Hometown hero and NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace will give the command to start engines at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Illinois, on Friday, August 24, for the NASCAR K&N Pro Series Monaco Cocktails Gateway Classic presented by West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame 150-lap race.
It was only natural to select Wallace, a native of St. Louis, as the race’s grand marshal. His father, Russell, was a three-time stock car champion in the area, racing at Granite City, Illinois, Rolla, Missouri and Valley Park, Missouri. With that background, Rusty (a.k.a. Russell Jr.) and his brothers Mike and Kenny, all wound up as successful drivers.
In Wallace’s era, the American Speed Association (ASA) served as the launching pad to the big time for Midwest drivers and he won the 1983 championship against the likes of fellow future Winston Cup stars Mark Martin and Alan Kulwicki.
Wallace won the 1989 NASCAR championship when it still was referred to as the Winston Cup Series and earned 55 wins and more than $50 million in winnings over his colorful career. In 1998, during NASCAR’s 50th anniversary year, Wallace was named one of its 50 Greatest Drivers of All Time. He retired from racing in 2004 at age 47.
Wallace, who recently turned 62, was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2013.
Gateway Motorsports Park is bringing more NASCAR to the Saint Louis region by introducing the popular NASCAR K&N Pro Series to the Metro East this year. This rare East-versus-West combo race will be only one of two contested in the United States in 2018 and is part of GMP’s August 24-25 INDYCAR Weekend.
The K&N Pro Series has been a launching pad for young racers to showcase their talent in front of large audiences, important team owners and sponsors. Now in its 31st year, the K&N Pro Series evolved from the NASCAR North Series that competed in New England and Canada in the 1980s and the famed Winston West Series that ruled the western states for decades.
The K&N Pro Series features America’s best short track drivers as well as racers from Mexico and from as far away as Japan. Some of the drivers who recently graduated from the K&N Pro Series into NASCAR’s major ranks include: Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Justin Haley, Noah Gragson, Kaz Grala and Cole Custer.
Gateway MSP PR
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