Englishtown Documentary

[Chuck Weissberg]

The kicker is, there is New Jersey Motor Sports Park in Millville/Bridgeton NJ that could accommodate a drag strip, but they have no interest

[BKSG1198]

Originally Posted by Chuck Weissberg

The kicker is, there is New Jersey Motor Sports Park in Millville/Bridgeton NJ that could accommodate a drag strip, but they have no interest

I live 10 minutes from Millville Motorsports Park and the biggest issues they face is the neighbors, unlike other tracks where the urban sprawl was built after the track was there and forced the track to impose curfews or shut down completely, this was built after a neighborhood was already there, so they are constantly fighting the township on noise complaints. Trust me, someone who lives in this area a top notch NHRA Facility that could host a National Event would bring huge revenue to a very struggling area, a lot of the industrial jobs have dried up around here and Wheaton Glass has downsized so bad that the buildings are just rotting away, Progresso Soup has moved, and National Freight has moved to Cherry Hill, three of the major corp in this town.

The other part about adding drag racing is the clients....don't beat me up on this but they want the HIGH END racers at that facility, they don't want the everyday hobbyist, I work PT at the Longhorn and its always big corporate teams (Ferrari, Porsche, Harley, etc) coming into town on Private Jets (There is an airport attached to the facility) during a weekend of racing or testing and the track has literally build Mini Condos for them to stay at for the weekends they are there at around $250,000. We complain about $15 at the gate, it's a little differenton what they are shooting for with their clients.

[1320racer]

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[1320racer]

No one wants a race track in their backyard except racers. Not the element homeowners want in their town. No one is building a new drag strip anywhere in New Jersey. The land is too valuable, there is ZERO ROI and the residents don’t want it.

[Mike Schwartz]

Originally Posted by 1320racer

No one wants a race track in their backyard except racers. Not the element homeowners want in their town. No one is building a new drag strip anywhere in New Jersey. The land is too valuable, there is ZERO ROI and the residents don?t want it.

The airport lies between the track and the residential neighborhoods of Millville. Across the street there's nothing but woods. However, there are residential neighborhoods two miles down the road.

Here is a 2020 article on land use in New Jersey. It cites data from 2015 indicating that only 13.7% of the state's land was still developable.

[Cglrcng]

Ty for that video. I only got to race there once in May 1995 (30th anniversary of the track), but am reminded as I have a Class win Wally on the shelf above my desk from Raceway Park, Englishtown, NJ in GF/SA, only dragstrip in my racing history I was ever handed a hand cleaning towel after exiting a port-a-john! (Even the port-a-johns had attendants).

Good memories though as a west coast Div. 7 racer on the longest Drag Racing trip of my life so far as I left home in Feb. 1995 and did not even return home the first time until late May that year. Drove back from Englishtown, NJ to N.W. AZ in 3 days. The trip there though was long and winding following the NHRA Nat./Div. Long Tour and a bit of bracket racing on off non-travel days too! It was a magic track, 1 of many, and many now gone (Englishtown, Houston, Moroso, Memphis, OCIR, Miami-Hollywood, Riverside, Carlsbad, Lions, and too many more to list sadly). That there are any left at all is the NIMBY miracle of 2024.

Looking back 50 yrs, I was really lucky to grow up and race in SoCal as we had 8 local tracks to choose from plus and support from Bakersfield south, and we supported them well. 5-7 days and nights a week.