Brainerd International Raceway is a road course, and dragstrip racing complex northwest of the city of Brainerd, Minnesota. The complex has a dragstrip, and overlapping and road courses. The complex also includes a kart track. The raceway hosts the National Hot Rod Association's Lucas Oil Nationals. It is a popular racetrack for the Trans Am Series. The spectator seating capacity of the circuit is 20,000.

History The track opened in July 1968 by George Montgomery and Bud Stahel, after clearing a wooded area on the south side of North Long Lake. It was originally named Donnybrooke Speedway, after road racers Donny Skogmo and Brooke Kinnard who had fatal crashes at Road America two years earlier. The venue had no safety barriers, run-out areas, grandstands or even restrooms. It was SCCA's first venue in the region.Burgess, Phil, National Dragster editor. "Brainerd: Celebrating 50 years of racing", written 24 August 2018, at NHRA.com (retrieved 13 October 2018) It was also an NHRA-sanctioned track, with the first official event there an NHRA race, at the opening; Top Fuel Dragster was won by Doc Halladay. With the help of St Paul sports promoter Dennis Scanlan, it hosted a 2-heat USAC Indy Car race in 1969. The heats were won by Gordon Johncock and Dan Gurney.

Donnybrooke, played host to CanAm races in 1970, 1971, and 1972. These races were won by, respectively, Denny Hulme, Peter Revson, and François Cevert. In 1973 Jerry Hansen bought the track and renamed it Brainerd International Raceway.

In the 1970s, the Donnybrooke track began holding Funny Car events, in particular the Crown Auto Funny Car Championships, and in time, NHRA was convinced to stage a national event at Brainerd: in 1982, Shirley Muldowney (in Top Fuel Dragster), Frank Hawley (Top Fuel Funny Car), and Lee Shepherd (Pro Stock) were the headline winners at the first Quaker State North Star NHRA Nationals.

John Force has won at Brainerd 11 times in 15 final round appearances (1988, 1990, 1991, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2002 and 2007)

In Pro Stock, Bob Glidden won at Brainerd in 1983, 1985, 1986, and 1992.

The Brainerd strip became known as "one of the quickest and fastest in the world". It was completely resurfaced in 2003. In 2005, Tony Schumacher turned in a speed of , "the fastest quarter-mile time ever", and in 2016 and 2017, national NHRA records in Funny Car were set there.

Kenny Bernstein won at Brainerd five times, 1983 and 1987 (in Funny Car) and in 1991, 1996, and 2002 (in Top Fuel Dragster).

In the summer of 2006, Jed and Kristi Copham of Forest Lake, Minnesota, became the new owners of Brainerd International Raceway.

The track hosted two NASCAR K&N Pro Series West events between 2012 and 2013. The track also hosted one NASCAR Midwest Series race in 2004.

Brainerd International Raceway was damaged during a severe thunderstorm that struck portions of Minnesota on July 12, 2015.

Track Information Brainerd International Raceway consists of 2 road tracks and 1 drag strip.

Donnybrooke Road Course Brainerd International Raceway maintains the original name of the now 50-year-old course. The course is used for automotive and motorcycle racing.

The Donnybrooke Road Course has 10 turns and is considered wide – the main straight is wide. There is essentially no elevation change. BIR is a high-speed course; vehicles can reach speeds of nearly and take the slowest corners around . There are wide runoff areas at most of the corners, which makes BIR's road course extremely safe. This configuration uses the dragstrip as part of the course.

Competition Road Course The 2009 racing season was the first for the course which was completed in the 2008 summer.

Turn 1 on the Competition Road Course is the same as Turn 1 on the three-mile road course. Turn 1 is a narrow but very high-speed banked right-hand 60-degree turn, which is intended be taken flat out by all vehicles. Turns 1 through 8 of the original road course are used for the new circuit. At Turn 8, a 240-degree right-hand Clover Leaf transitions drivers from the old course to the new stretch of asphalt that winds its way back across the infield, eventually tying back into the original circuit just before Turn 1, avoiding the dragstrip. In all, the Competition Road Course features 13 turns and very little elevation change.

Dragstrip The dragstrip dates back to 1969, when Donnybrooke converted the mile-long straightaway on its road course to a drag strip and hosted an NHRA Divisional Points Race. In 1977, BIR hosted the Crown Auto Funny Car Championships and the Crown Auto Winston Points Championship. It was reconstructed in 2005, adding a concrete launch pad and new asphalt for the remaining was installed. Tony Schumacher, set the world record for top fuel dragsters with a run in 2005. This speed and time are recorded at the end of a standing start quarter mile acceleration race, before the NHRA shortened top fuel and funny car races to the current since 2008.

Brittany Force holds the overall top fuel record at this site at in August 2025.

Lap records

As of June 2024, the fastest official race lap records at the Brainerd International Raceway for different classes are listed as:

+CategoryTimeDriverVehicleEvent Brainerd International Raceway Competition Road Course (2008–present): Formula Regional 1:23.109 Joshua Car Ligier JS F3 2021 Brainerd FR Americas round TA1 1:27.348 Ernie Francis Jr. Ford Mustang Trans-Am 2021 Brainerd Trans-Am round Superbike 1:29.922 Jake Gagne Yamaha YZF-R1 2021 Brainerd MotoAmerica round TA2 1:31.494 Raphael Matos Ford Mustang Trans-Am 2021 Brainerd Trans-Am round Formula 4 1:31.585 Jason Alder Crawford F4-16 2021 Brainerd F4 United States round Stock 1000 1:31.831 Hayden Gillim Honda CBR1000RR 2024 Brainerd MotoAmerica round Supersport 1:32.787 Sean Dylan Kelly Suzuki GSX-R600 2021 Brainerd MotoAmerica round Twins Cup 1:35.505 Alessandro Di Mario Aprilia RS 660 2024 Brainerd MotoAmerica round Supersport 300 1:42.236 Gus Rodio Kawasaki Ninja 400R 2021 Brainerd MotoAmerica round Mazda MX-5 Cup 1:46.334 Jason Saini Mazda MX-5 (NC) 2011 Brainerd Mazda MX-5 Cup round Brainerd International Raceway Donnybrooke Road Course (1968–present): Can-Am 1:27.090 Michael Roe VDS-002 1984 Pepsi Grand Prix Group 7 1:27.860 Denny Hulme McLaren M8F 1971 Minneapolis Tribune IMSA GTP 1:31.560 John Paul, Jr. Porsche 935 JLP-3 1982 Pepsi Grand Prix IMSA GTO 1:33.130 Gianpiero Moretti Porsche 935/79 1979 Pepsi Grand Prix IMSA GTX 1:34.170 John Paul, Jr. Lola T600 1981 Pepsi Grand Prix TO 1:36.086 Scott Pruett Mercury Capri 1986 Brainerd Trans-Am round Superbike 1:36.247 Jake Zemke Honda CBR1000RR 2004 Brainerd AMA Superbike round Supersport 1:38.083 Miguel Duhamel Honda CBR600RR 2004 Brainerd AMA Supersport round World SBK 1:40.870 Doug Polen Ducati 888 SBK 1991 Brainerd World SBK round IMSA GTU 1:43.510 Walt Bohren Mazda RX-7 1980 Pepsi Grand Prix TU 1:52.000 Horst Kwech Alfa Romeo GTV 1972 Brainerd Trans-Am round

Drag strip records

CategoryE.T.SpeedDriverEventRefTop Fuel 3.640 Leah Pruett 2017 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Brittany Force 2025 Lucas Oil NHRA NationalsFunny Car 3.793 Robert Hight 2017 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Robert Hight 2017 Lucas Oil NHRA NationalsPro Stock 6.541 Erica Enders 2015 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals Shane Gray 2015 Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals

Notes

References

External links birmn.com Official Website Circuit Photos Aerial Photos Trackpedia guide to Brainerd including videos with telemetry and track notes