So sad to see..... I thought Speedworld in NW Phoenix would survive. Drag strip, moto x, rc plane field, 3/8 dirt track. Was a multiuse facility and gone just like that.

J, was the track plowed under and the stands and building removed ?
I remember the first race I race thier back in the 1970s, water starting coming up through the asphalt at the starting line, something about a "natural" spring or some other story It was good except for that one time
Any more noise about building new a drag strip in Lake Havasu City or was that a bunch nothing burger ?

track is still there cab. they put jersey barriers across it so nobody can sneak in and play. All grown over. Never saw/heard any water issues. I remember back in the day a lot of fuel teams would test there and run between the Pomona and Phoenix event... it was that nice of track.

Havasu deal and the track at Banning seem to have a lot in common on the story line. Big mouths, and empty pockets. Havasu would have been a great place. Lots of old gear heads in that town and the performance industry is alive and well in the marine sector.

We are the closest to finding a patch of dirt to build a track on long island,it's been 15 years!

Built it and they will come. There's enough of a performance community on Long Island alone that could sustain the track with good programs factored in. All of NYC would come to play.
Some politicians in office right now are gear heads and may help, not to mention Suffolk and Nassau counties finest.

It's official and officially Sad... Been going there for 30 years. Hopefully Ralph can find another place to Host a Mopar event or talk with Maplegrove and try and get the E-town crowd to attend as that show is non existent. Or try to get a show at Atco. One less Mopar show/Race is never a good thing let alone ALL the racers that went there weekly.. I wonder where the NHRA event will be and maybe E-town should change their information they have posted about it...

http://www.etownraceway.com/schedule/nhra_supernationals_schedule.aspx

We need some sort of lobby to represent us in the area. Cuomo, like him or not is a car guy. Perhaps he would be sympathetic to our cause if there were enough people and businesses behind it. The L.I. guys seem to be doing pretty well. Perhaps some of the Jersey guys closer to the city will get behind it now. 3 hours or not, I'd be there.

The idea of building a drag strip anywhere within 100 miles of NYC is pretty far fetched for the reasons I stated before but you never know until you try. Just not realistic to think it would happen in this day and age.

I can't really think of any one particular area or place that would work besides out east on the Island. Floyd Bennett Field would be awesome but I can't imagine the city saying OK to that. Plus it's kind of hard to get there from outlying areas.

ETown is in a pretty convenient spot off the turnpike. Easily reached from points west, north and south since you don't have to navigate through the city.

Losing ETown makes the NY area similar to LA now which is essentially the birthplace of hot rodding - except Irwindale, there are no 1/4 mile drag strips within 2-3 hours of Los Angeles, correct? Pomona has Nationals twice a year, right? Bakersfield is a ways away, at least a few hours. Banning is gone? Las Vegas is at least 3 hours. Barona is the only one left I think.

They still have the swap meet and car shows, just no drag racing.

NHRA already has it on their website about losing its race there and said other tracks have stepped in to try to fill the date. NHRA said it may not have time to switch it for the 2018 race season but may look into all options

Sorry to say the swap meet/car show will not keep Mopars @ E-town show alive unless you consider the show just being on life support....

as i read on nhra they are just having one less race in 2018

Fontana drag strip is a 1/4 mile, Irwindale is a 1/8 mile, less than 30 miles apart
I can remember when SO CA had 10 + 1/4 mile tracks

I'm from NY so I don't know all the details of each facility but you get my point. I knew Irwindale was 1/8 mile though, so is Barona.

But like you said, in the 'birthplace of hot rodding' there were at least 10 drag strips, now down to two.

......and in the birth place of big stakes racing capital of the world, New York has none and perhaps for good reason.
I'm sure all of this threw NHRA into a whirlpool of scheduling messes. Imagine how many bookings now have to wait till the race gets hosted somewhere else. Weird.

read on another site it seems every thing but drag racing is a go for 2018

That's correct...everything but the 1/4 mile and 1/8 mile tracks are still open. Talk about rubbing salt in the wound....

Not sure many here would care if they shut down the motocross or drifting track. Just sayin.

In any event, was just thinking about this a little more. Most of the drag strips we all know and love were built WAY back when, like late '50s-'60s. At that point, they were generally put in a spot that was undeveloped, like Old Bridge Twp. The sport was still growing and people in this country loved cars.

Decades go by, land becomes more scarce and the areas around the track start getting developed. These places that were once out in the middle of nowhere now have people building homes and such nearby. Stupid of them? Maybe but whether by choice or not that's what happened. They can coexist with a track for a while but at some point the need for more development trumps the idea of guys running loud cars down a track. This puts pressure on the track owner or whoever owns the land to sell it. Same thing with farms etc.

You see it everywhere, it's not just drag strips being swallowed up. My wife is from Western Pa, we go out there a few times a year to visit. Over the last few years, the development has gotten out of control. There are mega malls and McMansion developments EVERYWHERE. All these places used to be open farm land. The farmer dies, the land is sold for big money and developers swoop in. There's no open space left anywhere in this country, just false luxury and chain restaurants. Sprawl is the enemy here. And developers. Can't blame people for wanting to make a few bucks.

People seem to hate cars now too which doesn't help.

Maybe they will schedule some of those drunken burn out contest, wet tee shirt contests, and getto blaster sound-offs. I’m in.

I would like to see a boycott of all the remaining events they hope to hold. Thats all i can say right now I am absolutely livid over this. Thank Goodness for Island !!!

I'm torn on never giving them another dime, or going to the swamp meet, just to see what they have turned one of the premier tracks on the east coast into. Altho, i'll probably start to cry if i do.