Emerson Indy 250

The Emerson Indy 250 is a former American Open Wheel Racing event held at Gateway International Speedway from 1997 to 2003. It was a part of the CART series from 1997 to 2000, and part of the IRL from 2001-2003.

The first running was a CART series race held on Saturday May 24, 1997, the day before the rival Indy Racing League's Indianapolis 500. Rather than scheduling a race directly opposite the Indy 500 (as they had done in 1996 with the U.S. 500), CART scheduled Gateway the day before to serve as their Memorial Day weekend open-wheel alternative without direct conflict. In a couple instances, a handful of drivers actually competed in both events in the same weekend. After a couple years, track management grew increasingly dissatisfied with its apparent use, as seen by some, as a political pawn or statement by CART. This event had poor attendance as fans generally chose to travel to the Indy 500 for the weekend instead. For 2000, the race was moved to the fall.

In 2001, its was dropped from the CART series schedule, and switched alliances to the Indy Racing League. The event suffered from continually declining attendance. The event was dropped altogether after 2003. Rumors have surfaced about a possible return to the now-unified IndyCar schedule, but no official announcements have been made.