Gainesville Raceway saw the season opener of the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Gatornationals. Held from March 6 to 9, it included cars that reached speeds of over 330 miles per hour racing during three days of competition.
Friday started like any national event qualifying day, with various classes competing until the all powerful nitro cars emerged. Nitro qualifying was interrupted when the rear of driver Austin Prock’s Funny Car was destroyed at the end of his first pass. This delay, along with some others, led to unscheduled night runs.
Cold air brings more power, and so when Friday night’s temperatures fell below 60 degrees, the cars were ready for speed. Nitro Funny Car saw Jack Beckman go to the top with a time of 3.832 at a speed of 334 mph.
“We see maybe five runs a year with conditions like this,” said Beckman. “The Gainesville racetrack is very different than everything out there.”
While Friday’s delays were purely man-made errors, Saturday saw rain throughout the day leading to almost no on-track action.
With more weather predicted on Sunday, racing was moved up over two hours to accommodate a 9:30 start.
When racing resumed around 2 p.m., the cars seemed more alive than ever with the first pair seeing both cars run over 300 mph.
The final rounds were for the ages as Pro-Stock motorcycle rivals Matt Smith and reigning champ Gaige Herrera finished 0.001 of a second apart.
In the Pro Stock Car division, teammates and 2024 championship rivals once again butted heads as Greg Anderson was beaten by Dallas Glenn.
Nitro Funny Car saw multi time champ Ron Capps and Chad Green with only one win to his name face off. Capps car shut off early leading Green to a second career victory.
Finally in Top Fuel, last years winner Shawn Langdon faced off against the reigning 4 time champ and #1 qualifier Antron Brown. Langdon’s 3.684 at 332 was not enough to beat brown’s low elapsed time of the event at 3.673 at nearly 334 miles per hour.
The NHRA will head to Phoenix on March 21 and will return to Gainesville next March.
