My thoughts on Gateway

[cjp0354]

Not that it matters but these are some things I think will improve this awesome show in 2017.

-Move it up a week to get it away from Christmas.
-1 round of qualifying, 5 cars at a time, 5 laps
-Either cut mods all together (I've never said that before, I love the mods) or do invite only to about 40 cars
-up the lap count. Seems they have a good grasp on the fumes. Think 50 minimum to help the drivers settle down and the track to change.
-Do a 50/50 it would have been big
-have corner workers watching each end of the raceway, get the yellow out quicker for stopped cars

This is not me complaining. I loved the show. Truly awesome. Just things I think would improve it. My opinion doesn't matter but thought I would share.

[Clayton_Wetter]

This event was a vendors dream!!!

[calverton]

the only problem most of the vendors where in the pits and only had 1/2 hour from the time the gates opened to the first on-track activity

[TheJet-09]

I made a last minute decision to make the 4 hour trek down on Thursday to catch qualifying, and am glad I did (had to work this weekend unfortunately). But after that long night, I wondered if anyone knows why they chose to put the flag stand on what I would have considered the back straight? If you move it to the front stretch and still bring cars on/off in the same locations, and use the same qualifying procedure, think of how many laps overall would be saved throughout 200+ cars. Still plenty of time to get up to "speed" and get shut down through what would now be turns 1 & 2, to cut through the infield and exit...?

[zyoung25]

I expect the laps to go up next year. They didn't really know what they would getting into with the fume situation, so they shot low and it worked. I would much rather see just a round of hot laps and then one round of qualifications.

My guess on why they put the finish line on that side, it made easier to line the cars up accordingly. There wasn't much room to do it in the tunnel leading from the stadium to the street where the cars entered the building. If the cars were allowed to be filled with fuel inside, I'd bet things would be different. It was a very awesome sight to see, the cars rolling down the street with everyday drivers though.

[JCSullivan00]

Moving it up a week isn't really an option. PRI is the week before.

[Ryan21mid]

12 lap consi's definitely wasn't enough. That probably caused more cautions and carnage due to guys knowing that had to make some hay quick. Something different needs to be done with the infield tires but honestly I'm not sure what. If you put a wall down there, it's gonna make wreck cleanup harder and more congested so maybe just a berm? Little less track prep Saturday maybe with the exception of watering the top. All of the prerace stuff and driver intros was off the hook, the crowd was pumped up! I don't like watching the Monster Jam stuff but I'll admit the Mad Scientist coming out of nowhere was awesome, it lit the candles and had everyone on their feet! A little too much down time but not complaining, it's to be expected. I was worried about the fumes but not really any problems there. A few little tweaks and this is gonna be our Chili Bowl, hope they don't stray too far from what they did this year as I was very impressed and don't want it to lose its luster. Have heard rumblings about splitting the mod and lm into separate weekends but not sure how many people can afford to make a trip like that twice before the holidays. I say leave it as it is, cap car counts at 150 each, 1 session of qualifying and lets go again.

[birky time]

I just watched it on dod pretty good seems like the one the corner ( I think 3and 4) wasn't used like 2 and 3...why didn't they use the whole track?

[cgrace]

I'd like winner in center w no backdrop so all can see.

[cutman]

Would it be crazy to put some jersey barriers on the bottom in the turns?

[zach51]

I'm glad they didn't flag it from the infield like they do the chili bowl, a couple of those cars that spun off 4 and gassed it through the infield, one cause a big arse wreck. They would have killed the flagman twice at least.

[flagone]

Reading and listening. Adding to my notes.

I will offer up a couple of things.

First no one was complaining about the use of union labor. However it was an added cost to the program and did slow down the way that things were done. I understand fully the safety aspect of the union workers. However that is a situation that is unique to certain areas of the country. There are plenty of folks that work everyday and comply with OSHA (among others) regulations that aren't union workers. So again not bad, just different.

Second this event will never be a 3 hour type of program. There is no one in the world that wants to go faster with a program than I do. I promise. However this event offers unique challenges and requires downtime to combat those challenges. We went as fast as we could Saturday in a safe manor.

Thirdly. I have never seen anyone work as hard as all this staff did to make this show work. It is an INCREDIBLE amount of work. And it was all hands on deck including Cody, Jeremy and Ashly. No one was sitting at a desk just watching. There was so much work done. And the staff that pulled that off was about 25 people. And I hope that race fans can appreciate that (it seemed that most did).

Fourth. The tires. I think the tires worked perfectly. They were small enough that they created the barrier and didn't do any real damage when they were hit. They were easily moved and replaced. They did their jobs. A concrete barrier (in my opinion) would hurt the racing as guys would be less likely to get as close to it.

Fifth. I can tell you that we all learned many things together in this process. We all kept many notes. The one thing that we did do was communicate well and work through things.

Finally I was very proud of what we did. People doubted it. And people are still looking for a way to put it down. But it was successful. The track was built. The race did happen. There was some great racing. Fans and drivers did show up and enjoy it. So whether any of the naysayers like it or not. Whether you believe it was a hit or not. You have to give the credit that it was done and done pretty well.

[Snake X3]

12 lap consi's definitely wasn't enough.

I said the same thing to one of friends. Guys starting 20th have little hope to transfer...especially on 1/5 track.

[profab00]

Flagone, guess I'm a little dismayed that the insinuation is the "union" workers slowed things down yet the staff worked their "arse" off. I would think you are staff.......and you should keep your opinions about things not racing related to yourself

[Clayton_Wetter]

the only problem most of the vendors where in the pits and only had 1/2 hour from the time the gates opened to the first on-track activity

I'm thinking about those hot dogs, cokes, and beers in their gold plated cups and wrappers mainly.