Donations of any size will help to defray the enormous legal costs from a lawsuit filed against the administrator of OldHippie.com, by what many refer to as a "Copyright Troll" law firm, for the posting of a TSA "Pat Down" photo they had bought the copyright rights to, after the photo was posted on this site, and then removed.
Gateway is no where to be found. That was their bread and butter. After Dover closed Memphis -- NHRA appears to not be taking any chances with them on Gateway.
They announced the end of NASCAR after their last race. I'm taking bets they'll announce the end of drag racing after NMCA's race.
If I were him I think I would try to purchase the NHRA before I purchased a track that has 8 million owed in taxes or what ever the rumored amount is. Obviously Johnny is a smart person and will invest his $$ wisely.
__________________
Jeff Conley
NMCA Technical Director
Part of the problem might also be the environment of the track. They blamed the NASCAR failure on a power outage -- and this last weekend, some governmental agency (not sure if it was city or county) threatened to shut down the Monster because there were 10 tents that hadn't paid the "Tent Tax". SS Promotions had to run down Friday morning with $750 to wet the beak of someone to keep the show from being closed down.
Funny how when a business is teetering on the fence of success or failure -- that some government agency comes to give it a push.
I’m only responding to this thread because the article in Drag Racing Online is so incredibly wrong. I’m only going to type this once and I’m not going to respond with any more information. The reason for the lack of interest in a sale of Gateway International Raceway is no secret. There are several people on this board who know the details, (‘Goose being one with whom I’ve shared the basics), and, for the life of me, I have no idea why you people think this is such a conspiracy.
The reason nobody is interested in GIR has nothing to do with the economy, the management, the oval track or the dragstrip. In fact, the dragstrip is, (currently), one of the most successful in the country. Tuesday nights are doing great, Fridays (MM) are through the roof, and, despite the fact bracket racing has been in a horrible slump for a decade, even the Saturday bracket series holds its own quite well. Even the Outlaw All Stars program has shown notable growth. The majority of GIR’s major events are rentals so those races are fine, too. The NHRA National Event does very well for both GIR and the NHRA. However, it wouldn’t matter if the track was ten times more successful. It simply can’t possibly make money.
Chris Pook built the new Gateway in 1996 with $21.5 million in Illinois state bonds. Those bonds were deferred for ten years. Those bonds came due in 2006. For the past four years, GIR has been operating with an annual tax debt of $1.8 million. End of story.
Nothing…not even a NASCAR Cup date…could ever pull the track out from under that load. When it became obvious the track was never going to get a Cup race, Pook (wisely) got out. He knew an NHRA race, a NASCAR truck race, a Nationwide race or even his own CART events wouldn’t do it, either. As it stands, (with no major events at the oval), a new owner would need the equivalent of five good NHRA National Events in one season just to start at ZERO.
NOW start figuring out who’d say “Yes!” to such a deal. Can’t think of ANYBODY? Gee. I guess that explains why nobody’s in line to buy it.
If the tax nightmare could ever be figured out, THEN a prospective buyer could start looking into a way to deal with the three land owners and all the rest of the headaches involved in acquiring Gateway International Raceway.
I don’t care what anybody has heard, said, thought or read. These are the facts. If you don’t believe it, call Dover and ask.
There will always be hilarious rumors out there and, personally, I hope they keep coming just for the entertainment value. However, all the idiots who insist the track is closing because they wait in line for a run at Midnight Madness or the NHRA event was pulled because of racer complaints, (my favorite so far), need to get a clue about the business world.
None of this was ever a secret. All you had to do was ask. Get a grip, people.
I’m not posting this anywhere else. If you find somebody who’s spewing inaccuracies, feel free to cut-n-paste this whole response. The funny part is they’ll still believe the whole place went under because it wasn’t an “outlaw track”.
Stick a Fork In Gateway 
rag Racing Online::: Columns - Agent 1320 - 09/14/10
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