The site was originally developed in 1967 as St. Louis International Raceway by Wayne and Ruth Meinert on property originally purchased by David Bergfield. Built on dormant swampland buried by the Mississippi River — earning it the nickname "The Swamp" — the facility began as a 0.125 mi drag strip and was extended to a full quarter-mile in 1971. In 1985, owner Jody Trover constructed a road course with 2.600 mi and 1.010 mi configurations, incorporating parts of the existing drag strip; racers transitioned onto the drag strip's shutdown portion coming into Turn 4, with Turn 12 returning them to the starting line. The road course hosted ARCA, IMSA, and the Trans-Am Series in its inaugural year. Also in 1985, a quarter-midget dirt track was established at the back right corner of the property. In 1994, Chris Pook, promoter of the Grand Prix of Long Beach, acquired the facility for $21.5 million. The original tracks were demolished between 1995 and 1996, and a new oval speedway and drag strip were constructed at a cost of $25 million.
The 1.250 mi oval takes an asymmetrical egg shape because the backstretch runs parallel with Illinois Route 203, constraining Turns 1 and 2 to a tighter radius than Turns 3 and 4. The corpus describes Turns 1 and 2 as similar in character to New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Turns 3 and 4 as similar to Phoenix Raceway. The shape is compared to Darlington Raceway and Mobility Resort Motegi.
On November 3, 2010, Dover Motorsports — which had owned the track since 1998 along with Memphis International Raceway, Nashville Superspeedway, and Dover International Speedway — closed the facility. On September 8, 2011, local St. Louis real estate developer and former Indy Lights driver Curtis Francois re-opened the venue under the name Gateway Motorsports Park, saving it days before demolition. Francois finalised purchase of the facility on May 1, 2013, making it locally owned and operated. In October 2016, the NTT IndyCar Series announced its return to the track for 2017 for the first time since 2003. After teams reported surface issues during a May 2017 open test, officials undertook a multimillion-dollar repaving project completed in late July 2017. In April 2019, World Wide Technology announced it had acquired naming rights, renaming the venue World Wide Technology Raceway.
On September 15, 2021, the track was announced as a new NASCAR Cup Series venue for 2022. Five thousand ticket deposits were placed within the first 24 hours. The inaugural Enjoy Illinois 300 on June 5, 2022 resulted in the first capacity crowd sellout in track history. Securing the Cup date triggered $40 million in further upgrades, including extension of SAFER barriers along the backstretch, modernisation of the oval tower and suites, additional infield camping, and rejuvenated team areas. In August 2024 it was announced the Cup date would move from June to September, placing it in the Round of 16 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, and the NASCAR Xfinity Series was announced to return to the track in 2025 for the first time since 2010.
On June 24–25, 1972, Evel Knievel made a stop at the then-named St. Louis International Raceway for two motorcycle jumps, arriving via private plane that used the drag strip as a runway and successfully jumping a Harley-Davidson XR-750 over 10 cars on both days. In 2004, the NHRA event was marked by the death of Top Fuel driver Darrell Russell in a second-round crash; one of the drag strip grandstands was renamed "The Darrell Russell Stand" in his memory. In 2010, Carl Edwards turned Brad Keselowski on the final lap of a NASCAR Nationwide Series race coming out of Turn 4, resulting in a 60-point penalty and a $25,000 fine for Edwards.
As of 2024–25, key records include: NASCAR Cup Series qualifying — Michael McDowell, 32.318 s (139.241 mph), June 1, 2024; NASCAR Cup Series race — Austin Cindric, 2 h 48 min 3 s (97.965 mph), June 2, 2024; IndyCar single-lap record — Will Power, 189.709 mph, August 25, 2017; IndyCar two-lap qualifying average — Will Power, 189.642 mph, August 25, 2017; CART race — Juan Pablo Montoya, 1 h 55 min 38 s (155.519 mph), September 17, 2000. At the 2023 Bommarito Automotive Group 500, Scott Dixon won by a 22.2256-second margin, shattering Montoya's previous record of 11.804 seconds set in 2000.
Annual events include the IndyCar Series Bommarito Automotive Group 500, the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300, the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Midwest Nationals, Formula Drift, the NASCAR O'Reilly Auto Parts Series, and the Confluence Music Festival. During winter the oval infield hosts the WonderLight's drive-through Christmas light display.
This article is based solely on the supplied corpus. No external sources were consulted; claims that could not be substantiated against the corpus were omitted under the drop-the-claim rule.
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