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First I learned that Englishtown had closed. I just learned Tuesday, January 12, 2021, that Atco Dragway, opened 1960, located on Jackson Road, Atco, New Jersey has been sold, and will no longer be open, at least as an NHRA sanctioned dragstrip. Seems that the buyers will operate Atco Dragway as a wholesale car sales facility, very similar to Bordentown, PA. Atco is located in the New Jersey Pinelands, and strict environmental laws preclude development of homes, shopping centers, condominiums, etc.
It was at Atco Dragway, where I set the record with my new 1970 442 convertible running in the pure stock class and later winning the New Jersey Championships. It was at Atco that I met my mentor, Paul Mayo, who showed me a unique way to stage my car, and tips on fine tuning Oldsmobiles to maximize my 442's performance, especially running in the pure stock class.
For those who may remember, my car was twilightblue, white convertible top and white interior, white side and hood stripes. Paul's car was white, blue convertible top and blue interior, with powder blue side and hood stripes.
So many great memories at Atco. Watching Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins, Sox and Martin, Kenny Bernstein and other racing legends.
I have attached a couple of photographs of Atco Dragway, taken this week. Eerie to see the stands empty and the grounds barren. And the tree, is covered by a blue tarp. View from Jackson Road Atco Dragway as of January 12, Paul's 442 convertible in Atco's staging lanes Circa 1971
Last edited by twilightblue28A; Jan 14, 2021 at 10:13 PM.
Drag racing is DOA.
The lock downs, are going to bury them, and most already have enough problems with folks near them, and complaints .
NHRA doesn't help matters, blowing off the sportsman racers and hobby racers for decades.
Not bothering to get new blood. Sure they did the Jr. dragsters, but that was full of kids of racers that were going to the track anyways.
Didn't bother getting driving age kids to the track to see/hear/ smell the action. They just hoped they show up. Not bothering showing up at some high schools and handing out some tickets, to get more in the seats on non-national event week ends. This is partly also on the tracks. They rather empty stands that give out a few tickets to get new blood into see it.
No track high school challenge series. other than one or two races at a few tracks.
With companies backing away from spending money on motorsports, It will only get worse. The pro classes that are the big show are not going to show up for a 15k winner purse. they will stay home.
They refuse to reel in the silliness of much of the classes. The cost is nuts for anyone that wants to run even stock or super stock.
The main show with cars that MIGHT get T.V. time , don't look like anything but spaceships. prostocks with a roundedover hood to try to fit the engine under the hood with no scoop, the 2' long tail/wing. The nitro classes racing being crap because they refuse to slow them down, and go back to the 1320. AND so the cars have a chance of making it down track without blowing up, or roasting the tires of the line.
They already proved they can go mid 3's in 1000 feet. Slow them down, making the racing more exciting with more round side by side, instead of 80% of them not even close . No one watching will go , "oh, they are only running high 4's . I'm out. " unless the racing is like it is now.
Too get more back into it, you have to get them to see it, and then make it so ,they can try it. If you haven't ever gone to a track with a 15 second or slower car and got the cold shoulder because you running is wasting daylight. You should, It will make it very very clear, why the sport is in the shape it is in.
The general public has to have skin in the game to care if a track stays or if the county forces it out of business. and when no new blood is partaking in the sport. They won't care.
Those that do, go to tracks and race are the worst enemy of the tracks, They know the big reason tracks have so many fights with the powers that be is noise. You would think they help the tracks out by running mufflers that do something other than look the part.
Much of the tracks headaches and cost fighting those issues would go away if racers, put on real mufflers, but they rather not lose that tenth or 2, and have the track close and have nowhere to race. Doesn't make any logical sense to me. It is like knowing there is a wasp hive and just keep tossing a ball at it it to see when they will act out.
Last edited by Grayghost; Jan 15, 2021 at 03:44 AM.
You have said it all.... Very sad... The picture below is late 70's Atco,
we were buying used musclecars, changing cams, carbs, wider tires to get a better ET week after week. Seems everyone wanted to run their car.... we got older and times changed and kids were no longer picking up beaters to run. Electronics took over the world, and the internet, a new place for kids to hang.
It's just like everything else; corporate money killed it. It costs too much to be competitive in the "pro" classes. I've never been a fan of bracket racing, so I'm not surprised to see the resurgence of heads up racing. There's an old airstrip that's been hosting unsanctioned "street races". It's sketchy on the safety side and not very organized, but it is heads up racing that's fun to watch.
Drag racing has always been underground, and the man has always been trying to kill it off, along with gun ranges, off road trails, hunting ground, etc. Anything that is loud and disruptive isn't wanted by the overlords. If I had a lot more money, it'd be nice to find an impoverished county near some bigger cities, buy up several thousand acres, and slowly build a "Dragtown, USA" with a strip, a hotel, an old time speed shop, a drive-in burger joint with high school girls on roller skates carhopping, a drive in theater, and a car museum.
Drag racing has always been underground, and the man has always been trying to kill it off, along with gun ranges, off road trails, hunting ground, etc. Anything that is loud and disruptive isn't wanted by the overlords. If I had a lot more money, it'd be nice to find an impoverished county near some bigger cities, buy up several thousand acres, and slowly build a "Dragtown, USA" with a strip, a hotel, an old time speed shop, a drive-in burger joint with high school girls on roller skates carhopping, a drive in theater, and a car museum.
I like the way you think! With luck, maybe you can win a powerball lottery and make it happen.
It's just like everything else; corporate money killed it. It costs too much to be competitive in the "pro" classes. I've never been a fan of bracket racing, so I'm not surprised to see the resurgence of heads up racing. There's an old airstrip that's been hosting unsanctioned "street races". It's sketchy on the safety side and not very organized, but it is heads up racing that's fun to watch.
The problem with heads up racing is the guy with the deepest pocket wins, THAT IS WHY IT COST SO MUCH TO BE COMPETITIVE.
At least brackets have a person a chance at going rounds without having cubic dollars. But people give the slower cars the cold shoulder. And guess what, they stop coming. car count goes down and tracks go under.
But hay, you didn't have to wait for a lot of slow cars run. I say wait, because you most won't sit in the stands and watch them, making them feel like no one wants them there. Watching the stands empty out when your slow class gets called to the lanes is bad enough, but the sheer disrespect of those car owners is just said. So they find something else to do, and stop going to the track.
Seems many of the faster classes racers forget they were not always in a fast car. Very few started out the gate in a truely fast car.
I like heads up racing also, but I understand you need the slower classes and brackets to get people through the door. Sadly too many don't understand this, and the NHRA blows them off other than taking their money for the NHRA membership.
Drag racing has always been underground, and the man has always been trying to kill it off, along with gun ranges, off road trails, hunting ground, etc. Anything that is loud and disruptive isn't wanted by the overlords. If I had a lot more money, it'd be nice to find an impoverished county near some bigger cities, buy up several thousand acres, and slowly build a "Dragtown, USA" with a strip, a hotel, an old time speed shop, a drive-in burger joint with high school girls on roller skates carhopping, a drive in theater, and a car museum.
What no real rifle range, I mean a 1000 yarder with real pits and sliding targets. We all can dream and some of us can remember when it was the real deal..... Tedd
Drag racing is DOA.
The lock downs, are going to bury them, and most already have enough problems with folks near them, and complaints .
NHRA doesn't help matters, blowing off the sportsman racers and hobby racers for decades.
Not bothering to get new blood. Sure they did the Jr. dragsters, but that was full of kids of racers that were going to the track anyways.
Didn't bother getting driving age kids to the track to see/hear/ smell the action. They just hoped they show up. Not bothering showing up at some high schools and handing out some tickets, to get more in the seats on non-national event week ends. This is partly also on the tracks. They rather empty stands that give out a few tickets to get new blood into see it.
No track high school challenge series. other than one or two races at a few tracks.
With companies backing away from spending money on motorsports, It will only get worse. The pro classes that are the big show are not going to show up for a 15k winner purse. they will stay home.
They refuse to reel in the silliness of much of the classes. The cost is nuts for anyone that wants to run even stock or super stock.
The main show with cars that MIGHT get T.V. time , don't look like anything but spaceships. prostocks with a roundedover hood to try to fit the engine under the hood with no scoop, the 2' long tail/wing. The nitro classes racing being crap because they refuse to slow them down, and go back to the 1320. AND so the cars have a chance of making it down track without blowing up, or roasting the tires of the line.
They already proved they can go mid 3's in 1000 feet. Slow them down, making the racing more exciting with more round side by side, instead of 80% of them not even close . No one watching will go , "oh, they are only running high 4's . I'm out. " unless the racing is like it is now.
Too get more back into it, you have to get them to see it, and then make it so ,they can try it. If you haven't ever gone to a track with a 15 second or slower car and got the cold shoulder because you running is wasting daylight. You should, It will make it very very clear, why the sport is in the shape it is in.
The general public has to have skin in the game to care if a track stays or if the county forces it out of business. and when no new blood is partaking in the sport. They won't care.
Those that do, go to tracks and race are the worst enemy of the tracks, They know the big reason tracks have so many fights with the powers that be is noise. You would think they help the tracks out by running mufflers that do something other than look the part.
Much of the tracks headaches and cost fighting those issues would go away if racers, put on real mufflers, but they rather not lose that tenth or 2, and have the track close and have nowhere to race. Doesn't make any logical sense to me. It is like knowing there is a wasp hive and just keep tossing a ball at it it to see when they will act out.
I don't get that either, I live 20 minutes south of Famoso raceway and they don't support any kind of weekend series. they only have two major events every year, the March meet and the Hot Rod reunion. The police are trying all kinds of things to get the kids to stop street racing and the local track is no help at all. seems like a missed opportunity to me.
Oh, I fully understand the "cubic dollar" principle. The sad truth is that you're not even close to fast enough NA, nor Oldsmobile powered, to hang with a turbo LS on the street. That's why I don't mess with anything that whistles.
My local range has a 500 yard line with pits. We used to run the pits. The crack of bullets going by is fun.
The range I went to in Texas before I moved had a 600 yard range. That's where I qualified for a Garand through the DCM program, and one group ran the pits as the other group shot. Right after I moved they completed a 1000 yard range. Man, I woulda loved that.
I’ll never understand people who build houses near a track/airport/whatever snd then complain about the noise. You knew what was there when you built the house, built the house anyway, and then bitch about the noise?! Bull!
Bunker Hill Dragstrip is the oldest track in Indiana, and is still in operation. There use to be another track a little north of Fort Wayne that I use to race at. It close in 1995 due to noise. The track was there long before the houses!!
Occasionally I would drive to Indianapolis raceway park for test and tune. But it’s so crowded, you may get 2-3 passes in before they close.
I totally agree with the little guys getting overlooked. It seems to me the street cars are also looked over and critiqued during tech far more closely than the more competitive classes. When a street car drives faster on the highway driving to the track than it runs in the 1/8 mile, as long as it’s not leaning, has decent tires and seat belts back off!!!
Our local tracks seemed to stay open and still run points and events through covid. I have great lakes dragaway , Byron dragway , Cordova international speedway , us41 , all within 1 to 2 hrs of me. Seems like tracks are dying in the east and west coast the most.
Drag racing is DOA.
The lock downs, are going to bury them, and most already have enough problems with folks near them, and complaints .
NHRA doesn't help matters, blowing off the sportsman racers and hobby racers for decades.
Not bothering to get new blood. Sure they did the Jr. dragsters, but that was full of kids of racers that were going to the track anyways.
Didn't bother getting driving age kids to the track to see/hear/ smell the action. They just hoped they show up. Not bothering showing up at some high schools and handing out some tickets, to get more in the seats on non-national event week ends. This is partly also on the tracks. They rather empty stands that give out a few tickets to get new blood into see it.
No track high school challenge series. other than one or two races at a few tracks.
With companies backing away from spending money on motorsports, It will only get worse. The pro classes that are the big show are not going to show up for a 15k winner purse. they will stay home.
They refuse to reel in the silliness of much of the classes. The cost is nuts for anyone that wants to run even stock or super stock.
The main show with cars that MIGHT get T.V. time , don't look like anything but spaceships. prostocks with a roundedover hood to try to fit the engine under the hood with no scoop, the 2' long tail/wing. The nitro classes racing being crap because they refuse to slow them down, and go back to the 1320. AND so the cars have a chance of making it down track without blowing up, or roasting the tires of the line.
They already proved they can go mid 3's in 1000 feet. Slow them down, making the racing more exciting with more round side by side, instead of 80% of them not even close . No one watching will go , "oh, they are only running high 4's . I'm out. " unless the racing is like it is now.
Too get more back into it, you have to get them to see it, and then make it so ,they can try it. If you haven't ever gone to a track with a 15 second or slower car and got the cold shoulder because you running is wasting daylight. You should, It will make it very very clear, why the sport is in the shape it is in.
The general public has to have skin in the game to care if a track stays or if the county forces it out of business. and when no new blood is partaking in the sport. They won't care.
Those that do, go to tracks and race are the worst enemy of the tracks, They know the big reason tracks have so many fights with the powers that be is noise. You would think they help the tracks out by running mufflers that do something other than look the part.
Much of the tracks headaches and cost fighting those issues would go away if racers, put on real mufflers, but they rather not lose that tenth or 2, and have the track close and have nowhere to race. Doesn't make any logical sense to me. It is like knowing there is a wasp hive and just keep tossing a ball at it it to see when they will act out. I don't get that either, I live 20 minutes south of Famoso raceway and they don't support any kind of weekend series. they only have two major events every year, the March meet and the Hot Rod reunion. The police are trying all kinds of things to get the kids to stop street racing and the local track is no help at all. seems like a missed opportunity to me
I agree with 99% of what you both said here.
Wally Parks set up the NHRA to make the streets safer, to get kids a safe place to prove their tuning acumen...he was for the little guy. The enthusiast. The guy who wanted to see what his new car could do. The guy who wanted to push his limits.
Today the NHRA is about the Pros. The businesses. It’s turned from a participation sport to an audience sport.
The NHRA sucks at fostering local participation, local safety, local audiences and local lives.
They are an embarrassment to the business community as well.
This is just now happening to that part of the country. It hit Texas many, many years ago. First it was the small local strips that were bought up by developers. then they started hitting the larger tracks, Texas International Moptor Speedway in Lewisville, Green Valley in Fort Worth, and others. Probably the next to be closed will be the Texas Motor Speedway. Developers are buying up land all around Waxahachie and Ennis Texas.
Wow now Atco?? So so many tracks going down. It sucks. Cars are getting faster and faster and tracks are closing over and over. Sad just sad. ATCO!! Huge deep deep roots. Hello. Englishtown as well!!
I grew up at Bandimere Speedway out here in Denver. Literally grew up there. My oldest brother ruled the bike class. Hung out when you could walk the track next to the mountain. Mile High Nationals are no joke. I have seen everyone. The way those drag cars echo off the mountains is like nowhere else. They are about to go down too. I really hope they don't. Money and developers don't give an F. John Bandimere will hold his own as long as he can though.
I don't get that either, I live 20 minutes south of Famoso raceway and they don't support any kind of weekend series. they only have two major events every year, the March meet and the Hot Rod reunion. The police are trying all kinds of things to get the kids to stop street racing and the local track is no help at all. seems like a missed opportunity to me.
I watched a VW powered rail break the 7 second barrier at Fomoso back in the '80s but he couldn't back it up. He let off the loud pedal too quick after his burn-out and cracked his bell housing when his tires stopped spinning. I also gave away prizes to the winner and runner-up in the bikini contest that day, I have a picture of them around here somewhere. All fun stuff that has gone by the wayside in today's internet-of-things culture.
I’ll never understand people who build houses near a track/airport/whatever snd then complain about the noise. You knew what was there when you built the house, built the house anyway, and then bitch about the noise?! Bull!
I don't get it either, BUT The fact remain they do, and noise becomes an issue. AND the powers that be tend to side with homeowners, not the tracks. So it would be prudent to limit the noise with mufflers before the town/city/county leaders limit the noise for you, by either limited times you can run events, or close you down..
This is just now happening to that part of the country. It hit Texas many, many years ago. First it was the small local strips that were bought up by developers. then they started hitting the larger tracks, Texas International Moptor Speedway in Lewisville, Green Valley in Fort Worth, and others. Probably the next to be closed will be the Texas Motor Speedway. Developers are buying up land all around Waxahachie and Ennis Texas.
Ed. Development is not the case in the sale of Atco Dragway. Atco is located in the New Jersey Pinelands. The government has strict environmental protections against developing the New Jersey Pinelands. In fact, the area is so rich with wildlife, races were stopped until turtles on the dragstrip were removed to safe areas. Atco is being sold and the use will be changed from a racetrack to a large scale wholesale automobile auction facility. Development of Atco Dragway's land is not permitted.
The purchaser of Englishtown, or Raceway Park, is also the purchaser of Atco Dragway. I understand that Maple Grove Dragway, in Reading, PA is also looking for a buyer.
When the sale of Maple Grove is completed, only Cecil County Dragway, in Cecil County Maryland, will remain in our area.
Last edited by twilightblue28A; Jan 16, 2021 at 04:14 AM.
This is just now happening to that part of the country. It hit Texas many, many years ago. First it was the small local strips that were bought up by developers. then they started hitting the larger tracks, Texas International Moptor Speedway in Lewisville, Green Valley in Fort Worth, and others. Probably the next to be closed will be the Texas Motor Speedway. Developers are buying up land all around Waxahachie and Ennis Texas.
Kennedale closed recently also. Ferris 1/8 mile opened in 2018.
I understand that Maple Grove Dragway, in Reading, PA is also looking for a buyer.
When the sale of Maple Grove is completed, only Cecil County Dragway, in Cecil County Maryland, will remain in our area.
Well there is Island Dragway a bit north in NJ, I wonder if they are having issues as well...
