$50,000-to-win at Dome for '25
ST. LOUIS, Mo. — Next season's ninth annual Castrol Gateway Dirt Nationals indoor event will pay a race-record $50,000-to-win and come with an amended format and new driver registration process, event founder Cody Sommer announced Saturday at the drivers' meeting before this year's finale. | Complete Gateway coverage
Instead of a first come, first served registration process that sold out in 15 minutes this year, “a registration pool process” for Super Late Models will be implemented with drivers pre-registering for the FloRacing-streamed event but requiring approval to receive an official entry for the event scheduled for Dec. 4-6.
“I’ve had a lot of pressure over the years on the Super Late Model side to make it invitation-only and I’m not ready to do that,” said Sommer adding that 250 Super Late Model drivers were on the waiting list for 2024's event. “Next year we will start a registration pool process. What that means is just because you registered doesn’t mean to get to race. It’s like a pre-register before you register."
“You guys in this room are going to have to trust me that I’m going to pick the right ones, OK? That we have the right (racers) here. It’s not that we want to not include people, but I’m trying to find a balance of what works for the fans and teams, all the above.”
Super Late Model preliminary feature payouts will increase to $10,000-to-win (up from $5,000) with the field split by a "draft process" instead of a random draw. “We’ll have a lot of fun with that and are looking to build it into something special that you guys can all get behind and watch from home,” Sommer said.
The total event purse grows to $340,800 from $229,440, a 52 percent increase that includes $3,000-to-start payouts for the finale (up from $2,000) and $1,000-to-start payouts for the preliminary features (up from $500). The first Super Late Model non-transfer will also receive $2,500 and the 12-car last-chance race will pay $1,000-to-start.
“This puts up there with one of the highest-paying events in all of dirt racing,” said Sommer, who added that “we’ve built this thing and we are making this thing more sustainable" for the racers.
Modifieds will remain on the schedule as invitation-only and continue to pay $10,000-to-win for its finale, but will see an overall purse increase of $18,800 along with additional tow money.
Super Late Model registration is open for the 2025 Gateway Dirt Nationals at www.gatewaydirt.com/slmpool.
