Round 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Gateway Motorsports Park, Illinois 25-26 Aug

[bjohnsonsmith]

Round 15 Bommarito Automotive Group 500. Gateway Motorsports Park. Madison, Illinois. August 25-26.

This weekend's race will be the first AOWR event, 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 a real estate developer, purchased the 160-acre venue, investing $20 million and reopened 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:
Of the current crop of drivers, Hélio Castroneves, Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon and Tony Kanaan have raced at Gateway before.
The team with the most wins is Team Penske, 1997, 2002 and 2003.

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: May 23, 1997, Raul Boesel, 24.324, 187.963 mph (302.497 km/h). Patrick Racing, Reynard 97i-Ford Cosworth XD.

Last race winner:
August 10, 2003.
Hélio Castroneves,
Team Penske, Dallara IR03-Toyota Indy V8

Laps: 200
Distance: 250 Miles (402.336 km)
Race Time: 1:50:53
Average Speed: 135.286 mph (217.721 km/h)

Cautions:
4, 35 laps.

TV Broadcast:
NBCSN, 9:00pm ET.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Bourdais to make return at Gateway, three months since his crash at Indy. That is a remarkable recovery.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2017/08/...ing-at-Gateway

[Purist]

I'm looking forward to practice tomorrow.

[fieldodreams79]

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Bourdais to make return at Gateway, three months since his crash at Indy. That is a remarkable recovery.

http://www.indycar.com/News/2017/08/...ing-at-Gateway

That's incredible. Hope he keeps it clean this weekend.

[Purist]

Well, they're already under Boesel's mark.

Just to point out, when CART ran Gateway, it was listed as being 1.27 miles, and Raul's speed is representative of that length. I'm unaware of any change to the actual configuration of the oval, so I'm inclined to stick with the old length.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Purist

Well, they're already under Boesel's mark.

Just to point out, when CART ran Gateway, it was listed as being 1.27 miles, and Raul's speed is representative of that length. I'm unaware of any change to the actual configuration of the oval, so I'm inclined to stick with the old length.

True, CART did measure it at 1.27 miles but the IRL in their races between 2001 and 2003, used 1.25, the same as NASCAR.

[owrforever]

Pleasantly surprised at the pace shown by the Foyt cars, in practice. See if it translates into a good qualifying performance.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying is live. http://racecontrol.indycar.com/

[Purist]

Pagenaud is the first Penske car to roll, and CRUSHES the first four qualifiers by over 4 miles per hour.

Edit: Helio drops the record lap mark below 24 seconds.

Edit 2: Newgarden goes faster still.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Josef Newgarden breaks the track record with a second lap of 188.592 mph, 303.509 km/h and provisionally takes pole, with an average of 188.316 mph, 303.065 km/h.

[bjohnsonsmith]

That was short lived. Power has the track record with 189.709 mph, 305.307 km/h on lap one and an average of 189.642 mph, 305.199 km/h and a career 50th pole.

All four Penske's in the top 4 places on the grid.

[Purist]

If calculated for a 1.25-mle lap, Raul Boesel's time corresponds to a speed of 185.002 mph.

And Power drops two that are faster than Newgarden. Calculated for a 1.27-mile lap, Power's time of 23.720 seconds gives a speed of 192.749 mph.

(Just trying to give like-for-like comparisons.)

[bjohnsonsmith]

Originally Posted by Purist

If calculated for a 1.25-mle lap, Raul Boesel's time corresponds to a speed of 185.002 mph.

And Power drops two that are faster than Newgarden. Calculated for a 1.27-mile lap, Power's time of 23.720 seconds gives a speed of 192.749 mph.

(Just trying to give like-for-like comparisons.)

Interesting comparisons.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Qualifying

1 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 189.642 Mph
2 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 188.316
3 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 187.457
4 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 186.747
5 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 184.528
6 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 184.186
7 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 183.848
8 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 183.620
9 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 183.578
10 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 183.528
11 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 183.283
12 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 182.900
13 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 182.830
14 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 182.529
15 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 182.499
16 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 182.271
17 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 182.195
18 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 182.137
19 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 181.846
20 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 181.191
21 Sebastian Saavedra, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 177.700

[bjohnsonsmith]

I'm not kidding, the stands are packed.

[bjohnsonsmith]

The first FCY on the pace lap. It looks like TK lost it on the white line.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Blimey! Newgarden takes the lead but Power loses it on the first lap. 2nd FCY.

Carpenter and Sato got caught up in that.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Back to a clean Green flag restart.

[bjohnsonsmith]

3rd FCY as J.R. Hilderbrand hits the wall; looks very much like a suspension failure.

[bjohnsonsmith]

5th FCY; missed the 4th as RH-R glances off the wall.

[bjohnsonsmith]

What a move by Newgarden on Pagenaud to take the lead and Dixon is up to 2nd.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Congrats to Newgarden, he drove well and it might have been Pagenaud.

Apart from TK's losing it on the pace lap and then Power losing it on the first lap, it wasn't particularly exceptional, though strategy did play a part. Hopefully the IR-15 will improve things.

[bjohnsonsmith]

Result

1 Josef Newgarden, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 248. 2h13m22.0358s
2 Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 248. 0.6850s
3 Simon Pagenaud, Team Penske Dallara/Chevrolet. 248. 0.9743s
4 Helio Castroneves, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 248. 1.5668s
5 Conor Daly, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 248. 1.7446s
6 Alexander Rossi, Andretti Herta. Dallara/Honda. 248. 2.9101s
7 Charlie Kimball, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 248. 4.2365s
8 James Hinchcliffe, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 248. 4.8498s
9 Carlos Munoz, AJ Foyt Enterprises. Dallara/Chevrolet. 248. 7.8832s
10 Sebastien Bourdais, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 248. 8.1831s
11 Sebastian Saavedra, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. Dallara/Honda. 248. 8.6604s
12 Graham Rahal, Rahal Letterman Lanigan. Dallara/Honda. 248. 8.8457s
13 Ed Jones, Dale Coyne Racing. Dallara/Honda. 248. 12.3444s
14 Marco Andretti, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 248. 19.8702s
15 Ryan Hunter-Reay, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 205. Contact
16 Tony Kanaan, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 168. Mechanical
17 Max Chilton, Chip Ganassi Racing. Dallara/Honda. 164. Contact
18 J.R. Hildebrand, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 100. Contact
19 Takuma Sato, Andretti Autosport. Dallara/Honda. 6. Contact
20 Will Power, Team Penske. Dallara/Chevrolet. 5. Contact
21 Ed Carpenter, Ed Carpenter Racing. Dallara/Chevrolet. 5. Contact

[NaBUru38]

Before the race there was some sort of Pit Stop Challenge, which aired on the Race Control website.

Instead of drag races, a dozen cars did laps and pitted, with times measured from entry to exit. The non-competing cars were standing in their pit boxes, so it was a bit confusing.

There were a few controversies. I think that Kimball should have been penalized for blocking Conor Daly. He obviously reacted to a move.

Newgarden's overtake for the lead was clean. He saw a gap in the inside at the front straight, and went for it. Pagenaud tried to close it but was too late, and nearly crashed in turn 1 but kept control. It was his fault that he went wide at the turn, as he kept very low along the straight, rather than opening up before the turn.

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

Apart from TK's losing it on the pace lap and then Power losing it on the first lap, it wasn't particularly exceptional

Agree. I think that dirty air on corners was the reason for the relatively lack of overtaking. The Indy Lights race was much more thrilling.

Originally Posted by bjohnsonsmith

I'm not kidding, the stands are packed.

True, but not sure if all are paying tickets. Bomarito seems to have told all his employees to go. Anyway, they were entertained.

[D.R.T.]

Looked a great event from the tv broadcast. Late pass for the win - cant fault that.