Like the now defunct Memphis Motorsports Park before it, Gateway International Raceway, which is owned and controlled by the same company that killed MMP, is staring down the barrel of a gun. Dover Motorsports recently announced that that will not seek any dates on the NASCAR schedule next season and recently wrote down the value of the facility from $10 million to $2 million on their books. 

The drag strip at Gateway is a nice place that hosts an NHRA national event, was part of the first Drag Week trip in 2005, and is also on the ADRL tour. The track was originally opened in the 1960s and went through a big renovation in the mid-1990s when the NASCAR track was added to the facility and the strip was completely renovated. That project actually swapped the starting line and shut down areas of the track!

If Dover Motorsports opts to close Gateway, it will be down to just two properties, from four just a year ago. By judging the tone of all the stories on the track as of late, it appears to be a dead player. Memphis is still for sale, and probably will remain in that state forever. 

One thing we have heard about Gateway and have as yet been able to verify it, is that Dover owns the physical structures and equipment at the track, but the land is owned by a different party. That makes a very strange situation for a potential buyer.

We hope the track is not shut down, but we’re thinking that it is not going to be long before we hear that it is.

Source — BND.com —Gateway’s fate could lave economic void