Introduction
Brainerd International Raceway is a multipurpose racing facility, including a three-mile road course, located on a
400-acre site in central Minnesota north of Brainerd, near North Long Lake. BIR was originally known as
Donnybrooke Speedway when it opened in 1963, the name was changed with its sale in 1973. BIR contains an
NHRA-sanctioned drag strip, a go-kart course, and the road course (which utilizes the full length of the drag strip and
shutdown area as part of the main straight). Pro series and televised events are held each year on the dragstrip and the
road course.
Major portions of this page were contributed by Mark Shumaker (Mark.Shumaker@Zenithe.com); click here for
general information on how his pages are set up. He last updated this description on 4 Sep 1996.
Table of Contents
Track Office
Track Map
Getting to Brainerd International Raceway
A Racer's Guide to Brainerd International Raceway
Eating and Sleeping at/around Brainerd International Raceway
Track Office
The track's business office is near Minneapolis, at (612) 475-1500. The
telephone number at the track is (218) 829-9836, and the track shipping
address is:
Brainerd International Raceway
4343 Highway 371 N
Brainerd MN 56401
Track Map
Getting to Brainerd International Raceway
The track is northwest of Brainerd MN on Route 371, 5.3 miles north of Route
120, on the east side of the road.
The entrance is not all that clearly marked; there is a large sign by the main gate but it is quite close to the ground and
some distance from the main road, and not always clearly distinguishable from other nearby signs (there is a large
filling station and convenience store on Route 371 immediately north of the track entrance, where Route 371 bears west;
if you pass this while northbound you've gone too far). Register and enter through the main gate if it is open, then turn
left immediately inside; the paddock is ahead about a quarter mile north. If the main gate is closed, continue north
on Birchdale Road (just outside the track fence) to the first gate open into the track. During test days held before
major events, registration is inside the track.
A Racer's Guide to Brainerd International
Raceway
The Paddock
It is not necessary to cross the track to enter or leave the paddock. The paddock areas extend from the exit of
Turn 9 northwards and then around and east to the grandstands, and are grass over sand with paved access roads
and shaded areas (mostly oak trees, watch out for falling acorns). Tech is in the smaller closed garage building at the
east end of the paddock; the scales are a good distance east along the return road from the pits to the paddock. All parts
of the paddock are quite distant from the working pits, but pit service vehicle parking is usually permitted in the pits.
Racing gasoline (114 AON leaded and 104 AON unleaded) is available from pumps located behind the east end of
the grandstand, a hundred yards or so east of the paddock. Air, water, rest rooms, showers, souvenirs, ice, and
excellent food are available in the paddock; air is also available from the tire concessions, which are usually located
at the northeast corner of the paddock. Goodyear tire service is provided at selected events by Competition Tire West
from the permanent pad and shed (they send a small truck, not the semi; be sure to place tire orders
well in advance); Hoosier and Goodrich tire service are also sometimes available. There are electrical outlets
in the garages at the east end of the paddock. Reasonably-priced covered and enclosed garage space
is available, contact the track business office.
BIR hosts some very large spectator events, and the facilities reflect this. Viewing areas around the entire track are
easily accessible, a vehicle overpass (just after Turn 9) and a pedestrian underpass (just east of the tower) allow access
into the inside of the course.
The Track
The road course is three miles long, has ten turns, and is quite wide around its entire length -- the main straight is 60
feet wide. There is essentially no elevation change. Brainerd is a very high-speed course; CSR cars will reach speeds
near 160 MPH and take the slowest corners around 80 MPH. There are wide runoff areas at most of the corners,
but trees seem frighteningly near the outside of the track at turns 3 and 8, and they appear to approach closer as you
go faster. However, the local safety staff will assure you that cars going off the track there do not actually reach
the trees -- and will repeat that assurance as they cheerfully recount their favorite hair-raising stories about cars which
have actually managed to do so.
The ground off the edge of the track is generally smooth, except for the somewhat rutted runoff areas at the exit of
Turns 2 and 3, curbs on the outsides of the exits of Turns 4 through 8, and ditches and low (2- to 3-foot) banks
six or eight feet off the right-hand edge of the track coming into Turns 4 and 7. The entire track has been recently
repaved and is extremely smooth, except for the straight from Turn 9 into Turn 10 which remains somewhat abrasive.
There are some irregularities at the drag strip's start line and burnout areas, but the track is otherwise remarkably
free of other bumps, frost heaves, holes, and pavement flaws.
What follows is a generic description of the track, describing its features without defining speeds, gears, or shift
points -- all of which will vary widely from car type to car type.
Most of the turns at Brainerd are sufficiently well separated by straight segments that they may be treated as isolated
turns. Only Turns 7 and 8 must be considered as a set of clustered turns (where your line through or out of a turn
must be modified to accomodate the requirements of the next turn or the one after it).
The false grid is immediately behind the grandstand at the east end of the paddock, cars line up heading east for practice
and qualifying sessions and west for races. No particularly tight turns are required to get from the false grid onto the track,
but part of the false grid has a slope and some cars may have difficulty getting moving uphill from a dead stop.
The starter's stand is about halfway down the drag strip and is clearly visible from the last turn. The front straight is
extremely wide and leads into the narrower but very high-speed banked right-hand 60-degree Turn 1 which is
intended be taken flat out by all cars. You can go through Turn 1 pretty much anywhere on the width of the track,
although you will scrub off less speed if you are alone and can take the 'classic' maximum-radius line through
the corner. Following Turn 1 is a straight long enough for you to regain most or all of the speed you scrubbed off
in Turn 1. Turn 2 is a flat (but wider radius than Turn 1) very high-speed right-hand 80-degree sweeper that can be
taken flat out by many cars. The track is widened at the exit of Turn 2 but only for a short distance. There is a long,
generally flat but badly rutted, runoff area at the exit of 2, with a robust tire wall just short of the trees. Following
Turn 2 is another straight, again long enough for you to regain much of the speed you scrubbed off there.
Your car's top speed at Brainerd will be limited by aerodynamics and power, rather than by torque and weight as at
slower tracks. You should be able to attain your top speed before entering Turn 1, and may be able to reach it again
coming into Turn 2 and possibly into Turn 3; maintaining a high speed in this part of the course is crucial to good lap
times. Just be sure not to overstress your engine, you will be spending a lot of time at max revs -- and turning
hard right, so be sure your oil pickup is properly located.
Turn 3 is slow only by comparison with the two previous turns, but many drivers don't brake properly for it (after all,
it's your first chance to use the brakes for over a mile, and they will be well cooled). Turn 3 is a 130-degree
right-hand turn with a curb at the exit, with a following short straight leading into the left-hand Turn 4. Turns 4, 5, and 6 are
a set of esses with progressively longer straight stretches following them, and curbs at the exits of all three. Turn 4 is
about a 100-degree left-hand turn, slightly faster then Turn 3; Turns 5 and 6 are 90-degree right and left turns,
respectively, both a little slower than Turn 4. The turns in the esses are far enough apart that you can easily get back
across the track each time, and you may even recover enough speed that you need to change gears up and down
between them (this more likely coming out of 5 and 6, if you change up and back down between 4 and 5 you may be
geared wrong).
Look for slghtly widened track surfaces at the entrance to all these turns, these may help you -- but watch out for
Turn 6, where using the widened entry will likely cause you to apex too early.
Turn 7 is a higher-speed left-hand 45-degree turn that is followed very closely by Turn 8, you must make a very late
apex in Turn 7 and stay to the left edge of the track at the exit to be set up properly for Turn 8. The track surface
is substantially widened at the entry to Turn 7, and again at the entry to Turn 8. Turn 8 is a 75-degree right-hand turn
with a following short straight leading into the fast 60-degree right-hand Turn 9, under the vehicle access bridge.
Taking too early an apex in Turn 9 can put you into the bridge abutment, and you will be going fast enough here for
that to be most undesirable.
The straight following Turn 9 runs past the drag-strip paddock area down into Turn 10; sound measurements are made
on the outside of the track part way down this straight. (Don't forget that Central Division tracks enforce a sound limit
lower than the SCCA requirement; at Brainerd it's 103 dBA.) Turn 10 is a fast and very wide 120-degree right-hand
turn leading out onto the front straight; there is a little dip on the inside that gives the effect of a slight banking, but it may
be too early for practical use as an apex. You can swing wide coming out of Turn 10 but check this out carefully, since
the track surface appears to fall off camber on the outside half of the pavement (it feels as if it does but doesn't
look like it). Don't overdo the going wide; if you get too far to the left before stabilizing the car in a straight-ahead
attitude you may come unstuck going over the burnout area of the drag strip and hit the end of the guard rail at
driver's left. One you've straightened it out, though, it's just a matter of keeping your foot down and your eye on the
mirror until you come into Turn 3 again. (Oh, and don't forget to shift up occasionally.) Keep an eye out for merging
traffic from the pit exit onto the track, beyond the starter's stand coming into Turn 1.
If there is rain, the burnout and starting line areas are extremely slippery whenever there is a lot of rubber down, and
the painted area between the lanes is also slippery but somewhat less so. Some sort of surface treatment is often used on
the complete length of the drag strip before major drag races; when this treated pavement is first rained upon (the
front straight and first part of Turn 1), the surface becomes as slippery as soaped glass -- rain tires and
driving skill are no help.
The pit entrance is on the left at the beginning of the main straight (the drag race burnout area); just before the starter's
stand it bears left to merge with the pit entrance road from the paddock. At the pit exit you bear right for the track and
left to a U-turn for the paddock; Impound is at the scales along the road back into the paddock.
Eating and Sleeping at/around Brainerd
International Raceway
Camping is permitted at the track, for a modest fee (just remember that this is the north woods, and north woods
mosquitoes are reliably reported to have been the original inspiration for the P-51 Mustang airplane). If you are camping
at the track, TV reception will be limited -- channel 22 in Brainerd is a PBS outlet (a repeater for the PBS station
in Bemidji) and channel 12 in Walker (40 miles north) is a CBS outlet (a repeater for the CBS affiliate in Alexandria).
Other stations which may be usable depending on your antenna are channel 41, an independent station in St. Cloud
(50 miles south), and channel 42, an ABC affiliate in Alexandria (60 miles southwest). Stations in Duluth (95 miles east),
Fargo (110 miles west), and Minneapolis (110 miles southeast) will be at best only marginally viewable. If you carry
DBS equipment with you, much of the paddock has a clear view south.
There are motels close to the track; this list was updated in September 1996 from information in the AAA Tour Book,
race entry forms, various motel chain accomodation guides, regional Chamber of Commerce maps and
accomodation guides, local telephone directories, Internet resources, and personal observation. Prices where shown are
per night in a two-person two-bed room; an 'AAA' indicates that discounts are offered to AAA members; a 'DR' indicates
a dining room on the premises or nearby; a 'CL' indicates a coin-operated laundry on the premises or nearby; a 'P' indicates
that small pets are permitted, sometimes with a small extra charge ('$P'), and 'NP' indicates that pets
are not permitted; a 'WD indicates lower rates on weekdays (Monday through Thursday nights); and a 'DEP' indicates
that a reservation deposit is required.
Motels listed here are along or near Route 210 or 371. Route 371 comes north into Brainerd (where it is known as
6th Street), joins Route 210 and goes west for about two miles (Washington Street) into Baxter, then turns north
again to pass beside the track and into Nisswa. There are shopping malls, auto parts stores, restaurants, fast-food chains,
gas stations, grocery stores, department stores, hardware stores, theatres, and other shopping in Brainerd along
Route 210 and along Route 371 north. Nisswa is primarily a resort town; it is much smaller than Brainerd with
a narrower range of shopping, much of which is tourist-oriented.
This list is essentially in order of increasing distance from the track.
The following motel is about one mile north of the track:
White Gables, 4977 Hwy 371 N - (218) 829-7010
The following motel is about 4 miles south of the track on the east side of Route
371:
Country Inn, Hwy 371 N at Woida Rd. - (218) 828-2161, (800)
456-4000 $70-95 WD AAA CL P
The following motels are along the west side of Route 371 near Nisswa, about
4 miles north of the track:
Interlachen Resort Motel, S 916 Gull Lake Rd. - (218) 963-2425
Boberg Resort & Motel, S 800 Gull Lake Rd. - (218) 963-2351
The following motels are about 4.6 miles south of the track, in Baxter:
Super 8 Motel, Hwy 371 N - (218) 828-4288, (800) 843-1991
AmericInn, Hwy 371 N - (218) 829-3080, (800) 634-3444 $58-63 P
DR
The following motels are one block east of the Route 210/371N intersection, on
the north side of the road, about 5.5 miles south of the track:
Best Western Paul Bunyan, 210 E of 371N - (218) 829-3571, (800)
528-1234 $60-90 DR
Days Inn Brainerd, Hwy 210 E of 371N - (218) 829-0391, (800)
325-2525 DR
The following motel is on Route 210 just west of the Route 210/371N
intersection, on the north side of the road, about 5.7 miles south of the track:
Twin Birch Motel, Hwy 210 W of 371N - (218) 829-2833
The following motel is in Nisswa, on the east side of Route 371 just north of the
intersection with County 77, about 6.5 miles north of the track:
Days Inn Nisswa - (218) 963-3500, (800) 325-2525 $63 WD $P DEP
DR CL
The following motel is on Route 210/371 about 1.5 miles east of the Route
210/371N intersection, on the north side of the road, about 6.75 miles south
and east of the track:
Riverview Motel, 324 Washington - (218) 829-8771
The following motel is in Nisswa, about 7.5 miles north of the track:
Nisswa Motel, N on Route 371 to County 18, right on County 18 to
Merrill Ave (it's not obvious), then left - (218) 963-7611 $50-60 WD
AAA CL DR $P
The following motels are on Route 371 south of Brainerd, about 7.5 to 8 miles
south and east of the track (trailer parking is difficult):
Downtown Motel, 507 S 6th - (218) 829-4789
Dellwood Motel, 1302 S 6th - (218) 829-8756 $41 P DEP
The following motels are on Route 371 south of Brainerd, about 9 to 10 miles
south and east of the track:
Holiday Inn Brainerd, Hwy 371 S - (218) 829-1441, (800) 465-4329
$60-85 P DR CL
EconoLodge, Hwy 371 S - (218) 828-0027, (800) 446-6900 $56 WD
DR
The following motels are in Motley, on Route 210 about 20 miles west of the
Route 210/371N intersection and about 25 miles south and west of the track:
El Ray Motel, US-10 & Route 210 - (218) 352-6326 DR
Motley Motel, US-10 South - (218) 352-6386
There are also many other fishing and water-sports related accomodations in
the Brainerd-Nisswa Lakes area; these tend to be either very basic cabins or
very expensive resorts. More information is available from the Brainerd Lakes
Area Chamber of Commerce, at (218) 829-2838 or (800) 950-1162 (for out
of state calls only).