Gainesville Raceway Hosts Annual Fall Brawl
Fall Brawl is the penultimate competitive event at Gainesville Raceway for the 2025 season. Gainesville Raceway has hosted the event since 2004, with this year’s grand prize of $50,000.
Teams have been registering since Sept. 1, and they will have the opportunity to race on Thursday-Sunday. The tournament is divided into five categories, including: No Box, Door Cars, Dragster, Double Door Cars and Double Dragster.
The No Box category is the first on the racing order. To qualify as a no-box drag car, it must not include a delay box. This piece of technology gives drivers an automatic start at the race rather than relying on drivers’ reaction times. The grand prize for these teams is $3,000 during Saturday’s competition.
Next in the racing order, door cars, or doorslammers, will hit the tarmac. These drag cars feature functional doors on either side of the vehicle, similar to an everyday car. A doorslammer is considered to be one of the fastest kinds of drag racing cars and they typically reach speeds up to 200 mph.
After the doorslammers race, the dragster racers will compete for prize money. Unlike a door car, dragsters do not have traditional doors. These models have an open cockpit, which allows the driver to enter and exit through the top of the vehicle rather than the side. They can reach top speeds more than 300 mph.
Double door cars feature the functional door component like door cars. These may also be referred to as coupes, which are standard two-door racing cars. A double door car is built with a production-based body, meaning the car’s design is similar to a traditional stock vehicle.
The final category over the weekend is the double dragster. A car in this category will have two engines leading to a single transmission. These cars were designed to increase horsepower in the vehicles but have become less common since their popularity in the 1960s.
Competitions will take place Friday through Sunday with prize money being awarded each day. The largest purse is Saturday, when the winner will earn $50,000. First place Friday and Sunday will be awarded $25,000.
Thursday is a noncompetition day where drivers have the chance to test and tune their cars, along with an optional 5k warmup. Fall Brawl gates open every day at 8 a.m., and festivities begin with Round One at 9:30 a.m. The raceway is located at 11211 North County Road 225.
Category: Auto Racing, Gatornationals, Motor Sports
