Round 13: Bommarito Automotive Group 500. World Wide Technology Raceway. Aug 16 - 17

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 13: Bommarito Automotive Group 500. World Wide Technology Raceway. Aug 16 - 17

The 2024 season resumes after the break, with five races left on the calendar, four of which are on ovals and this weekend's race, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500, is the first of those ovals.

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History
Originally called St. Louis Raceway, World Wide Technology Raceway has undergone a number of name changes over the years, including, Gateway International Raceway and Gateway Motorsports Park, taking its name from the proximity to the Gateway Arch monument in St. Louis .

In 1967 St. Louis Raceway was originally developed as a 1/8 mile drag strip, by Wayne Meinert. Four years later and following the purchase of more land, the drag strip was expanded to a full quarter-mile and renamed St. Louis International Raceway.

Drag racing at St. Louis International Raceway, was 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 track for hosting 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. It was held on Saturday May 24 and was won by Paul Tracy, driving for Marlboro Team Penske, in a Penske PC 26 - Mercedes-Benz IC108C.

CART decided, rather than holding the race on the same day as the Indianapolis 500, (which had become part of the rival Indy Racing League's calendar), as had happened in 1996 with the U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway, they would schedule the race the day before, to serve as their Memorial Day weekend race without direct conflict. However 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 also suffered from poor attendance, as fans generally chose to travel to the Indianapolis 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 at the end of 2001 and switched to the Indy Racing League.

The Gateway Indy 250, was the Indy Racing League's inaugural race at the venue and was won by Al Unser, Jr. driving a G-Force GF05B Oldsmobile Aurora V8, for Galles Raciing. Despite the switch to the Indy Racing League, spectator attendance continued to be poor 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, the attendance figures were disappointing and the Dover group, citing their inability to run the operations with acceptable returns, officially announced Gateway was closing and ceasing operations as of November 3, 2010.

Less than a year later Curtis Francois, a retired racing driver who had raced in Indy Lights at Gateway in 2002 and now a real estate developer, purchased the 160-acre venue investing $20 million and re-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.

In 2015, the track was approved as a test facility for the Verizon IndyCar series and in January 2017, a multi-year agreement was signed with Gateway Motorsports Park and the Bommarito Automotive Group. Subsequently, on April 17, World Wide Technology announced it had acquired naming rights for the track, renaming it to World Wide Technology Raceway.

At the 2017 St. Louis Auto Show, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 was announced and added to the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series calendar.

Before the start of the 2021 race, event promoters announced a contract extension with IndyCar, to secure the race for an additional five years.

Some Trivia
The team with the most wins: Team Penske. 1997, 2002, 2003, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2021, 2022

The driver with the most wins: Josef Newgarden, 2017, 2020*, 2021, 2022
*Race 2 of 2020 double-header.

Track
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 is a separate NHRA-sanctioned drag strip. Today, Gateway has undergone an $11.5 million revitalization project.


Original 1985-95 full course layout



2019 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.

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Last year's race
https://www.indycar.com/news/2023/08...nics-race-wwtr

Pole
Scott McLaughlin.
Team Penske,
Dallara IR18-Chevy IndyCar V6

Winner
Scott Dixon
Chip Ganassi Racing.
Dallara IR18-Honda HI23TT V6

Laps: 260
Distance: 325 Miles ((522.6 km)
Race Time: 2:10:09.404
Average Speed: 149.819 Mph (241.110 Km/h)

Fastest lap
Linus Lundqvist - Meyer Shank Racing
Lap 62. 25.6786 sec,
175.243 Mph (282.026 Km/h)

Cautions: 2
Laps: 22

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Practice and Qualifications

Practice 1
Friday, Aug 16
12:45 PM - 1:45 PM ET

Qualifications
Friday, Aug 16
4:20 PM - 5:20 PM ET

Final Practice
Friday, Aug 16
8:30 PM - 9:30 PM ET

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TV Broadcast
Saturday, Aug 17
USA, Peacock: 6:00 PM ET, 10:00 PM UTC.
Sky Sports F1: 11:00 PM BST

[NaBUru38]

I won't watch this race live, for very good reasons

[joeb]

Malukas topped Herta (and everyone else) in FP1.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Scotty Mac takes back to back poles at WWTR and his 4th of the season, as Penske have all three driver in the top 6. David Malukas, who topped practice, is 3rd. Current driver's champion and championship leader Alex Palou is 7th and team mate Scott Dixon and last year's winner is 10th.

[joeb]

I'm on vacay so won't be able to watch, but it looks like it will be a good race. Would love to see David take a win!

Good showing for JHR in qualifying too.

[joeb]

Originally Posted by joeb

I'm on vacay so won't be able to watch, but it looks like it will be a good race. Would love to see David take a win!

Good showing for JHR in qualifying too.

Wait I just remembered I can watch replay on the cock after the fam falls asleep!

[bjohnsonsmith]

Alex Palou to start 16th after an engine change.

[bjohnsonsmith]

A clean start, Scotty Mac leads.

[broadrun96]

Looks like we'll all have to be watching the cock on a Saturday evening cause NASCAR and rain

I will miss that next year, watching the Fox isn't as good. Oh and the combined Venu channel is now legally on hold cause yeah, lawyers and rich guys gotta get paid instead of consumers getting a product

[bjohnsonsmith]

Ist FCY. Ed Carpenter and Katherine Legge make contact.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Pato O'Ward into the pits with an under powered car.

[broadrun96]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Pato O'Ward into the pits with an under powered car.

While his teammates were leading, ouch. And the DUMBEST interview question of wheres that leave your head. Wanted him to look at her again say what do you think numbnuts. What happened to good pitlane folks, Georgia ain't it

[bjohnsonsmith]

Kyffin Simpson up into the wall, bringing out the caution.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Malukas into the pits. He was having what looked like a clutch issue earlier but it seems to be ok.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Nice move by Dixie to take the lead.


Edit: nice move by Siegel to take the lead.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Newgarden brings out the yellow, as he washes up and nearly collects Power. Should get a bit exciting in pitlane.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Malukas and Power just touch and Malukas is into the wall. FCY.

[bjohnsonsmith]

And another yellow, which has turned into a red flag. Looks like Rossi ran up and over the rear of Power's car.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Josef Newgarden but an excellent finish for Linus Lundqvist in 3rd and a good result for Alex Palou, who finishes 5th.

[mstets]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Congrats to Josef Newgarden but an excellent finish for Linus Lundqvist in 3rd and a good result for Alex Palou, who finishes 5th.

I hope Josef gets penalized for the restart but don't expect it will happen.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by mstets

I hope Josef gets penalized for the restart but don't expect it will happen.

In the IndyCar race report, he says: ''the green went (on) before I went the green went (on) before I went – just momentarily – and it caused a big accordion effect''.


https://www.indycar.com/news/2024/08/08-17-wwtr-race

[bjohnsonsmith]

Race Result

I enjoyed the race up to a point. It took a while for it to get going due to the early cautions but once it did, it became a really intriguing race, as the two different strategies unfolded. At one point it was like having two different races at the same time. However, it was a shame the race ended the way it did. I have nothing against Josef Newgarden but he didn't deserve to win that.

Anyway, that was Josef Newgarden's 5th win at WWTR. That was extremely bad luck for Will Power, which gives Alex Palou a 55 point lead going into Portland.

[joeb]

Top 10s for Seigel and Robb!!!

The race ended and flowed with strategy but really wish Malukas had a finish and didn't get wrecked.

[Adam43]

Unlucky for Robb. Everyone else was off sequence so he just lost out.

He had it under control.


Messy final restart. Power caught up in it although he was involved in a causing the yellow before. Shame he didn’t give Malukas a bit more room - he was on for a good result.