To Get Your Gatornational Tickets “Use The Link Below”
https://gainesvilleraceway.com/
Glen Williams:
Hey, everyone. Do you want to see cars go over 300 miles an hour? Well, today I’m here at the Gainesville Raceway, and I’m with my good friend, Mike Yurick, track manager of the Gainesville Raceway. And we wanted to talk to you today about the Baby Gators coming up and the Gator Nationals coming up here in March. Mike, thanks so much for meeting with me. I really appreciate it.
Mike Yurick:
No problem.
Glen Williams:
I wanted to see if you could tell everybody all the great things that are coming up this year for the Gator Nationals and the Baby Gators.
Mike Yurick:
Yeah, the Baby Gators are the 4th through the 7th of March. There’ll be over 600 race cars starting with the Alcohol Funny Cars, Alcohol Dragsters, and all the way down through Stock/SuperStock. Just lots of racing or days of it, and it’s nonstop. Like I say, it’s the 4th through the 7th of March.
Then we got the Gatornationals, we roll right into that the following week. Gatornationals are the 11th through the 14th. There you’ve got Top Fuel, Funny Car, ProStock, ProStock Motorcycle, Top Fuel Harley motorcycles. All the stars of the sports will be here. John Forrest is back. He took a part of the year off last year due to the pandemic, but he’s coming back. You got Tony Schumacher back in the car again. There’s going to be a lot of great racing that weekend. This is the first event of the year so everybody’s anxious. They haven’t run since last November in Las Vegas, so everybody’s chomping at the bit to kick on. Glen Williams:
And this is the 70th anniversary for NHRA this year also, right?
Mike Yurick:
Yes, it is. Yeah, 70th anniversary. We’re celebrating all through the year. There’ll be a lot of the legends here. Of course, Garlits is always here being as he’s based in Florida. He’s he’s at every Gatornationals. Shirley Muldowney, Don Prudhomme, some of the other legends will be here just to meet and greet with the people in the crowd. It’ll be a fun weekend with a lot of things happening.
Glen Williams:
That’s great. I have a piston from Shirley’s car back in the early eighties when she actually won the Gatornationals. They blew their engine I think in the semi-finals. And then she had to get her car fixed up, get the engine all redone, and she came back and raced Don Garlits and beat him in the finals. So, I’m going to bring that piston out here for her to sign because two years ago I got Don Garlits’ signature on that piston. I want to get Shirley’s signature on that. But pretty cool little thing I have, so hopefully I can meet up with her.
Mike Yurick:
Yeah. That’s pretty cool. That’s the one thing about drag racing versus other motor sports. You buy a ticket, you buy a seat, reserved seat or general mission, it includes a pit pass. You can walk and stand behind the cars when they’re firing them up, when they’re working on them. You can watch them tear them down and put them back together in 45 minutes for the next round. It’s a lot of action, a lot of excitement.
Glen Williams:
That’s awesome. Mike. I can’t wait to come out and see the races for the Gatornationals. It’s just one of the funnest things to do here in Gainesville, especially if you’d like to see cars go that fast. Can you tell everybody how you got involved in drag racing, NHRA, and managing the Gainesville Raceway?
Mike Yurick:
I’ve been involved in motor sports most of my life. My brother-in-law raced stock cars so I used to go with him when I was 16, 17 years old. And then I went to a drag race and I really enjoyed it. I worked at my first drag strip in 1962, and I’ve been managing drag strips around the country as well as NASCAR tracks since 1987. I’ve been here at Gainesville now, this is my working on my eighth year at Gainesville as the General Manager.
Glen Williams:
What is the top speed? Where are they at right now? Because I know I was here when, was it Kenny Bernstein or Joe Amato that got the 300 mile an hour?
Mike Yurick:
Yeah, Kenny Bernstein went 300 first here.
Glen Williams:
Okay.
Mike Yurick:
Now they’re running 340s, 350s pretty consistently. And they turn in the quarter mile in mid-three seconds from one end of the quarter mile to the other. It’s quite a feat. The G-force’s involved in one of those cars leaving the starting line are in excess of what happens when you are in a rocket that’s being shot off down at Cape Canaveral.
Glen Williams:
So, where can people get their tickets at for Baby Gators and for Gatornationals coming up?
Mike Yurick:
All the ticketing is handled through NHRA in California, so you can either call the 1-800 number, which is 800-884-6472, or go online to NHRA.com/tickets. Look for the Gatornationals event, and you can pick your tickets out online.
Glen Williams:
Awesome. Well, I really appreciate you meeting with me, Mike. Can’t wait for it to come up. I know when it comes around every year, everybody’s excited about coming out here. So, thanks again for meeting up with me. Everybody, I hope you can make it out to the Baby Gators, Gatornationals. It’s going to be a great two weekends of events. It’s going to be a lot of fun.
Remember, if you’re thinking of buying a home or selling a home here in Gainesville or the St. Augustine areas, I’d love to help you. You can call or text me, or you can go to my website at homesbyglen.com. Everyone, I hope you guys have a great day, and we’ll see you out here at the track.