It's A sad Day for Me........

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Just heard my Favorite track to race at and its really my home track even though we don't have many of NENDRA'S Races there closed as of 1/1/13.
I have been racing there since 1974 and this track hooks like no other.
ISLAND DRAGWAY in Great Meadows,NJ has closed their gates.
Financial problems and back taxesI heard are the reasons and some stupid EPA deal with septic going into a small ditch.
Hopefully they can get it all resolved.
This one hits home hard for me.
Theres not many tracks left for me to race and I wont go back to Englishtown to race. RIP

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heres a video of Island inside car video. pretty cool.thought i'd share
great track
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMaS1lp5Hwc

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heres a youtube video from inside of my car. great track, great hook all the time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMaS1lp5Hwc

 

[ga66mopar]

That's too bad looks like a busy track. I'm sure the EPA would love nothing more than to shut down all bad old polluting drag strips. I wonder how much longer our local drag strip will last.

 

[Moparmatt72]

That sucks to hear that. Hopefully they can fix it and get it reopened again.

 

[GrabberOrange69]

What are we going to do? This is really depressing. I'm sure there are a few Hot Rod and Hot Rod Deluxe magazine subscribbers on this site, so you'll no doubt remember recent editorials lamenting the loss of Drag strips. Heck, Southern Cal is down to just 2 if I remember correct: Pomona (only open for a couple of national events a year) and Irwindale (1/8th mile). Encroachment/noise/costs/EPA seemed to have a hand in all of them. I think all of the little tracks will be gone in the next 10 years.

The irony is big city councils all over are up in arms over street racing (a problem here in Vegas even though we have a drag racing facility), yet they keep closing down legal venues for the activity. Gone are the days of philanthropy to open tracks (think Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach) to reduce street racing activities. I also heard that Phoenix is losing it's big NHRA track this spring.

I grew up in the pacific northwest and many of my familiy frequent the Renegade Raceway near Yakima. It's on Indian Reservation land, and has seen some management turmoil recently, and I'm fearful of it closing. I still make a pilgrimage up there once a year.

Sad times...

 

[cam383]

Sorry to hear about this superstockracer.Sad times indeed

 

[Polara Pat]

I feel your pain. The powers that be are really making it hard for us to do what we love.

Don't despair.

 

[coloradodave]

Sorry to hear that Superstockracer. Felt exactly the same way when they closed Half Moon Bay and then Fremont in later years here in Northern California. Fortunately we still have Sacramento Raceway and Sears Point (Infineon no longer). There was an effort to reopen Half Moon Bay about 10-12 years ago. Even had sound tests for the neighbors. Fell through because locals didn't want their property values to drop (good luck with that - karma?) and all the trouble that the 'hotrodders' (read hoodlums...lol) might bring.
Anybody remember street racing on the Great Highway (some guys trailered in to this), Brotherhood Way or even San Quentin Road in Marin?

 

[Budnicks]

sorry to here that SSR, that really freaken' sucks, we have lost a bunch hear in Calif. too over the years, Riverside, Ontario International, Half Moon Bay, Lions, Santa Ana, San Gabriel, the original Irwindale 1/4 mile, Fremont/Baylands, Kingman/Lodi, Vacaville 1/8th mile, more recently Fontana, LACR, we use to also race at Terminal Island by Long Beach in the 70's too, ran by the International "Brotherhood" of Street Racers, to keep the racing off the streets... I'm sure there are others I've forgoten... I remember them all, going with my step dad Bob, in the mid sixty's & until I started racing in 1975, they started drooping like fly's, mostly all got a bad rap for type of "hard core"/undesirable racer/clientèle, also traffic issues, parking & then the noise complaints, from the "stupid *** people" that moved in & right next to the "existing tracks" in the many encroaching housing developments, what did they expect ??, it's like the dumb *** people that move in, next to an existing Airport & then complain about the plane noises... IMHO the land became far more valuable, the cities/counties wanted the land to be developed for property taxes revenues {& get rid of the riff/raff crowds...LOL..} & such, politicians weren't very favorable to the race tracks/racing crowds either, they never have been, unless they were NASCAR tracks...

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Poor management, bad weather for the last 2 years,bad economy, high gas prices took a toll on the track.
I tried to patronize it as much as possible. I made my 1st 8 second pass there and the guys loved the early b bodies.
The stsrter there PEGLEG was awesome. he loved my giant wheelstands and always treated me good there.
When NENDRA raced there, they prepped the track extra for us.
Hopefully they can get this sorted out. We had 4 races planned there for 2013.

 

[2059]

sorry to hear that.. great vid! IMO the EPA is out of control. We (farmers) have to deal with them more than is necesary; and the DNR and the BLM and IDEM....

 

[Endangered Species]

Man, that sucks! I hate seeing tracks close.

 

[HT413]

Sonofabitch. I was looking forward to hitting one of your NENDRA meets this coming season. That really sucks.

 

[SUPERSTOCKRACER]

Sonofabitch. I was looking forward to hitting one of your NENDRA meets this coming season. That really sucks.

tell me about it. couldnt wait till 2013 and meeting you guys.

 

[actionange1]

Sonofabitch. I was looking forward to hitting one of your NENDRA meets this coming season. That really sucks.

You could come to LVD for NENDRA races or even for ECNSSA races which there will be a couple of in 2013.

 

[383man]

That sucks. I hear of to many tracks closing lately. Bummer. Ron