Could PIR become the next Sonoma?

[rocketman]

Chris Pook is wrangling for a 60 year lease to take over Portland International Raceway. Cap Racing Home Page

 

[rosco]

Chris Pook is wrangling for a 60 year lease to take over Portland International Raceway. Cap Racing Home Page

Everything that guy has touched has turned to crap, drag racing does not need him.

 

[clwill]

Is there anywhere near enough land there to make a decent facility, let alone the next Sonoma? It's only 1/8th mile today, right? It's land-locked by a golf course and two major freeways. In an area that hates noise and the internal combustion engine. Hmmm...

 

[rocketman]

Yes there is. The track runs both quarter mile and eighth mile events even now but would need some upgrades for sure. There is enough land there to host a national event. Back when the IHRA was run by the Baters they tried to arrange a national event there but the city wouldn't budge even though it needed the money to keep the track in the black.

 

[clock guy]

Ask the people in St. Louis about Pook.

 

[the zone]

hey Jeff off topic, but I have a question for you.

I know it might not be a common thing, pr even something that would not be used but does cross talk work with a staggered start on a pro tree.

dean

 

[clock guy]

Dean NO

 

[rocketman]

So was Gateway under the control of Pookie? And if so until when? Did he develop it?

 

[clock guy]

He Built the NASCAR track there and did it with tax deferred Bonds. they come due this year, thats why its closing. No way to make enough money there to pay just the taxes.

 

[vegasnitro]

Chris Pook's brief run at the top of CART/Champ Car was disastrous. Chris was one of the original developers/promoters of the Long Beach Grand Prix back when it was a F1 event and thru many of the CART/Champ Car races there, and he has been trading off that success ever since.

 

[tb]

He Built the NASCAR track there and did it with tax deferred Bonds. they come due this year, thats why its closing. No way to make enough money there to pay just the taxes.

Pook rebuilt the whole complex in 1997, it had a drag strip that was known as the swamp and it was a terrible place to race and watch a race.

Pook bought the facility with the intention of building a facility for CART/Indy Cars. This was a the begining of the CART/IRL fued. The oval is were the old drag strip was and a new strip was built to the west of the old track/oval.

Pook then sold the four facilities he owned (Long Beach GP, St. Petersburg GP, Gateway, and Memphis) to Dover Entertainment in 1999. Dover then started to cut cost to pay for the mortgage of all four events. Instead of trying to fix issues at Gateway it was all about cutting cost. This was the last of the four that Dover ran as the other three was either sold or closed.
(Nashville was built by Dover and not under the Pook umbrella)

It was stated on more than one accasion that the drag strip made them money, even the NHRA event made Dover Ent. some money, and the oval lost more than the drag strip made. because Dover is a NASCAR leaning organization is was all about the oval. They could not commit to any kind of drag racing program NHRA pulled the plug on a national event.

I live in St. Louis and I thank Mr. Pook every time I go to the track, I got to attend 15 NHRA races, 7 Indy Car races, and 30 NASCAR Busch/Truck races, along with ADRL, Division,Tuner and USAC events all 20 minutes from my house. As far as Dover is concerned I have already told friends of mine I will throw the party when they lose one or both of their Sprint Cup races and actually have to be a promoter.

Terry

 

[nick name]

Terry, I see you don't post much but that was a very good one you just made.

I think between your post and Jeff Foster's lies the real story - somewhere.

I am also a St. Louis area resident and suffered with the "old" Gateway from the time it was built to replace Alton. I can't think of a time when it had any money invested in it; it was barely kept up through the years. By the time Pook took over, the track was barely capable of hosting an IHRA National event.

He comes in and we get a modern track where the only apologies that have to be made are about the brutal weather in the summertime. Lots of pavement, an excellent racing surface, and a full time staff marked the "new" GIR.

So now the track's final event was held a couple of days ago and we're all wondering what went wrong. As Jeff mentioned, a lot of people around here are saying that the foundation was never there for a long term facility. Along with the tax abatement issues there's the fact that the complex sits on multiple parcels of lands and doesn't own all of them.

Pook was promised the land next to the track which was to be onsite parking but the eminent domain action by the county was overturned by the Illinois Supreme court.

So was Pook a savior or a demon? I don't have the information that's needed to say for sure. What I can say for sure is that for a few years, we had a local track we could be proud of.

 

[Mad Mark]

Not to derail the topic further, but has anybody heard any news on Gateway? From what i've been hearing it's history with no turning back.

 

[rocketman]

Racing venues have opposite problems. Drags makes money off the competitors while oval makes money of spectators. But here the rub, the big oval tracks only host a few races a year so thats why they can get into financial problems as well.