Opening wall at Gateway?

Question

Don't you think it's kinda dangerous to have that opening there coming out of Turn 2?

Answer 1

No. I go there all the time. It's never been an issue until you just brought it up.

Gateway is owned and was built by Dover Motorsports. They own Memphis Motorsports park, Dover International Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway and put on the Long Beach Grand Prix every year.

There's been Champ and IRL races at Gateway too in the past.

As a real St. Louis race fan and participant, I'm dissapointed in JOHN M's answer. I'm not sure what he means by "low budget". It sounds more like he's a disgruntled fan that maybe got escorted out one day so the only place left for him to go is Schraders track.

As far as advertising goes, I believe they meet there race goals every year. There was 50,000 people there last Saturday night.

JOHN M, If you don't like it then stay away please.

Answer 2

I was thinking the same thing, that looks extremely dangerous but safety precautions are only taken AFTER somebody gets hurt or killed.

Answer 3

Geez people, these tracks can only do so much.  How long has that opening been there @ Gateway, before anyone thought it was dangerous....10 years....15 years.  If your gonna be that worried about risks in auto racing, best not suit up and get in the car.

Answer 4

I guess so but no one has hit there.

SAFER barriers cover most of the track and those are the spots that get hit a lot.

Answer 5

Yes, it may be dangerous but the track can only do so much.

Answer 6

Yea it,s dangerous....It would be cool if jeff g. found that one too!!!!

Answer 7

Well as being a St Louis nascar fan , I dont think the track is worthy of having a professional race ran here. It is a low budget track that cant even advertize the race properly.  Its sad because I need to travel to see a quality race. The dirt track 30 miles west puts on a much better show. Thanks to Ken Schrader.

Answer 8

Dont you remember back at Vegas when Gordon hit the opening there and nobody said anything about the opening but only why is there no soft berrier down there.

Answer 9

yall dont remember mikey hitting that entrance head on its a wonder it hadnt of killed him

i just cant remember where

maybe bristol =old bristol

Answer 10

Yes! It's dangerous and if it was at a big $$$ track it would have been taken care of by now. They know how to rectify the problem and they should B-4 it's too late. Frank, Seriously, What is the matter with you?

Answer 11

Think about where it is positioned. If a car were to spin to the right and hit the curvature in the wall head on, it wouldn't amount to that great of an impact, considering the cars are just coming off the turn. But still, I agree. It is still dangerous though. Put some safety barriers there or even yet, close the darn wall.

Answer 12

No, Phoenix had this for years without any problem at all and is only gone because they widened turn 1 anyway.

It would be impossible to go backwards on an oval track anyway to get to the opening or causing any harm.  The momentum coming off makes it irrelevant to anyone hitting a thing.

The only thing that could happen would be someone trying to go high and getting their rr quarter clipped and sent head first in to the wall but that could happen the same on the straight anyway and it is so gradual it wouldn't cause any problems anyway.

To me it is completely  irrelevant and I have seen computer generate crash scenarios time and again that do not have any higher danger level than a straight wall.