![]() ![]() “We’ve got 500 race cars here.”įor more information on Gatornationals, please visit Brown leads Top Fuel field in New England. ![]() “People see NASCAR and think ‘Wow there’s 43 cars on this track, that’s a lot of cars,’” he said. It is fan friendly, and you can get up close and personal. T-shirt signings and one-one-one conversations with drivers are common. ![]() The teams work in open-air maintenance pits, where fans are allowed to get close enough to see what size wrench they’re using on the motor, according to Robertson. If racers make the cut, they can compete in the competition’s grand finale on Sunday.īetween races, teams fine-tune their cars in a designated 50-acre section of the Gainesville Raceway’s parking lot. Sportsman drag racers participate in time trials and qualifying sessions for the four classes of professional racers, varying from Top Fuel to Funny Car. Drivers compete in elimination rounds over the course of the event. Gatornationals is usually the second or third race of the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series. “All things being equal, typically it is the largest four-day drag race in the world.” “This is a thing unto itself,” Robertson said. Since then, the race has remained the largest of any of Gainesville Raceway’s near-weekly events and is recognized on a global level. Gatornationals was hosted for the first time at the Gainesville Raceway in 1970, one year after the raceway’s opening. Infotech® Named 2022 Top 15 Best Company in Florida “On race days you can’t see where the grandstands end because people are standing up against the walls.” “It’s the single largest sporting event in North Central Florida,” he said. ![]() Robertson agrees that Gatornationals is significant in many ways. And when a team wins, they want to go out and celebrate and drink, eat and be merry.” It creates a good buzz in the restaurant when customers see them. Gatornationals is special because you have all the different teams going out to restaurants in all their advertisement shirts and hats. Gainesville’s restaurants and hotels love when big events come here to visit, Bosko said, “It doesn’t matter if the event brings in 10,000, 50,000 or even 80,000 people. Beef O’Brady’s owner, Bill Bosko, says restaurants see the boost in business as well. It’s not just hotels that feel the boost in business. Gatornationals is the biggest special event for the region.” “Graduation and football games come close,” he said, comparing the race weekend to other popular tourism weekends, “but they only last two days. “When you’re going through tough times and your revenues are down,” Grommell said, “any bump in business helps.”Īnds he says Gatornationals makes a difference. This increase, combined with a decrease in tourism due to the recession, makes weekends with special events like Gatornationals necessary to a business’s survival. During the last five years, the number of hotel rooms in Gainesville has increased by more than 600, almost 30 percent. The swell in revenue is important for fueling hotels financially for the rest of the year. The combined result of fans and teams is a turbo-charged influx of tourism dollars to Greater Gainesville. “Professional race teams,” Robertson said, “are here up to a week before the event, and a week after. Uniforms must be cleaned, can have to be fueled and team members need a place to stay. Larger professional teams can include up to 40 people. The teams travel between races all year long, relying on the raceways’ communities to act as their temporary homes. More than 500 racing teams compete at Gatornationals, Robertson said. The fans aren’t the only ones who contribute to the economic boom. “People plan their vacation around going to Florida and Gatornationals.” “They come from Japan, they come from Scandinavia, they come from the Netherlands, ” Robertson said. “The whole area always feels an impact from the Gatornationals,” said Ron Gromoll, the general manager of the Best Western Gateway Grand in Gainesville.ĭrag racing enthusiasts travel from across the globe to get a chance to see their favorite National Hot Rod Association drag racing teams compete at the event, which is just one of the 23 total races in the NHRA Full Throttle Drag Racing Series – and to spend some quality time in the Florida climate after the competition ends. Not only will these fans be spending money on race tickets, but, they’ll be paying to sleep in Gainesville hotels, eat at local restaurants and fill up their cars at nearby gas stations. Don Robertson, the facility’s executive general manager, expects Gainesville Raceway’s 250 acres of parking to be filled with fans’ and competitors’ vehicles alike, with more people being shuttled in by bus. ![]()
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