and swerving up into the wall exiting Turn 2.

The race restarted on Lap 7. Newgarden got past Rossi for third, who tried to fight back but couldn’t make it happen. Further down the field, as the green flag fell, Hunter-Reay moved up to fifth ahead of Pagenaud and Ed Jones in the second Ganassi car. Andretti lost out and was relegated to eighth ahead of Hinchcliffe and the fourth Andretti car of Zach Veach, who was up from 16th.

Up front, Dixon had a 1.1 second lead after 20 of the 248 laps, Both he and Power were the only drivers, to get through the 177mph lap barrier. Rossi probably could have done the same, but he was backed up behind Newgarden, who down over four seconds behind the lead pair.

Dixon caught the first of the backmarkers, the Carlin of Max Chilton, by Lap 32 but had a cushion of 1.7 seconds over Power and cautiously made his way through but Power who lost time, dropping 2.3 seconds behind. Pietro Fittipaldi, battling with Charlie Kimball, was less accommodating and now Power was able to close to within 0.5 seconds of Dixon.

On Lap 49, Rossi overtook Newgarden off Turn 4. Coming onto the pitstraight, he quickly flicked to the left and pulled alongside Negarden and went ahead going into Turn 1.

Rossi who was now lapping at 175 mph, in relatively clear air, meant he was able to start reeling in the leaders, who were still stuck behind backmarkers.

Andretti and Kanaan made the first scheduled stops on Lap 58, with Newgarden, Rossi and Dixon pitting on the following lap, while Power led until he pitted on Lap 62. He emerged alongside Dixon but with the Ganassi driver on warmer tires, he resumed the lead. Rossi's pitcrew kept him ahead of Newgarden but their fellow pitcrew, couldn’t quite keep Hunter-Reay ahead of Pagenaud and so there were now three Penskes in the top five.

By Lap 85, Dixon was catching traffic again and had Power and Rossi stacked behind him, as he couldn’t get past Ed Carpenter and instead took the opportunity to save fuel. The front three were now lapping at 170 mph and that allowed Newgarden to come back into the frame.

The second round of stops for the leading drivers saw Hunter-Reay in on Lap 116, Pagenaud on 117. Two laps later, Power had a moment as he tried to pass Dixon around the outside of Turn 1. It didn’t work and Power slid up the track, as Rossi easily pulled past him into second. The next lap, Dixon stopped, as did Power, while Rossi went two laps longer but that wasn’t enough to get him ahead of Dixon but it did keep him ahead of Power who had lost third to Pagenaud, who stopped earlier. Though on Lap 143, Pagenaud made a slight error through Turns 3 and 4 and suddenly Power was on him down the pitstraight, passing Pagenaud for third, who now tumbled down the order to ninth.

Power was now on a charge and now on the tail of Rossi, diving down the inside at Turn 1, on Lap 146. Rossi made a miraculous save, to keep his car off the wall he lost third place to Hunter-Reay. Three laps later, Power homed in on Dixon and this time went to the inside, along the pitstraight, to take the lead into Turn 1, rapidly pulling a four-second advantage over Dixon.

The second full-course yellow flew on Lap 173, when Hunter-Reay’s race came to an abrupt end, as his power apparently cutting out, leaving him crawling back to the pits, almost at walking pace and needing a tow, into his pit box.

Pitlane opened on Lap 177 and the top seven cars stopped. The order was, Power, Dixon, Rossi and Newgarden but Veach’s crew did a great job to get his car up into fifth ahead of Jones, Pagenaud, Sato, Pigot and Rahal.

The restart, on Lap 183, was an uneventful but Veach got a run on Newgarden, grabbing fourth place, while Pigot got around Sato to claim eighth. On Lap 195, Jones went down the inside of Newgarden at Turn 1 to snatch fifth and a lap later Jones passed Veach for fourth.

The pace of the leading cars was 167-170 mph, suggesting they were trying to make it on three stops but Jones clearly wasn’t. He swept past Rossi for third and closed on Dixon. Veach also passed his teammate Rossi.

It seemed Roger Penske and Power had decided to commit to another stop. Power pulled away from Dixon, amassing a 6 second lead. Rossi, meanwhile, appeared to be sticking to the plan to not stop again. He let Pagenaud and Pigot, who had not only stopped for fuel but had topped up under the previous yellow, pass him, with Newgarden doing the same.

Power pitted on Lap 231 for a splash and dash, without new tires emerging behind Rossi. Between them was Andretti but he did nothing tricky to protect his teammate and soon enough Power was past them both. As the cars ahead pitted, Power resumed the lead on Lap 240, while Rossi’s economy drive had paid off, jumping him ahead of Dixon who had been held up by Fittipaldi, on his in lap, as he encountered traffic.

Power crossed the line to score his 35th career victory and third of the season. Dixon ran out of laps, trying to catch Rossi crossing the line 1.5 seconds behind him. Pagenaud came home fourth, ahead of Veach and Pigot who both gave excellent performances.

Pole position:
Will Power
Lap 1. 23.7206
Lap 2. 23.7373
Combined time 00:47.5. Average speed 189.642 mph (305.199 km/h)
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Last year's winner:
Will Power
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevrolet IndyCar V6

Laps: 248
Distance: 310 Miles (498.897 km)
Race Time: 1:59:30
Average Speed: 155.644 mph (250.484 km/h)

Cautions 2
Laps 16

TV Broadcast:
NBCSN, August 24, 8:00pm ET.