No More Drag Racing At Raceway Park In Englishtown

ENGLISHTOWN, NJ — It's the end of a fabled Central Jersey institution: The iconic Raceway Park in Englishtown suddenly announced this week they will no longer be hosting drag racing. Calling it "a new era for Raceway," the Napp family, which owns the park, says they will no longer have drag racing there.

The 480-acre Raceway Park will remain open, however, and the Napp family promises most of the other events there will continue, including auto swap meets, car shows, motocross racing/practice, kart racing and drifting.

The grandstand and about half of the drag racing strip will be converted to an outdoor concert venue.

The news means the fabled Summernationals, a beloved summertime drag racing event, will no longer be held at Raceway. The National Hot Rod Association, which runs the Summernationals, seemed very disappointed in Raceway's decision:

"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," the National Hot Rod Association said in a statement they released.

Raceway Park is about as close to Nascar-territory as New Jersey gets: It's technically located in Old Bridge Township, but the beautiful, rural farming country that surrounds the raceway looks more like the Deep South. Every year, thousands of people from across the tri-state area descend on Englishtown for the Summernationals and other car racing events.

The Napp family called it a "reorganization."

"Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, the Napp family-owned and -operated business, announced today a reorganization of the company’s business operations," the company said in a statement on their website. "To achieve this goal, Raceway Park will no longer conduct quarter-mile or eighth- mile drag racing events effective immediately."

"It is with a great sadness that the Napp family is discontinuing drag racing, however the family looks forward to continuing to provide the best outdoor events in this new era of Raceway Park," they said. "The Napp family wishes to express their most sincere gratitude to the NHRA, and the many thousands of racers and fans, without whom would have never allowed Raceway Park to become the iconic and nationally recognized drag racing facility it has over the past five decades."

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