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Gateway Set To Join IndyCar 2017 Race Slate
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The 2017 and tentative 2018 Verizon IndyCar schedules will be announced in the next two or three weeks but Hulman & Company CEO Mark Miles said next year's menu is going to look a lot like this year's with the possibility of adding "one more race."
It will be the 1.25-mile oval at Gateway Motorsports Park, located east of St. Louis in Madison, Illinois, and the race will be held in August. Australia, Portland and Calgary remain possibilities but not until 2018.
"We said we'd have it out by mid-August and we will, but we wanted to exhaust all possibilities," said Miles. "We wanted to try and open the 2017 season earlier but I remain optimistic about getting going in February of 2018.
"As it is, it's the earliest we've had our schedule ready so that's good for our promoters and fans."
Gateway hosted CART from 1997-2000 before the Indy Racing League tried its hand between 2001 and 2003. Other than CART's debut, attendance was never very good and open wheel was gone by 2004 and replaced by NASCAR trucks.
The original owner, Dover Motorsports, finally closed the doors in 2010 before a former racer named Curtis Francois leased the track and brought back NHRA drag racing in 2012. Since that time, Francois has brought in NASCAR trucks and USAC Silver Crown cars to go along with NHRA, while giving the track and facilities a complete makeover.
He began pursuing IndyCar's Jay Frye two years ago about bringing back Indy cars. Ed Carpenter tested on the track last year and it was approved as an official test track by IndyCar for 2016.
As it stands, the IndyCar race would be in between the NASCAR/USAC weekend in June and NHRA in September on Gateway's drag strip. It would give IndyCar six ovals (Phoenix, Indy, Iowa, Texas, Pocono, Gateway) out of the 17 races. But this summer has shown the Midwest remains IndyCar's biggest draw as based on Road America in June and this past weekend at Mid-Ohio.
"The emphasis in 2017 and 2018 is continuity and to consider adding events very selectively where it makes sense to build on our strong base of existing races," said Miles.
It will be the 1.25-mile oval at Gateway Motorsports Park, located east of St. Louis in Madison, Illinois, and the race will be held in August. Australia, Portland and Calgary remain possibilities but not until 2018.
"We said we'd have it out by mid-August and we will, but we wanted to exhaust all possibilities," said Miles. "We wanted to try and open the 2017 season earlier but I remain optimistic about getting going in February of 2018.
"As it is, it's the earliest we've had our schedule ready so that's good for our promoters and fans."
Gateway hosted CART from 1997-2000 before the Indy Racing League tried its hand between 2001 and 2003. Other than CART's debut, attendance was never very good and open wheel was gone by 2004 and replaced by NASCAR trucks.
The original owner, Dover Motorsports, finally closed the doors in 2010 before a former racer named Curtis Francois leased the track and brought back NHRA drag racing in 2012. Since that time, Francois has brought in NASCAR trucks and USAC Silver Crown cars to go along with NHRA, while giving the track and facilities a complete makeover.
He began pursuing IndyCar's Jay Frye two years ago about bringing back Indy cars. Ed Carpenter tested on the track last year and it was approved as an official test track by IndyCar for 2016.
As it stands, the IndyCar race would be in between the NASCAR/USAC weekend in June and NHRA in September on Gateway's drag strip. It would give IndyCar six ovals (Phoenix, Indy, Iowa, Texas, Pocono, Gateway) out of the 17 races. But this summer has shown the Midwest remains IndyCar's biggest draw as based on Road America in June and this past weekend at Mid-Ohio.
"The emphasis in 2017 and 2018 is continuity and to consider adding events very selectively where it makes sense to build on our strong base of existing races," said Miles.
