After a last-minute move from Bradenton Motorsports Park to Gainesville Raceway, FL2K22 presented by Brian Crower is ready to host the biggest and baddest street cars for a weekend of roll racing, drag racing and more, Oct. 6-9. With bragging rights and $125,000 in cash payouts on the line, it’s one of the most anticipated events in the street car scene.
Victor Alvarez launched the first FL2K in 2013 as a destination event for high-performance street cars. The event has exploded since then, attracting fans, racers, and sponsors to Bradenton Motorsports Park, with many more people watching online from around the world. Alvarez increased his commitment to the event and the track in general when he purchased Bradenton Motorsports Park in 2018.
Alvarez and his team have worked on several projects to improve the facility, including repaving the racing surface and adding new grandstands. FL2K was going to be the first major event on the new surface, but Hurricane Ian had other plans. BMP announced on Oct. 1 that the event will now be held at Gainesville Raceway, three hours north of Bradenton in Gainesville, Florida.
“For a short time there, I was not sure if we were going to have to cancel the event or not,” Alvarez said. “Aside from damage caused from the storm at BMP, the area surrounding us has been severely affected. Thankfully I am surrounded by great people and we sat down to brainstorm and decided to look into other options.”
Alvarez found an ideal substitute in Gainesville Raceway. The NHRA-sanctioned track has hosted the prestigious NHRA Gatornationals every year since 1970. With spacious pit areas, ample grandstands, a state-of-the-art race control tower, and one of the quickest and fastest racing surfaces on the NHRA tour, it’s become a favorite track for racers and fans for a reason.
“Never in my wildest dreams did I think the day would come that we would have to host this event at another track,” Alvarez said, “but when faced with the decision to cancel or move the event the choice became more and more clear to me. We are very lucky to have a great facility like Gainesville Raceway close enough to make this possible and they accepted us with open arms and for that we are extremely grateful.”
Other than the venue, Alvarez says nothing for the event will change. The BMP and FL2K teams, including track prep and tech staff, will make the trip to Gainesville. All pre-purchased tech cards and credentials will be honored. The original event schedule remains the same, as well as the original payouts.
“My whole approach to this entire business is, ‘what would the racers want?’” Alvarez said. “I just put myself in the racers’ shoes, which isn’t difficult since I do some racing myself and I love racing and I grew up in the sport. I know this is not ideal for everyone, but I also hope everyone understands the magnitude of this event and this move. We are making a huge sacrifice to make this happen and need the racing community’s support now more than ever. We are going to be working nonstop moving equipment, getting our staff to Gainesville, and making this happen to deliver the event racers and fans are used to and the event they deserve.”
The roll racing portion of the event will feature Outlaw, Modified, and Sport. Drag racing classes include Street Car Shootout, XFWD, Extreme 28s, Outlaw Stick, Sport Stick, NT Shootout, DCT Extreme, DCT Street, A90/B58 Shootout, 9.50 Index, and 10.50 Index.
FL2K22 will start Wednesday with open pro testing from 5-11 p.m. Roll racing kicks off Thursday with qualifying from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. followed by eliminations at 5 p.m. Qualifying begins Friday with sessions scheduled for 10 a.m., 2 p.m., and 6 p.m. Two more qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Eliminations will begin Sunday at 10 a.m.
Stay tuned to www.RaceBMP.com, www.FL2K.com, and the Bradenton Motorsports Park and FL2K Facebook pages for results and news from FL2K22 presented by Brian Crower, Oct. 6-9, at Gainesville Raceway. Tune in to the official event livestream at FloRacing.com.
This story was originally published on October 4, 2022. 
