Racing will not take place this weekend at Gainesville, after NHRA postponed the 51st annual Gatornationals pro divisions. Racing is taking place today in Lucas Oil Sportsman contests, but the Mello Yello Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro StockMotorcycle, Pro Mod, Factory Stock Showdown, Top Fuel Harley, Top Alcohol Dragster and Top Alcohol Funny Car will compete at a later date, yet to be determined. Tickets will be honored at the rescheduled dates or ticket holders may opt to use their tickets as credit toward the 2021 Gatornationals, NHRA said.
NHRA said it will determine the next steps for moving forward as additional information becomes available. Their news came shortly after IMSA announced the postponement of its event next week at Sebring, as stated below. It is not yet known whether the Indy car contest at St Petersburg will be held.
When the United States denied entry to flights from Europe, the World Endurance Championship was forced to cancel its scheduled 1,000-mile race at Sebring International Raceway. Shortly afterwards, IMSA made the tough decision to forego its same-weekend 68th Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, instead of postponing the event to November 11-14, 2020.
IMSA’s statement said it had made this decision “due to the recent United States ban on travel from Europe, which will prevent a number of drivers, teams and key personnel from participation.
“The rescheduled race,” IMSA said, “will now become the season-ending event of the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and will be run Nov 11-14 at Sebring International Raceway. The weekend will also feature the rescheduled IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge – Alan Jay Automotive Network 120 and the IMSA Prototype Challenge season-ending races.
“The annual WeatherTech Night of Champions awards banquet will take place on November 15th at the Seven Sebring Raceway Hotel,” located on the circuit’s grounds. “In addition,” IMSA added, “the season-ending Championship Awards for both IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge and IMSA Prototype Challenge will be held in conjunction with the Sebring race event weekend.
“Previously purchased 2020 admission tickets and parking will be honored the above rescheduled Sebring International Raceway event.”
Anne Proffit traces her love of racing - in particular drag racing - to her childhood days in Philadelphia, where Atco Dragway, Englishtown and Maple Grove Raceway were destinations just made for her. As a diversion, she was the first editor of IMSA’s Arrow newsletter, and now writes about and photographs sports cars, Indy cars, Formula 1, MotoGP, NASCAR, Formula Drift, Red Bull Global Rallycross - in addition to her first love of NHRA drag racing. A specialty is a particular admiration for the people that build and tune drag racing engines.
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