Gateway's New Management

Gateway International Raceway vice president and general manager Terry Harmeson does not have any grand plans for improving the racing environment for his new home track for the 2010 season.

Harmeson, 60, formerly of Champaign, Ill., and a 1971 graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in general engineering, was named Gateway's new leader Nov. 12. His first day on the job was Dec. 1.

"I still have to look at what the track's needs are and what the needs of the community are," Harmeson said. "I've met all the staff here and I've got a great team here. I just want to improve (the facility) and make Gateway the best we can here. Make it the best experience we can for everybody that comes."

Harmeson, whose wife Sue Ellen is from Greenville, Ill., replaces Lenny Batycki, who resigned Oct. 1. Harmeson comes to Gateway from its parent company, Dover Motorsports Inc., which owns Dover (Del.) International Speedway and Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. He is the fifth general manager at Gateway since the track opened in 1997.


For the last seven years, Harmeson was vice president of design and construction with Dover. Before that he was vice president and general manager for 13 years of the Rollins Environmental Services facility in Bridgeport, N.J., a $30 million-a-year operation with more than 100 employees.

During Batycki's three-year tenure, it wasn't uncommon to find him at the local dirt tracks on any given weekend during the spring through fall season promoting Gateway.

Harmeson doesn't have a promoter's background and probably won't be found at too many of the area dirt tracks in 2010.

"I intend to visit lots of ... whether it's Chamber of Commerce ... a lot of different municipalities," Harmeson said. "All the things that I need to do to continue our relationship with the community. I may go to some dirt tracks. But I kind of doubt I'll do the same as he did."

Harmeson said his main goal is to "evaluate the business and try to improve it to the best we can. Not only for Dover but also for the community. There's no intention, in my mind, that Gateway is going to be closed."

On the day Batycki announced his resignation, nine other people were laid off, fueling speculation that Gateway was about to close.

Instead, Dover ceased operations at its Memphis Motorsports Park last month and handed the Memphis Oct. 23 date for the NASCAR Nationwide Series to Gateway.

That gives the track four major events for 2010 — April 30-May 2 is the weekend for the National Hot Rod Association and July 17-18 is the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and Nationwide Series doubleheader.
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We are looking forward to meeting and talking with Terry on how to keep drifting growing in and around St. Louis, as have his predecessors. With an enlarged budget, due to the closing of Memphis Motosports Park, there lies an opportunity to increase our activities as well as aiding outside series in their travels by giving them one more venue.

I hope they have the drag strip dryers back for the Midnight Madness season, so they don't get canceled when it was a little damp like previous times. You might ask why this drag strip item effects us?

Well to make it simple, Midnight Madness has been shut down in the past due to bad track conditions, in which insurance doesn't cover the event if those conditions aren't stable. Also, keep in mind and added NASCAR Revenue and NHRA stuff to the track help keeps it open and might give them enough money to do things. Like smooth out our section of the parking lot (wink wink Nudge nudge), and perhaps allow us to have more event's like the Cold As Balls drift day.

-Rion