Fall Brawl Banks Big Money at Gainesville Raceway
Over the weekend, Gainesville Raceway hosted one of its last events of its fall season. The 2025 Fall Brawl featured three days of racing and a grand prize of $50,000.
The event was hosted by RT Promotions, which is also known as Reaction Time Promotions. The company organizes drag racing events throughout Florida, including Fall Brawl and New Year Nationals, which is held in Melbourne, Florida.
Max Orsini, the marketing and media manager at Gainesville Raceway, began working on the event’s promotion months ahead of time. He said large events like this one require planning three to six months in advance.
“Saturday was $50,000 to the person who won,” Orsini said. “Which is much larger than the typical when we host our track bracket races.”
To accommodate the larger winnings, the Fall Brawl had a higher registration fee. Orsini said Gainesville Raceway’s average fee is between $50 and $60. However, Fall Brawl had a fee of more than $700.
These events are referred to as high-stakes races because of the higher earning potential. Matt Dadas won the Friday 25K, earning $25,000. The No-Box winner, Gage Burch, took home $1,500. Burch also finished second to Nick Folk in Sunday’s main event, winning another $5,000.
The weekend’s biggest winner was Lucas Walker, who won the Saturday No-Box race and 50K. He walked away with $53,000 between these two races.
“It makes Gainesville Raceway stand out as Florida’s home for drivers, as we call it the premier,” Orsini said.
Florida is home to several NHRA-approved tracks, including Gainesville, Bradenton Motorsports Park, Emerald Coast Dragway and Lakeland Dragstrip. Orsini said hosting high-stakes events like Fall Brawl brings more attention to the Gainesville area.
While the Gatornationals remains the largest event hosted at the raceway every year, thousands of fans also attend these high-stakes races. Bringing in organizations like RT Promotions gives Gainesville Raceway the ability to be Florida’s highest-earning NHRA track.
The promotions group receives different sponsors and requires higher entry fees to offer high earnings like the $25,000 and $50,000 rewards at Fall Brawl.
Gainesville Raceway’s final event of the fall season is the Laris Motorsport Insurance Mini Millions. The event runs Wednesday-Sunday and features a $40,000 prize on each of the four days of competition.
Category: Auto Racing, Motor Sports, NHRA
