A Big Bucket of cold water for East coast fans (1 Viewer)

[john]

Good luck in CT. Gene Argeness spent a few million to get everything approved for a track in Plainfield, a town dying since the dog track went belly up. Got zoning approval, was going to kick a ton of money to the local school every year etc. The "save our town" comitte killed it. Now the jobless in the area are still jobless and the town can't even rent the lot to a flea market, they are going broke.

 

[HEMI6point1]

I posted my opinion about this in other places and someone said this, pretty interesting if indeed that was the case:

"I see what happened here: Real estate developers bought up a bunch of property near the racetrack, and likely paid next to nothing for it due to the inevitable noise. Then they built big nice-looking but not necessarily well-built houses on this property, which they then sold to morons at a ridiculously inflated price. Said morons now realize they've been had, but the real estate developers are long gone, so they're bitching and moaning to everyone else.
I'm sure they won't get far."

 

[HEMI6point1]

By the wayt this is what I said:

Rich snobs in NJ want to destroy historic landmark.

Just so you know, RS = Rich Snob.

People who know me know that I am a big racing fan, and when my family lived in NY one tradition stood year after year.... the Summernationals at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, NJ. AKA E-town.

Let's get one thing out of the way. The track has been there since 1965. The track puts on great shows many times a year. And when the NHRA Summernationals rolls in every june, it produces around $30 million for the local economy.

Yet, the locals (the rich snobs) in Englishtown want to put an end to all that over what? Because they say it produces noise pollution!

First off, a little back story here. E-town, not even 10 years ago was a fairly dinky little town that was only worth venturing into for the festivities at Raceway Park. When the real estate craze started happening developers saw the property around the track as a prime spot for housing. Not condos or shacks, but HUGE luxury houses costing upwards of a million dollars. I have seen these houses as my dad and I headed towards the track when we went, and while beautiful, they have SH!T for property. Why buy a house if you can reach into your neighbor's bathroom and grab his toothpaste? But anyway, I degress....

Here's where the issue is. The main target for these houses were Rich Snobs (you know, the people that buy million dollar houses and $80K cars but bitch that the price of something in the grocery store is too high!). Real estate agents would show an RS one of these houses and leave out one important fact: that there is a MAJOR drag strip just a little bit away. Real estate agents would leave out this important piece of info because they knew if they told an RS that little bit of info, the RS would probably turn down the sale and go someone else, therefore resulting in the agent losing a nice amount of commission.

This backfired and soon of bunch of RS's moved in and guess what? Bitched about the noise! They claimed that "they moved to Englishtown to have some piece and quiet, not to hear a bunch of race cars." Now real estate agents are REQUIRED to tell any potential buyer that Raceway Park exists within 15-miles of their house, if they don't like it they don't need to move there.

What the RS's need to realize is:

1. THE TRACK WAS THERE FIRST, NOT YOUR SNOBBISH @$$!
Don't like it? Get the f**k out.

2. You moved to E-town because you wanted piece and quiet? What the hell is E-town famous for?! THE TRACK! When you move to an area you're supposed to investigate the neighborhood before deciding to buy a house there. Which proves that RS's may have a lot of money but very little brainpower.

3. Other than Top Fuel Dragsters and Funny Cars, very few drag race cars are actually that noisy. Sure they're loud, but not THAT loud.

4. I can ASSURE you that if E-town was a NASCRAP track, nothing would be said as those speedways are used far less. Not to mention that we all know that RS's just love "round-and-round-we-go" racing. Unlike people like me* who actually like REAL horsepower!

There ends my vent. Let me tell you I am very pissed about this.

*And of this board.

 

[mike]

Well if it happens it will suck!

Back in Australia, the track I went to growing up Ravenswood, in Western Australia, which lasted 30 years, had the problem of property developers building homes for the retired right near it, like what the.... So the track got the boot, we now have a state of the art complex, but still I miss the old track, and the air down there, as a lot of racers use to say 'rare air' right near the ocean! Track wasn't the greatest, but when prepped it was fast!

I hope Etown stays around!

People and their stupid ideas for building property near a noisy area, no brains, just fat pockets... F off!

 

[Pete]

Here we go again!

Our local track up here took a couple of smart initiatives a few years back, when developers started moving closer.
First off, any open property around the track they bought...I think its almost
300+acres now.
Second, any new homebuyer in town has to sign a waiver that states they are aware of the noise caused by the track and hold no one liable.

The track, on its own, phased in mufflers for their regualr points series, as a courtesy to the neighbors and also build monster sound burms along the side of the track affected.

Also, the local towns have mandated 2 acre lots for all new construction.

The track is HUGE with the DARE program in the local communities.

Some dummy developer built 12 or so townhouse right down the street, over a hill, literally 1/4 mile away...he went bonkers when they wouldn't sell....the donkey said he didn't know the track was there.


How about all of the local racers and any racers for that matter pool up some money. I know we have racers that are attorneys....and we all file a class action suit against the 'bitchers' I'm sure there some protection law out there for us!!!!!!! Theres a law for everything else! Maybe if they got that shoved in their face something might change.


Do they also bitch November-February or are they too busy stocking up on coal and putting that quarter back in their pocket at the Salvation Army kettle.

 

[jpee]

I race at RP all year.. every year since 1980... & IF I owned it, I'd call a meeting with all the neighbors who had complaints about the track...
I'd tell em "Yep Your Right, We're gona close the race track", and open an Amusement Park... and not only that , but Every Fri. we will have FREE ADMITTANCE to the underprivileged kids from Newark, NY City, and any other underprivileged kids who would like to attend our amusment park!...

Please keep your cars in your garage .. as we will not be doing background checks on these kids...

On the First Wed of the Month we will also invite Child Molesters who have been Rehabilitated...... We know you all were against the race track, but we also hope you will be more forgiving to these kids we are trying to give a better life to...

OH we also plan on building "AFFORDABLE" housing in a corner of our property.. it would be nice to remove those drug dealers from those bad neighborhoods, and hopefully "US" NJ folks can teach them to be upstanding citizens.... Thank God we won't have those terrible Drag Racers here 3 times a week!!

 

[Kelly Andersen]

The Napps are between a rock and a hard place. They not only have to worry about the neighbors shutting them down, but NASCAR would love to have a race track in the NY metropolitan area. And if they get one, there is a likelihood of a drag strip going in with it, not only because of the money from the national event and the other big events that are currently at E-town, but also for the cash cow that the weekly races would be. Of course, given the rise in real estate prices in the northeast, they might be smart to hold out as long as possible. For a while, the price of land was rising faster than alternative investments such as the stock market.

Nascar gave up on NY last year. Saw on one of the shows they said they threw in the towel on NY because land cost and enviromental stuff.

 

[Husky]

What, no NIGHTLY FIREWORKS? Keep all those buses running while parked so the plants can get lots of CO.

I race at RP all year.. every year since 1980... & IF I owned it, I'd call a meeting with all the neighbors who had complaints about the track...
I'd tell em "Yep Your Right, We're gona close the race track", and open an Amusement Park... and not only that , but Every Fri. we will have FREE ADMITTANCE to the underprivileged kids from Newark, NY City, and any other underprivileged kids who would like to attend our amusment park!...

Please keep your cars in your garage .. as we will not be doing background checks on these kids...

On the First Wed of the Month we will also invite Child Molesters who have been Rehabilitated...... We know you all were against the race track, but we also hope you will be more forgiving to these kids we are trying to give a better life to...

OH we also plan on building "AFFORDABLE" housing in a corner of our property.. it would be nice to remove those drug dealers from those bad neighborhoods, and hopefully "US" NJ folks can teach them to be upstanding citizens.... Thank God we won't have those terrible Drag Racers here 3 times a week!!

 

[Ken]

Welcome to NJ - Home of the overtaxed, land of the corrupt politician.

Can't wait for the illegal street racing to begin.

 

[Nitro Kev]

Its a Rumor that occurs every april. I believe this time it was started by an ex employee. DO the math The amount of acres the track sits on divided by 200 million isnt even close to the true value of the land. I wouldnt sweat it. That Family loves racing and are constantly putting money back into the track.

 

[none]

OK stop me if you heard this one.... It's April and Raceway Park is closing!!!! The Napp family has put millions of dollars into the place in the last five years but they have to sell....

This rumor should start on time next year. APRIL 1....


My two cents