Englishtown Documentary

[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.