March 29, 2016, St. Louis Region – The 2016 season of Midnight Madness – Gateway Motorsports Park’s street-legal drag racing and drifting program – will open on Friday evening. In anticipation of a large turnout for the season-opener, Friday’s race program will begin one hour earlier. Dragplex gates will open at 5 p.m. with street-legal racing from 6 p.m.-1 a.m.
The theme for Friday’s street-legal season-opener is Spring Break. On the track, racers will be drag-racing and drifting in their cars while fans party on the beach. The 100 ft.-by-30 ft. Dragplex beach — located in the party pavilion — will consist of 45 tons of sand. Dragplex beach attractions will include: music by DJ Frizzy, a mechanical surfboard, free neon-green GMP sunglasses to the first 500 fans through the gates, a giant beer pong, an old-fashioned beach bonfire and corn hole games.
In addition to its regular fare, the GMP concession stand also will offer mini crab bites, fried shrimp and pina coladas.
Midnight Madness offers a safe alternative to illegal street racing and an opportunity for drivers to race each other in their street-legal cars on the Dragplex’s quarter-mile NHRA-sanctioned drag strip in an informal atmosphere. Midnight Madness is open to all licensed drivers and any street-legal car or motorcycle. All vehicles must be self-starting and no race cars (i.e. dragsters, Altereds) are allowed. All vehicles must pass a safety inspection before being allowed to compete. All drivers must present a valid driver’s license at the time of tech inspection. Participants 16 and 17 years of age must have a parental consent form completed prior to competition.
Admission is $15 for spectators and crew members and $25 to race. Spectators ages 12 and under are admitted free.
Midnight Madness schedule for April 1
5 p.m. — Gates open, tech inspection begins.
6 p.m. — Racing begins.
7:30 p.m. — Midway activities and entertainment begins.
11:30 p.m. — Tech card sales conclude.
11:45 p.m. — Tech inspection concludes.
12:15 a.m. — Last call to staging lanes.
12:30 a.m. — Back of staging lanes closed, conclude remaining runs.
1 a.m. — Conclude racing.
1:15 a.m. — Pit sweep, facility closed.
Admission and entry fees:
Racer tech card: $25 (car and driver).
Spectator admission or crew pass: $15.
Kids 12 and under: Free.
The 11-event Midnight Madness series features a special theme for each night. All Midnight Madness events include drifting in the Dragplex’s drift pit, food specials, entertainment and music by D.J. Frizzy.
2016 MIDNIGHT MADNESS SCHEDULE AND THEMES
April 1 – Spring Break
April 15 – Muscle Madness
April 29 – ‘90s Night
May 13 – Unlucky Madness (Friday the 13th)
June 10 – Movie Madness
July 8 – ‘merica Madness
July 22 – Christmas in July
August 12 – Electric Madness
September 2 – End of Summer/Bonfire
September 30 – OktoberFAST
October 28 – Season finale, Monster Madness Halloween party
For more information, please call GMP at (618) 215-8888 or visit www.gatewaymsp.com. Follow GMP on Facebook and Twitter.
The vision for the new Gateway Motorsports Park is to create a racing lifestyle that attracts enthusiasts, professionals, amateurs and car lovers by harnessing the energy and passion of the thousands of racing fans in the heart of the Midwest.
Located just five minutes from downtown St. Louis and covering nearly 200 acres, Gateway is the largest outdoor entertainment facility in the region, encompassing a ¼-mile NHRA-sanctioned drag strip, 1.25-mile superspeedway, 1.6- mile road course, a state-of-the-art Karting facility and a new 14-acre, multi-purpose dirt off-road venue.