Raceway Park to Cease Drag Racing Operations in 2018

[Bullard Anderson]

I hate to hear this brothers for all you Englishtown loyalists. I understand this feeling with the loss of both circle track and dragstrip major events at Rockingham.

 

[Z28LT1]

Nowhere near enough parking at Atco, poor restrooms

Both of those issues seem very easy to overcome. Looks like they have parking for miles north and south of Jackson Rd under the power lines. Porta potty is just a phone call away.
The only challenge I see with Atco is how to move that much traffic in and out.

***Update***
Maybe you're right about the parking Jim. that still doesn't look like enough space after all, even under the power lines.

 

[PJ]

Wow, such a sad deal. I wonder why just drag racing is being cut as many of the other events they still host are loud as well.

I wonder if the money Copart put up to rent the space was that much more than what they make from Drag Racing in a season (plus guaranteed and not contingent on weather) or if there is more to the story.

As someone else said, I can't think this was an overnight deal. I wonder if NHRA will just go one race short, or see if another track in the general region wants a second race this year.

Only made it there once as a kid. Saw the famous Garlits blow over, lots of Taste Great/Less filling chants across the track and lots of flashing....which to a 12 year old really stuck with me.

 

[mike]

brutal...

 

[Gordon]

I was introduced to NHRA Drag Racing at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park way back in the late 70's. Too many memories to jot down here. The Summernationals. Crazy Eddie's Night of Thrills. Ace vs. Newbs. Bunny. Pit Side Sucks chants from the spectator side. Re-enlisted for the final time in Wilk's Pit Area (televised on ESPN2) - took me all the way to 30 years. Witnessed a few tragedies there, but saw a lot more triumphs. I will miss it...

 

[turbo ken]

CoPart made them a offer they couldn't refuse, being a place to store wrecked cars is a lot easier than running a drag strip.

 

[mick]

very sad to see a venue with such rich history go, especially when announced so suddenly.
(the drag racing part of the venue)

 

[DG]

From NHRA:

2018 NHRA MELLO YELLO DRAG RACING SERIES SCHEDULE ANNOUNCEMENT


GLENDORA, Calif. (Jan. 17, 2018) – Yesterday Old Bridge Township Raceway Park in Englishtown, N.J. informed NHRA that it will no longer host any drag racing events at its facility, effective immediately. This includes the 49th Annual NHRA Summernationals, scheduled to take place this June.

“NHRA drag racing events have been held at the track in Englishtown for almost 50 years,” said NHRA president, Glen Cromwell. “The Summernationals have played an important part in our heritage and we hope that fans in the area will try to make it to another one of our events. Our focus remains on making the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series a memorable experience for our fans, racers, sponsors, partners and tracks.”

Headquartered in Glendora, Calif., NHRA is the primary sanctioning body for the sport of drag racing in the United States. NHRA presents 23 national events featuring the NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series, NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series and NHRA J&A Service Pro Mod Drag Racing Series. NHRA provides competition opportunities for drivers of all levels in the NHRA Summit Racing Series and the NHRA Drags: Street Legal Style presented by AAA. NHRA also offers NHRA Jr. Street program for teens and the Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League for youth ages 5 to 17. In addition, NHRA owns and operates four racing facilities: Atlanta Dragway in Georgia; Gainesville Raceway in Florida; Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis; and Auto Club Raceway at Pomona in Southern California. For more information, log on to NHRA.com, or visit the official NHRA pages on Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter.

-30-

 

[8sec71]

Wonder if teams that already have sponsor deals inked for that race will have to issue refunds?

 

[Dennis]

Like said above there has to be more to the story. Englishtown is the Pomona of the east coast - stuff like this shouldn't happen.

If the land rental is more lucrative than the combination of national and divisional events, plus grudge matches, then I think that is a huge statement about drag racing (and maybe to a further extent the revenue relationship between the sanctioning body and the track management).

 

[Jim]

I can't imagine the neighbors will be any more happy with a "junkyard" than they were with the noise. You just have to wonder if such usage will be allowed.
Meantime, this is so sad.

 

[Jack]

Been going to E Town for the Summernationals for 40 plus years, as well as swap meets and custom van gatherings (remember those??) . More memories than I can even count including camping at the track back to in the 70'sand 80's for the Summernationals which tended to sometimes get shall we say "a llittle out of control" at times. With so many other events still remaining I too would love to know the real reason for the elimination of drag racing there, got to be a lot more to this story. As for Atco it's been a while since since I was there but I can't see them being capable of handling a muti day national event from a parking, traffic, pit or facility standpoint and ghr only other facility in the northeast that can is Epping and that would require date rearranging to even consider them for 2 events in one season even as a one year only solution. Maybe Alan R would have some insight on all of this?

 

[Just Paul]

CoPart made them a offer they couldn't refuse, being a place to store wrecked cars is a lot easier than running a drag strip.

Yup, the flood cars from last summers storms are going to be auctioned off. There are multiple thousands of cars that need a place to be kept. I know Royal Purple Raceway did this on the short term last year.

 

[camaro]

Copart ??.... is this the same copart that sponsored Bernstein a few years back ??

 

[stitcherbob]

It was not a matter of money or noise control, all operations are continuing EXCEPT drag racing...................
I wonder what the back story to this is.

Kinda interesting it happened a day after the new governor was sworn in...
https://nypost.com/2018/01/16/phil-murphy-sworn-in-as-governor-of-new-jersey/

from the sound of this story, NJ is F'ed going forward...tax increases coming on their 380 acres is going to be tough to swallow...

ads to buy tickets for the 2018 Summernats were still up yesterday.....so it looked like a snap decision

 

[Country21]

Copart ??.... is this the same copart that sponsored Bernstein a few years back ??

Same company

 

[StockersRock]

Copart ??.... is this the same copart that sponsored Bernstein a few years back ??

Yes. Clearly they love drag racing.

 

[mick]

it is ironic that copart was introduced to most of us saving a historic team, only to now return as part of the demise of a historic track......if nhra wants to maintain a 24 race season, i'd think long and hard about 'who' gets the replacement race.....maybe time to experiment with a 2day race?, pros only? as much under the lights as possible. use a div. track that doesn't host a nat. event?. bowling green / columbus / rockingham / orlando

 

[vegasnitro]

This is a cold blooded business decision, but it will make the Napp family A LOT of money. You can eliminate most of your payroll, not worry about payouts or the local yokels for permitting, etc and greatly increase your revenue and have it almost completely guaranteed. I believe the going rate for these cars at Royal Purple was $15 per day per car, and there was ~ 25,000 cars on the property. Not a real tough choice if Copart is paying the same kind of money. The facility will still be there as far as I know, so maybe in a couple of years they can go back to racing if Copart moves on.

 

[Cliff]

Kinda wonder if the track makes more $$ from all the activities except drag racing? Never been to that track, but It's sad that the drags will no longer be there.