Englishtown is closing for drag racing, but other venues should continue. Had a load of fun down there. Hope the same doesn't happen to Atco.
Englishtown is closing for drag racing, but other venues should continue. Had a load of fun down there. Hope the same doesn't happen to Atco.
I thought all Atco did was dragracing? Did Englishtown give a reason?
mad_machine said:Did Englishtown give a reason?
"In conversations with various parties close to the track’s operation we have learned that the Napp family who owns the facility has effectively leased some or all of the property to a company who plans to use it as some sort of vehicle storage area." - From Bangshift.
I know there is another dragstrip, forget the name or location, that is doing the same thing. VW is paying them a small fortune to store Dieselgate buybacks and the lot is full of them. Simply, VW's money was way better than the money for racing. I would wager to be that noise complaints are part of it as well, as Englishtown has fought that for years. I never get the logic of a person who moves in near the 50+ year old dragstrip and then complains. It was there first!
Money. Apparently a Car Park makes more $$. They said they will keep the Motocross track and Exotic car autocross tracks open, along with a driving school. Atco is only drag racing.
I saw it. I was sad. That place was legendary.
Never got down there for a nitro event like I wanted to. Now where is the nearest one to central New York. Norwalk?
Cry me a river. In Southern California, racers have watched as one drag strip after another was sold off to land developers, followed by road racing tracks.
Island Dragway Great Meadows NJ. Off Rt 80. Skyview Drags in Owego, NY. West of Binghamton. Atco dragway Atco, NJ, come to mind. A bit of traveling from here with a trailer.
The same folks who bitch about $20 entry fees are the same folks bitching now.
It's a business - I'm not surprised. Sucks of course. I've raced there. Of course I don't have much sympathy as I drive 1hr to NJMP (closest) to 8hrs (VIR - farthest) for HPDE stuff. With Island, Atco, Maple Grove, Cecil County, all around... we're now down to 4 tracks that at driveable on a weeknight.
kb58 said:Cry me a river. In Southern California, racers have watched as one drag strip after another was sold off to land developers, followed by road racing tracks.
What kind of crap attitude is this?
Not to mention ignoring that Southern California still has one of the highest concentrations of racetracks in the country.
NickD said:Never got down there for a nitro event like I wanted to. Now where is the nearest one to central New York. Norwalk?
There's Empire Dragway in Leicester, NY (a bit south of Rochester). Not sure what else is up here.
z31maniac said:...Southern California still has one of the highest concentrations of racetracks in the country.
K, always willing to learn, where are these 1/4-mile dragstrips? There's the one at Autoclub speedway, but where else? The one near Palmdale is a bit north of what's normally considered Southern California.
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-0309-lost-dragstrips-of-so-cal/
Since the above was written in 2003, Carlsbad's gone and I don't know about the others. Please, enlighten me.
NickD said:I never get the logic of a person who moves in near the 50+ year old dragstrip and then complains. It was there first
You can blame that on developers who never bothered telling people about the racetrack in the first place. They got the land cheap due to it, built luxury homes, and sold them during the week day when the track was closed. Around here that happened with Atlantic City International Airport. All these expensive condos were built within walking distance of the facilities' grounds (it does cover a lot of acreage) and then found they were right under the flight path of the 177th Jersey Devils, and all the airliners and cargo planes that come and go all day.
In reply to rslifkin :
NYIRP - New York International Raceway Park is an excellent track in Rochester.
ESTA dragway is in Cicero, but they not-so-affectionately call it "the dump" for a reason.
Apple Valley is a good bit farther away, and is 1/10th mile IIRC EDIT, name is spencer dragway and apparently, they are not drag racing in 2017.
Lebanon is also nearby, but I have never been.
I went down there twice, about 15 or 20 years ago for the Big Bud Shootout. Two things annoyed me.
1) We didn't hit traffic until we were a mile away, where we ground to a dead stop, creeping along for an extra half hour or so. It was the Englishtown Fire Department collecting for MDA. Now, I'm a firefighter and I actually collect for MDA every year, but I thought that they were taking unfair advantage of the situation. They had a captive audience with only one way in. I'm sure that they collected a ton of money for a good cause, but he last thing you want after a 3 1/2 hour drive is an artificial traffic jam, especially when you have to pee so bad that you can taste it.
2) Big Bud Shootout--> Giant inflatable beer can in the center of the venue. Can't buy a beer there. Not a crisis, but we would have planned things a little differently as spectators.
Nonetheless, I am sad that they are going away. As it is, I already miss the Raceway Park radio commercials that, oddly enough, never inspired me to get down there when I was a kid.
tuna55 said:In reply to rslifkin :
NYIRP - New York International Raceway Park is an excellent track in Rochester.
ESTA dragway is in Cicero, but they not-so-affectionately call it "the dump" for a reason.
Apple Valley is a good bit farther away, and is 1/10th mile IIRC EDIT, name is spencer dragway and apparently, they are not drag racing in 2017.
Lebanon is also nearby, but I have never been.
ESTA is godawful. Been to Lebanon, it's nice, just not sure if NHRA runs nitro cars there.
kb58 said:z31maniac said:...Southern California still has one of the highest concentrations of racetracks in the country.
K, always willing to learn, where are these 1/4-mile dragstrips? There's the one at Autoclub speedway, but where else? The one near Palmdale is a bit north of what's normally considered Southern California.
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-0309-lost-dragstrips-of-so-cal/
Since the above was written in 2003, Carlsbad's gone and I don't know about the others. Please, enlighten me.
Well both pomona and famoso for a couple
Pomona was, or is, only used for the big National race, then closed for racing the rest of the year. Famoso, and for that matter, Palmdale dragstrip, are both north of what I consider "southern" California, but I realize I'm imposing my regional definitions... point taken.
NickD said:"In conversations with various parties close to the track’s operation we have learned that the Napp family who owns the facility has effectively leased some or all of the property to a company who plans to use it as some sort of vehicle storage area." - From Bangshift.
So will they rename it from Raceway Park to Parkway Park? Maybe Parkway Parking Park? 
NickD said:tuna55 said:In reply to rslifkin :
NYIRP - New York International Raceway Park is an excellent track in Rochester.
ESTA dragway is in Cicero, but they not-so-affectionately call it "the dump" for a reason.
Apple Valley is a good bit farther away, and is 1/10th mile IIRC EDIT, name is spencer dragway and apparently, they are not drag racing in 2017.
Lebanon is also nearby, but I have never been.
ESTA is godawful. Been to Lebanon, it's nice, just not sure if NHRA runs nitro cars there.
When were you at ESTA? You may have seen my Dad there. I spent lots of time there. Like I said, the nickname isn’t affectionate and cute.
Englishtown isn't closing due to land developers or people complaining about noise. It's closing because the family that owns it cut a deal with Copart to use all the paved areas for storage. There's apparently a lot more money in storage rental fees than in hosting racing events.
This isn't the first time this has happened. There's another track in the Midwest (I think) that closed to host VW's Dieselgate fallout.
It sucks. On the East Coast, we don't have too many drag strips left. There's only one left in the Northeast (New England Dragway in Epping, NH) and the numbers are dwindling elsewhere. Englishtown was a big, well known, and well historied track. It sucks that they are shutting down.
tuna55 said:NickD said:tuna55 said:In reply to rslifkin :
NYIRP - New York International Raceway Park is an excellent track in Rochester.
ESTA dragway is in Cicero, but they not-so-affectionately call it "the dump" for a reason.
Apple Valley is a good bit farther away, and is 1/10th mile IIRC EDIT, name is spencer dragway and apparently, they are not drag racing in 2017.
Lebanon is also nearby, but I have never been.
ESTA is godawful. Been to Lebanon, it's nice, just not sure if NHRA runs nitro cars there.
When were you at ESTA? You may have seen my Dad there. I spent lots of time there. Like I said, the nickname isn’t affectionate and cute.
Jeez, it had to have been 7 or 8 years ago. Supposedly it's been cleaned up and repaved and stuff, but I haven't been there to see.
Somewhere today I saw that the company leasing the space is Copart.
kb58 said:z31maniac said:...Southern California still has one of the highest concentrations of racetracks in the country.
K, always willing to learn, where are these 1/4-mile dragstrips? There's the one at Autoclub speedway, but where else? The one near Palmdale is a bit north of what's normally considered Southern California.
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-0309-lost-dragstrips-of-so-cal/
Since the above was written in 2003, Carlsbad's gone and I don't know about the others. Please, enlighten me.
Re: CA dragstrips....Palmdale's gone, Famoso is about 120 miles north near Bakersfield. Pomona only exists for two meets, The Winternationals and the World Finals. Fontana has a 1/4 mile dragstrip but they don't do big shows. It's run-what-ya-brung three nights a week. Almost impossible to get there without taking the day off from work with a 5:00 pm start time to drag nights and the traffic. Irwindale has a 1/8 mile strip but that one will be gone soon. The track has been sold. I understand there are more strip-starved areas of the country. However, two strips many miles away does not serve an area the size of LA. Especially when you consider all the strips tha have closed. San Fernando, the original Irwindale, OCIR, Lions, and Terminal Island. So Fontana and Famoso handle the needs of an area with almost ten million inhabitants.
Jerry From LA said:kb58 said:z31maniac said:...Southern California still has one of the highest concentrations of racetracks in the country.
K, always willing to learn, where are these 1/4-mile dragstrips? There's the one at Autoclub speedway, but where else? The one near Palmdale is a bit north of what's normally considered Southern California.
http://www.hotrod.com/articles/hrdp-0309-lost-dragstrips-of-so-cal/
Since the above was written in 2003, Carlsbad's gone and I don't know about the others. Please, enlighten me.
Re: CA dragstrips....Palmdale's gone, Famoso is about 120 miles north near Bakersfield. Pomona only exists for two meets, The Winternationals and the World Finals. Fontana has a 1/4 mile dragstrip but they don't do big shows. It's run-what-ya-brung three nights a week. Almost impossible to get there without taking the day off from work with a 5:00 pm start time to drag nights and the traffic. Irwindale has a 1/8 mile strip but that one will be gone soon. The track has been sold. I understand there are more strip-starved areas of the country. However, two strips many miles away does not serve an area the size of LA. Especially when you consider all the strips tha have closed. San Fernando, the original Irwindale, OCIR, Lions, and Terminal Island. So Fontana and Famoso handle the needs of an area with almost ten million inhabitants.
Thanks, which answers the challenge from:
z31maniac said:
kb58 said:Cry me a river. In Southern California, racers have watched as one drag strip after another was sold off to land developers, followed by road racing tracks.
What kind of crap attitude is this? ...Southern California still has one of the highest concentrations of racetracks
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