It is a track located in Illinois and a race called the Enjoy Illinois 300.
But everyone refers to the area as St. Louis; The track was originally named after the nearby metropolis and was later nicknamed the St. Louis Gateway.
But today, the naming rights to the Illinois track belong to World Wide Technology, a giant service provider based across the Mississippi River in the nearby Missouri town of Maryland Heights.
Man, talk about a geography test!
World Wide began hosting Cup races two years ago, and so far, the two winners have come from Las Vegas (Kyle Busch) and Connecticut (Joey Logano).
Do you remember them?
These are a couple of guys who would like to win anywhere right now. Perhaps the positive vibes of St. Louis, with a liberal touch of Illinois, are the right tonic.
Let’s sail the Big Muddy, moor on the east bank and check out one of the newest playing fields in the Cup Series…
∎ Worldwide Technologies Speedway was originally called St. Louis International Raceway and later became known as Gateway International Raceway. What has never been called is a property in Missouri, much less in St. Louis.
∎ The track is located on the Illinois side of the Mississippi River, in Madison, a city of approximately 3,000 residents. It’s such a small place that neither of the two Amtrak passenger trains that pass through it stop there.
∎ The track’s road course opened in 1985 and the oval in 1997. The oval measures 1¼ miles with banked curves of 9 and 11 degrees. The property originally opened as a drag racing facility in 1967.
∎ In June 1972, Evel Knievel arrived in Madison and landed his private plane at the racetrack. On consecutive days, he jumped 10 cars on his Harley.
∎ The NASCAR Cup Series began racing there in 2022, but the Xfinity Series raced there from 1997 to 2010 and the Trucks raced there from 1998 to 2010 and every year since 2014.
∎ Dale Earnhardt won at Madison in 1998 and 1999 en route to back-to-back Xfinity Series championships.
∎ The speedway has hosted virtually every national racing organization in North America, including AMA Superbikes, though only once, in 1995, on an August day when temperatures reached 97 degrees.
∎ The Dover Motorsports group took ownership of the track in 1998 and closed it in 2010. A year later, St. Louis developer Curtis Francois purchased the track and quickly brought it back into operation for various racing series.
∎ The stands in Turn 1 are named Wallace Grandstands, in honor of NASCAR brothers Rusty, Mike and Kenny, who grew up nearby.
Keynote USA
For the Latest Sports News, Follow @Keynote USA Sports on Twitter.