Old Bridge Township Raceway Park- 'E-Town', Final Goodbye, February 2018
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- čas přidán 23. 02. 2018
- Old Bridge Township Raceway Park, or simple, "Englishtown", "E-Town", was and will always be a place near and dear to any drag racing fan. All of the legends of drag racing in the last 50 plus years have left their marks on this strip.
For us fans, the nostalgia we have to for this track is intense. We all have our stories from 'Englishtown', whether it be remembering making your first pass down the track and getting sucked into the drag race funnel, or recalling walking through the gates as a little boy and seeing your heroes in person lined up in the staging lanes. The sights, sounds, smells, somehow manage to stick themselves to the walls of our memories and knowing that we'll never see this place again whether in person or on television is devastating. It just is what it is...
I took these images at 7 am on February 10, 2018 as the sun was rising and never expected to get more than a glimpse of the grave of RP as it was raining prior to my arrival. Once I got there, the rain stopped and the sun revealed itself, once I was done, the clouds closed up and it started raining again. Hence, I'm obliged to share these last images of this hallowed land.
The song used in this video is 'Walk Away' by The Nadas
It saddens me to see what used to be good times. The memories I'll cherish forever. And that can't be taken from me!!
Film brings many tears. First visit was in late 60's as a 13 year old. Many visits as a drag crazy kid in my teens. Met Berserko Bob in the 80's and became a corporate sponsor with Chevrolet and GMC Truck for 17 years. Continued my relationship with Vince Meli. Met everybody who was anybody in drag racing. Napp family could not have been more gracious to me. Forever memories, but sad today!
Bob Feldman
Great video. So sad. My father took my brothers and I there in 1975 for the summer nationals. We as a family have gone every year since. Sitting in the cheep seats first. Then the pit side. Finally for the past 5-years. We sat in the towers. Only this time. We had all our family’s. 18 of us. We will always miss Englishtown.
As a three time track champion in the 90's its a gut punch but nothing in your life stays the same. Thanks for the memories and great times and friends spent at the asphalt beach.
Grew up at this track every year coming to the summer nats and night of fire once and a whole driving from Long Island as a kid felt like such a long trip but was such an exciting weekend. Running around getting autographs being a kid 10,000hp then as I got older I started do the import shows and swap meet. Really such an amazing track,I live in fla now and go to the gatornats still get butterflies walking through the stands as you see the track for the first time that day. Love drag racing,love cars,love my dad for taking me. Great video don't ever take it down it's one of the few we have left,ty!! ETOWN4ever😢😢😢
I’ll never take this down! Same story for me too! And from LI as well! To us, Etown was like Yankee Stadium for die hard baseball fans
Remember when there was no blacktop for parking it was just grass, when it would rain we we do donuts out in the field ,such an amazing special place so sad I showed my dad he couldn't even watch it so many memories insane yes not big sports family hard-core cars, trucks, tinkering,the game was on but like you the track was our Yankee stadium thanks bud the song fits it so well
@@vinnygallino5217 same w me! We were never a sports fam, all i knew was drag racing and cars… my dad came to the usa from Greece as a teen in 1969 and ended up street racing and going to NY National, Island, Atco, Westhampton, ETown and the famous Connecting Highway 😂
Thanks for sharing and keeping etowns memory alive!
Makes me cry
thanks for sharing John....heartache galore!
Just saw the photo of them destroying it today and I’m now watching videos while crying my eyes out. I would go every summer with my dad since I was four. I remember in kindergarten getting autographs from Shirley Muldowney and Bonniy Burkette And almost losing my shit. You’re video made me cry. So upsetting to see it go.
The track is under a fence and parked cars but still 100% intact. They took down some concrete barriers and set some on the track but the drag strip remains unharmed.
Went to almost every swap meet there from 1986 to close. I miss that very much...
Shame, such a beautiful track, lots of memories.
Used to go down there for every event there ever was since I was probably 5. I miss the drag racing and deafening sound of speed. 😢
There were many accidents there...Scott Kalitta was one of them.
So sad, I lived in Englishtown and attended races for 35+ years. I could hear the cars go down the track even when I moved to South River, wow. Sure do miss it! Probably build homes there now, so sad.
Thank you for the memory of THE Best Track in the whole USA many FOND MEMORIES OF THAT PLACE BEEN GOING THERE SINCE mid to late 60's!!
I was there on opening day in 1966, on leave from basic training at Ft. Dix, I was 20 years old.
It’s sad I’ve got a lot of great memories at this facility ! It like a lot of the racers are gone ! Rest in peace !!! S/P - S/G forever !
I remember October fest Junior dragser's. Camping in the parking lot. Good times
First time I was there when I was 12 miss that track
Good job on the video, I miss drag racing there.
ImportRace thank you! I cant believe its been 2 years... such a shame. And to think, they use much of the strip for drifting... 🤦🏻♂️ im not hating on drifting, but if they can drift, they should be able to drag race.
@@JThemelis they should open the drag strip part.
Words are never enough so sad
Blessed to have been here, highlight was meeting Chuck Comella . Sad this venue is closed😢👍🏿🇨🇦🍺🇺🇸
Thanks, John. I remember going there often. Another piece of history gone. Just like National Speedway on Long Island. Center Morices
came here from australia in 1986 to watch don garlits, he flipped his top fuel dragster to my disappointment, great memories of the racing, shame it has closed
What great track. Had a lot of great memories from there. I think Kenny Koretski Is buying it and will turn it back into a super track again
Oh man,,, doubtful, but I'd love love love to see that happen.
I'm from Bound Brook NJ and I always loved the TV and Radio commercials for Raceway Park and getting to catch the Drag Races when they were televised. I'm sad to hear they tore the drag strip down.
I race remember those commercials! I used to beg my dad for us to go there every time one of them showed up.
Good video, nice music too.
this is heart breaking
My sister worked there PT as security in the late 80s into the 90s and she'd always get me and friends pit passes. When I was a kid I remember hearing the top fuel cars and pretend our matchbox ones were racing each other . It opened a month before my birth. I occasionally still go to Wall Township Raceway or New Egypt which are fun and within 15-20 minutes from my home in Lakewood. They'll never be another Raceway Park. The land was worth more to realtors and sold for quite a bit.
Awesome story! I grew up on Long Island but coming here was to me, what going to Yankee stadium was to others… i would host entire weekend races with all of my hot wheels on the mattel dragstrip duel playset , drove my mom crazy with my engine noises “prrprprprprpr” 😂
Danm.... 😢 I layed rubber down this strip years ago. Sad to see it go down this direction!
I'm You are not alone 😥
RIP Raceway Park and Scott
Lived in Englishtown back in the 60's and we would ride our bicycles down there, you could sit on a hill up in the woods at the end of strip. We would see all the big car trailers come into town and you could hear the big rails run from my house. It was great
That is awesome!!! Great memories, Im sure!
First went to E'Town in 1970 (I still have the film of me, at age 2, watching the cars running down the track with my father), and went almost every year until the 90's. So sad it's no longer being used for racing.
So sad. . . Many a beer and good times were had in those parking lots. RIP to all the fun shit.
A drag strip...
Another piece of our lives being phased out by "progress" and money. The page of life turns, not always for the better.
Nwo
So sad 😭
I was lucky enough to buy and have a beer with Jungle Pam at the finish line tower on a Friday qualifier in 2007.
Unfortunately Destruction on the track has started.
there was reports of a meeting talking about the track reopening and a funny car driver was in it who said the track might come back
Details/Sources?
@@JThemelis A old funny car driver works with etown and said this is dont know his social media or anything but he was a part of this meeting
It’s still there and open I was there this week 😂
Mxjustin 27 not the dragstrip!
El mejor lugar.
Sad to see it go
RIP Raceway Park
Man I would literally hand over every bit of my Xbox just to go to that strip again with my cousins
This was where Scott Kalitta died
Yessir
CLOSING RACEWAY PARK, THAT WAS F , ,K UP, WE COULD THANK THE PEOPLE AROUND THE TRACK,
@@bobbymartinez4411 the neighbors complaints werent loud enough to do this.. money was the real talker… the fam that owned the track received ALOT of money from copart to use the facility. I guess the track wasnt generating much income on regular sundays and the one national event a year wasnt enough to keep it operating. Im selfish too, i want our track back, but i get it.. money talks and if it were me, id do the same 😔
Only, the drag strip is still there, under a fence and parked cars but 100% intact waiting for a lease on its land to expire and be reopened.
It will happen.
Well, this video was taken as soon as they announced closure (less than one month, at the time).. i know the track is there, i know they use it for drifting… i doubt it will happen but if it does, i will be there on re-opening day!
What a shame, I remember the Summernationls, Sox & Martin, Jungle Jim Lieberman, Don Garments and Cha Cha Muldowny... So much history gone...😪
I went there once as a fan, didn’t drag my car down Rest n peace Scott
Great video i miss the drag strip they got ride of it for copart and shit box drifting
I totally understand them closing the track if it was in their better financial interests, but they totally screwed over the racers who supported the track over the years by doiing this without any advance notice. You leave a job, you give notice so the company can plan accordingly. You had all these racers working hard over the winter, spending hard earrned cash, buying cars, bullding engines, maybe buying or building a jr dragster for their kid, and they just pulled the plug and screwed them all!! They should have ran this year out and then closed. They blew their legacy as far as I'm concernedm, E-Town the parking lot. Maybe they can sell t shirts.
I disagree they shouldn’t of closed it!.. and should of done whatever it took to keep it going!...53 years down the drain! I dont think the owners really thought about it well! The track made Englishtown what is today... and the track was a nj landmark.. really sad as i really enjoyed it!
@@AngeloR674. raceway park sucks,Old Bridge speed way Drags were better Route 516 on the site of Whispering Pines Condos
Horrible went there since I was 3 years old for monster truck shows and racing miss this place so much
I remember the commercials never been sadly
This was the closest in the Tri-State Area for drag racing. Reading, Pa. dragstrip is the closest to the Tri-State area.
Well, we still have Island Dragway and Atco , both in NJ and alive! Reading is a beautiful track too
hard to believe I saw and met bob glidden at that track. way back in the early 80s. looking at it now. wtf happen.
myfordranger not hard to believe!!! #FORDpower !!!!!! I grew up with Bob Glidden being a household name, my immigrant father was his biggest fan and i followed suit... i had met him, got his autograph and i think i have a photo with him from the late 90’s, my favorite amongst the classic drivers!
bob was the nicest guy. very normal and just a cool guy.. very modest
John Themelis Saw Bob won his very last Wally at E-town.
At 2:10 is that a 2nd Drag Strip on the Left side? I never knew there was a 2nd drag strip there and i have been going to Old Bridge Township Raceway Park for years.
57HarleyDavidson yes! That’s an 1/8th mile track !
John Themelis yes the owner built it for his son!.. brakes my heart to watch this video!.. Im hoping everyone gets lucky and it comes back!
I can't imagine how many passes I made down that track. Does anybody know who made the very last pass down the quarter mile?
I think it was deez
Left at the board in the pits.
bring it back a lot of super stars started here
What happened to the hundreds of thousands of cars they were supposed to store in their mega million deal????!!!!
Painful...
rich napp wants the track back there is a huge rumor of it coming back lets make it true…. Make Etow great again
That would make me and my Mustang very happy again! Almost 5 decades of the best memories there for me!
OMG so sad
Damn so where do we go now
Well, there is Island Dragway in Great Meadows, NJ, and Atco Raceway in Atco, NJ
Maple Grove near Reading, PA is the closest large track still having NHRA national events.
Virginia Motorsports in Petersburg Virginia.... a really fine track that has been laser-graded. Also, Maryland International Raceway in Budds Creek MD; not as expansive as Old Bridge, but a nice facility nonetheless. Cecil County Maryland is nice, but they need to expand the sand trap, improve track lighting, and smooth out that 1/8 mile “hump.”
There are other nice tracks out there but I’ll reserve judgement until they upgrade things like rest facilities and concession stands
John Themelis I’ve been to Island Dragway a couple times. I went to some Volkswagen show over there a couple years ago. Not as big as raceway park though...
😢
Yessir... same, still after these years
What the owners should have done was....Buy the surrounding areas. Also...To cut cost, they need to hike all entrant fees and schedule more NHRA events.
Who is singing ???
Why did it close down?
Drone Evolution NYC the owners elected to turn the property into a salvage car Storage yard
@@goforbroke62 I would of kept it as a Drag Strip.
Christian Huebner drone evolution nyc are not the owners
You should go back and see what they did to the strip
heard they tore half of it up and turned the rest into a figure 8 for that drift series they got for wall stadium. Any of that true?
@@konradfrancis2572 I don't think that is true, because if you take a look at zoom.earth/#view=40.336524,-74.347241,16z, it still shows the strip intact as of July of last year. Also on their website, there is a picture of a concert and the strip might just be under that.
@@konradfrancis2572 If you are looking for an update, heres a few pictures from facebook. facebook.com/groups/441565639212591/permalink/2981812631854533/
Why did they close it ??
Well, its still open, sort of… the dragstrip is now a drifting track, the parking lots and 1/8 are now insurance claim/impound lots , they still do events… just not drag racing, unfortunately :/
The price of cocaine went up so they had to close it so they make more money to buy more blow!
@@briandesmond4153 lol i cant verify the accuracy of that😂
A rite and passage of my summers as a teen
You bet... I had been coming here for 31 of my 37 years...the nostalgia that overcame me when I would drive through those gates, knowing the legend and lore behind it, got me every time. I can't watch my own video either, I can't believe it's gone...it's a ghost.
This is the same place that dear old Scott Kallita passed away at and i'll bet so many fans here in 2019 to 2020 are going to miss the track Im going to probably make a video to talk about some not only this Drag Strip but Others as well as to F1, Nascar, And Indycar Tracks as well as NHRA Too. So Come Checkout My Channel I'll upload it thursday Feb. 14th
That's correct...it actually closed down in January 2018, I took this video just a few days later... it is sorely missed!
Do one for atco
Believe me, the next time I head down towards Philly/South NJ/MD areas..I'm doing it... so upsetting
@@JThemelis Ya hopefully island and cecil stay open
Ah the good old days when '78 to '87 general motors G-bodies were a dime a dozen and you could drop a big block in them and pop a couple wheelies on the weekends. These millennials are stuck with expensive computerized unibody cars plus they're too busy playing with their phones to get out and breathe some fresh air and tire smoke.
coparts deal fell thru last I read
IAAI uses it to store cars not copart
Everybody's asking why they closed it it's simple! Having Insurance lot means more dough for more blow!!🤑👃
🤦🏻♂️😂
Vinny napp has flipped in his grave! His son is a disgrace!
I bet the closing of the dragstrip had a lot to do with noise complaints.
This really sucks
New owners suck!! Will never go there again.
I hope they destroyed it with robosaurus
Well, its still there… only… it was converted to a drifting track 🤷🏻♂️
New Jersey.
The no fun state.
Another track gone, due to family greed!! Now it’s only stupid drifting events and swap meets!
Huge dislike. My very first pass was there. July 24 1992.
What a shame its now a drift park boring
Drag racing is a dying sport plain and simple. For a number of reasons most notably cost, its just too expensive even to sportsman race these days. That leaves street night which isnt enough to keeps these tracks from taking better offers. I think that you will be seeing this more and more in the coming years.
Chris Pedchenko agreed... in this case, RP, leased 2/3 of the property to Copart for use as an impound lot for 75mil over the next 15 years... the only thing theyre not doing is drag racing... the rest of the operations are still going
Chris Pedchenko Happy to tell you, you are wrong while Drag Racing has it's share of issues, there is plenty that will keep it going for a while. NHRA is in baby steps of evolution in broadcasting and social media, lot's of smart people in the sport to tell them what is wrong, and more importantly offer solutions. The next generations attitude about automobiles is a concern however.
@@JThemelis this was pretty much the kiss of death for Raceway Park😡😡😡😡😡🖕🖕🖕🖕🖕
Just sad.....no reason that it had to go down this way. The NHRA event paid the whole year plus profit.
Yeah...but I guess in comparison to COPART, they get even MORE profit. I get it...i guess good for the Napp's, stinks for the rest of us.