The Dome at America's Center
Fast Facts: VP Gateway Dirt Nationals
By Robert Holman
DirtonDirt.com weekend editor
3rd annual VP Racing Fuels Gateway Dirt Nationals
Dates: Nov. 29-Dec. 1 (two $5,000-to-win preliminary features Friday and one $30,000 feature Saturday).
Track: The Dome at America’s Center (fifth-mile indoor temporary clay oval).
Sanction: None.
Purse: $30,000-to-win.
Tickets: Adult general admission is $25 Thursday; Reserved seating $25-$35-$45 Friday and $35-$45-$55 Saturday.
On the web: www.gatewaydirt.com.
Gateway Dirt Nationals phone: 314-786-2636.
Last year’s winner: Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, Ill., won 2017’s $30,000 finale.
Video: DirtonDirt.com is providing live pay-per-view video from the VP Racing Fuels Gateway Dirt Nationals with Late Models, midgets and modifieds in action. Live productions each night available at DirtonDirt.com, with multiple announcers, multiple cameras, driver interviews, on-screen race lineups and a live timing and scoring feed. Prices are $24.99 Thursday, $29.99 Friday and $39.99 Saturday or $89.99 for a three-day weekend package.
Notes: The VP Racing Fuels Gateway Dirt Nationals returns to the Dome at America’s Center for the third straight year. … Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., won the inaugural event, outrunning Don O’Neal and Brandon Sheppard for a $20,000 payday. … Shannon Babb of Moweaqua, Ill., has reached victory lane during both Gateway events. He won the preliminary feature in 2016 and won the Race of Champions in ’17. … Eleven drivers — Babb, Bloomquist, Pierce, O’Neal, Sheppard, Joey Coulter, Gordy Gundaker, Darrell Lanigan, Hunter Rasdon, Kent Robinson and Chad Zobrist — have qualified for both main events. … Drivers from 22 states entered last year's race; Illinois led the way with 30 entries. … For the third year in a row, event promoter Cody Sommer enlisted Kevin Gundaker to construct the fifth-mile temporary dirt oval inside the Dome. … Gundaker and his wife Tammy promote Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, Ill., about 15 miles from The Dome. … The Dome, which will seat up to 70,000, was home to the St. Louis Rams NFL football team from 1995-2015. … Along with NFL football, The Dome has hosted NCAA basketball tournament games, college football, Monster Jam trucks, AMA Supercross and concerts including U2, the Rolling Stones, Guns N’ Roses, Taylor Swift and ’N Sync. … The Late Model field is set to be split into two preliminary programs after Thursday's time trials. ... A pair of Friday Late Model programs include heats, consolations and 20-lap features. ... The top four finishers from each of Friday's $5,000-to-win Late Model preliminary features are locked into the first four rows of Saturday's $30,000-to-win event (those eight drivers will redraw for position) ... The Late Model purse for the weekend is more than $151,000. … Modifieds and midgets are also in action. Modifieds will contest time trials and heat races on Thursday, a pair or preliminary features on Friday and a 20-lap, $10,000-to-win main event on Saturday. … Midgets will time trial and run heats and two prelim features on Friday and run a 30-lap, $10,000-to-win feature on Saturday. … Karl Kustoms is the presenting sponsor. ... Watch all the Gateway action live via pay-per-view at DirtonDirt.com.
Gateway Dirt Nationals winners
Weekend purses
11-20. $2,000
Event schedule
(Pits close one hour after final checkered flag)
