Gateway is gone

Dangerous track. The runoff was mostly concrete barriers. That said, it'll be missed & it's all we had.

 

yeah, it needs a lot of safety upgrades. I've seen a lot of torn up cars (and a few torn up people) at track days and SCCA races there over the years.

nonetheless, I think the facility has a lot of potential as an amateur and semi-pro track (IHRA, USAC, ASA, regional NASCAR, NASA, SCCA), plus all the club stuff (PCA, Audi, BMW, etc). Could also be used as a test track for NASCAR/IRL.

not many places have a full NHRA drag strip, 1+ mile oval, and a road course in one spot. Chris Pook and Dover just made a hash of things from day one. eyes bigger than their stomachs.

The price is pretty cheap, really....even if you paid the outstanding tax bill, $3.7mm is a bargain...that wouldn't even cover the cost of constructing the drag strip from scratch. I hope someone makes a go at it.

And yes, it is another example of STL's demise (and another reason why I no longer live there), total lack of vision and execution from the entire region. enjoy being the next Detroit!

 

hey ding dong! were geting a transportation center with light rail stuff so.. does Detroit have light rail????

 

oh right, light rail that great creator of economic development

all it will do is move Larry Rice's soup kitchen to ESL!

 

ESL? dont you mean Chesterfeild!

 

Had dinner with Sir Mills Saturday night - we are going to see of Gateway is doable.

Stay tuned -

 

I went to the last NASCAR event there last month. It was sorry.

People had said the management was terrible and the track lights would go out during events. IMHO It was just mismanaged. The location is great. Parking is simple and ingress/egress easy. There was never any attempt to make $ off the concessions. Even at the last event it was still a byob track. Ok let the fans tailgate in the lot but in the venue you sell them the munchies and beer they want and that will make you some money. $5-$10 bucks for a .25 draw or $1 can of beer makes a good profit. Give the "beer here!" guy a commission or sales bonus and he will more pay for himself. They just missed out on a alot of opportunities to make dough.

The advertising for events at gateway was nonexistant. They would usually end up giving $50 tickets away for $5. Why not price them reasonably first and then advertise. How about corporate boxes or sections. I think the guys who ran it had never been to a major league sports event before. Where were the group ticket sales?

If you are going to spend a mil for the track buy the surrounding dirt lots and collect the extra parking fees for yourself.

Doug if you consider buying the track with some investors let me know and we can share a cold beverage and talk about some stuff.

 

Deal

There are some real issues that only a group of investors can fix. There is way too much land to manage and pay taxes on.

This is my published scenario - take a look at a golf course in Vegas that cost 25 million to build and it takes 1.5 million annually to water the course properly and apply that to Gateway.

That golf course is now selling for 7 million to make the numbers work.

These facilities that were built on the build it they will come movie are DOA.

 

Doug,

Interested in keeping posted on your progress. Does such a facility need big sanctioned events (NASCAR, NHRA, etc) to be viable or can it be reasonably structured on club based events?

Jeff

 

you can argue that chasing big events (NASCAR, NHRA, Indy) is what killed Gateway. keeping the track "hot" with club events, testing, schools, etc is how one cash flows.

 

I don't think the land would be a problem-the grass is nothing a few Donkey's couldn't keep in check. Expand the road course, pave the rest and call it a day. Now only if we could find some donkey's..

 

Scott already moved to KC, I think he took the donkeys with him

 

He's welcome to come back and bring the donkey's if we need them for Gateway. Maybe we can put some windmills on the excess land to subsidize the cost.

 

i'll have to charge you for the lost income while i'm away from my donkey - i may even have to sue for emotional distress for being separated from him,

 

Dover failed trying

 

you'll get over it, there's plenty of donkeys in the barnyard

 

Scott ... this post will haunt you for a long long time

Imagine at your rehearsal dinner this written out in BIG BOLD HOOF PRINT

 

you're an evil man, Doug

 

hahaha - your right ... thats really not fair to the donkey.

 

Ur a good sport!

 

How much would it take to build a facility like autobahn or montecello? I see this as a sweet deal for a couple $$ gearheads to have a great facility to play with their toys.
It would be a cool cars & coffee meeting spot! I'll bring a donation jar to the next cars & coffee.

 

4-5 million a mile gets it started ... sweet just turn sour?

 

How does the model work, if it does, for the private tracks like Monticello (the one that briefly claimed to be negotiating for the US F1 date), the one in NJ that the FCA National was just at? I think there are also one near Savannah, GA that the FCA is using next year. I remember reading about there being some more scattered around the country.

Willow Springs in Southern California has been around a long, long time and does not do professional spectator events. They may be unique because of a zero cost basis and being available 12 months of the year.

Jeff