Formerly known as Gateway International Raceway and currently named World Wide Technology Raceway for sponsorship reasons, Gateway Motorsports Park is a multi-venue motorsport racing facility in Madison, Illinois, just east of St. Louis. Located in the shadows of the Gateway Arch, the quarter-mile asphalt NHRA-sanctioned drag strip hosted the annual NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Midwest Nationals over the weekend.
The NHRA Midwest Nationals in 2008 was a special year for the event at Gateway as legendary 16-time Funny Car Champion John Force secured his 1,000th competitive round win by defeating Ron Capps. Force accomplished the feat on his 59th birthday, making the milestone extra special. In October of last year, his daughter Brittany Force set the Top Fuel speed record at World Wide Technology Raceway at 338.43 mph.
On April 17, 2019, World Wide Technology announced it had acquired naming rights for the track, renaming it to World Wide Technology Raceway. The NHRA Countdown to the Championship hit the halfway point in St. Louis, as all the top nitro and stock stars in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series. Teams returned to World Wide Technology Raceway for the 12th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals conducted over three memorable days of action as the third of six NHRA playoff races.
Clay Millican Claims Top Fuel Win at Midwest Nationals
The MAC Tools Dragster racing team moved one step closer to driver Doug Kalitta’s first NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series world championship with a decisive win over 300-mph record setter Mike Salinas at the betway NHRA Carolina Nationals last weekend. Kalitta comes to World Wide Technology Raceway looking for a third-straight Countdown to the Championship win and a 63-point lead over four-time reigning world champion Steve Torrence and 68-point lead over Justin Ashley with six national wins this season.
Kalitta was eliminated in Round Two when his MAC Tools dragster went up in smoke against Leah Pruett. Pruett would outrun Steve Torrence to advance her fourth final of the 2023 NHRA Camping World season. Clay Millican defeated Austin Prock, Mike Salinas and Tony Schumacher for Final match with Pruett. Both racers were even off the tree before Millican edged the Parts Plus dragster to the front with a 3.758-seconds ET at 331.94 mph to narrowly outpace Pruett’s 3.775 elapsed time at 327.66 mph. Despite the loss, Pruett moved into second place forty seven points behind Kalitta.
Matt Hagan Claims Funny Car Win at Midwest Nationals
Ford Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang driver Bob Tasca III moved one step closer to Robert Hight’s 25-point lead in Funny Car for the 2023 Countdown to the Championship last weekend with a holeshot win in the betway NHRA Carolina Nationals at zMAX Raceway. However, three-time world champions Ron Capps (NAPA Toyota) and Matt Hagan (Dodge Direct Connection Charger SRT Hellcat) hover 69 points behind Hight with both drivers seeking their fourth NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series championship.
There is no easy route to the Funny Car Final Round but Matt Hagan eliminated Alexis Dejoria, sixteen-time Funny Car World Champion John Force, and a red-hot Bob Tasca III enroute to the Final Round at World Wide Technology Raceway. In the bottom bracket, Ron Capps recorded wins over Tim Wilkerson, Alex Laughlin, and Blake Alexander to set the stage for a match against Hagan. But, the driver of Tony Stewart’s Racing’s American Rebel SRT Hellcat grab the lead at the tree with .029 RT with a 3.991 ET at 324.90 for a decisive win.
Artwork courtesy of NHRA
UP COMING:
Texas NHRA FallNationals
Nitro teams will return to action at fourth of six Countdown to the Championship rounds at Texas Motorplex for Texas NHRA FallNationals. The event delivers some of the best racing action and off-track festivities for loyal drag racing fans. Top Pro Stock drivers will take to the track on October 12-15 to battle for valuable championship points at the first race of the second half of the Countdown.
