Atco Dragway Closes

Big_John

Illegitimi non carborundum
FCBO Gold Member
Joined
May 21, 2013
Messages
21,610
Reaction score
32,674
Location
Marcellus, NY
1689719533009.png

"Effective immediately: Atco Dragway is permanently closed. We will not be open from this point on. The remainder of our schedule for 2023 will be canceled.

Thank you all for your patronage and memories over the years.

Special thank you to our 29th annual Pan American Nationals racers & crowd for making Atco Dragway’s last event the biggest and best one ever. This isn’t the end for import racing in the northeast!

To all of our staff, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for sticking it out with us and being the best in the business!"

First Englishtown and now Atco.... SMH
 
Owner retiring? Encroachment of civilization? Cost to upgrade/update?

There can be LOTS of side issues going on in the background that we never hear about until it's too late, by observation.

CBODY67
 
Aw WTF! I reside 4 miles from there and haven't heard a thing about it.
Awful news!
It popped up on Facebook just this afternoon. I believe they were running this past weekend.

Something must have happened financially would be the only thing I can figure. Tracks are struggling between rising costs and people taking legal steps to shut them down.

Last time I was at Atco was with my late buddy, Dave. A bunch of us went down in a chartered bus he organized for a nostalgia drag race. It was a long and fantastic day.
 
It likely would take millions to update.
As far as I know there is no Sewer there. No public water, I could be wrong. Right on the edge of Wharton state forest .
 
It likely would take millions to update.
As far as I know there is no Sewer there. No public water, I could be wrong. Right on the edge of Wharton state forest .
I know when I first went there, I was surprised that it was a lot like the small tracks that I have raced at. Given its history, I was expecting something more like Englishtown. Still a lot nicer than a lot of tracks I've been too.
 
It was packed last weekend. Weekend before full of riders.

Rain took its toll on attendance this year I'm sure. The town of Atco has seemed like it was a nuisance rather than a good thing.
 
The town of Atco has seemed like it was a nuisance rather than a good thing.
That's a problem with a lot of tracks.

The local track (ESTA Safety Park) has been operating since the 50's. Some people built houses next door and then suddenly realized it gets noisy on Sundays... In and out of court on that debacle several times with restrictions on only racing once a week. At least that's still up and running.

The other local drag strips are just a memory. Utica-Rome was plowed under for a more lucrative dirt track with the promise of rebuilding the strip that never came. I have so many fun memories of that place. Fulton closed the drag strip years ago. One very small track called South Butler closed 40+ years ago and then surprisingly reopened not long ago. 1/10th mile with a track too narrow for even me to race at in my younger days.

While not a drag strip, the NYS Fairgrounds ripped up the mile long oval track and tore down the grandstands. There's an "Expo Center" there now and a large parking lot. Literally millions of dollars came into the area during DIRT week. Motels were sold out, restaurants were full.... Gone now... Racing bad.. Home shows good is the mantra..
 
Before there was a Texas Motorplex in Ennis, the only NHRA track in North Texas (or at least the "main" one) was Green Valley Race City in rural dairyland in North Richland Hills, just south of Keller. It was the main "big time" NHRA track that was in the hot rod magazines from the early 1960s. When I finally found where it was and drove out there, I was shocked at how "basic" it was. This was where the national level NHRA events were held? Magazine-chronicled events? So, it was a let-down to see it. In the earlier half of the 1980s, I went to a road race event out there. I got to talk to Andy Pilgrim about road racing his Mustang GT against the more powerful and better handling Camaros of that time.

As civilization progressed toward the track, more noise complaints happened. As if the new residents weren't told about a famous drag race track being about 1/4 mile away! Complaints led to concessions as to operational hours, but it was obvious they were on borrowed time. So, when the "Last Race Weekend" was announced, myself and a group of friends decided to go. One took his car on a trailer.

We plotted to go in "the back way", but when we got to the exit on Loop 820, we encountered stopped traffic, which was all headed toward the drag strip. We were shocked, but not surprised, at everybody heading there. Cars parked on the shoulders kind of like the pictures I'd seen of the roads leading to Woodstock! We finally got there to find 4-abreast racing on the strip. Not too good. There was a band playing too. The staging lanes extended to the back of the property. Eventually, the starting line staff left and it was a big free-for-all race event. Seems like the local police were called to shut down the racing? I can saw I was there. Surprised that somebody did not get hurt, all things considered!

Word had come down that Billy Meyer and some investors were going to build what became Texas Motorplex, a "state-of-the-art" facility an hour away. Everybody was excited, other than the "neighbors" who protested the suspected noise at an area lake some likes to quietly camp at on weekends. The track got built, with some concessions, of course. It has been a boon to the local economy as a few convenience stores and gas stations sprouted up from the agricultural-use soil.
Several car events, the old Super Chevy Sundays, and many car clubs had Saturday morning events, over before the normal Saturday night program people got there at 3pm. The first beginnings of what became the NMCA national muscle car shootouts were there, too.

At several events, I managed to get "suite access" through work. I always expected them to be plush, but they were more like "good enough" than plush. Plus that for a national NHRA event, NHRA became the "owner of the track" for that weekend. That sounded a bit unusual until I thorught about it from the other side of things. Plus the reasoning behind an "access ticket" and a "seat ticket", too.

From the time stamp on the original post by @Big_John and a similar time stamp of the notification in another forum, the track must have put out a mass message on social media after the close of business today.

More memories called up from the databank!

CBODY67
 
Aside from the electric utility strip of land next to it, after that is all Wharton State forest to the right. Still not a lot of houses but it has encroached over the years.
Jackson rd is 1 lane each way. A major thoroughfare that connects one area to the other. That could get pretty backed up on Atco Dragway days.

Screenshot_20230719_064104_Chrome.jpg
 
The word I keep hearing is that it is sold, and is going to be used for an auto auction facility.
Sounds similar to what happened at Raceway park in Englishtown.
 
That's a problem with a lot of tracks.

The local track (ESTA Safety Park) has been operating since the 50's. Some people built houses next door and then suddenly realized it gets noisy on Sundays... In and out of court on that debacle several times with restrictions on only racing once a week. At least that's still up and running.

The other local drag strips are just a memory. Utica-Rome was plowed under for a more lucrative dirt track with the promise of rebuilding the strip that never came. I have so many fun memories of that place. Fulton closed the drag strip years ago. One very small track called South Butler closed 40+ years ago and then surprisingly reopened not long ago. 1/10th mile with a track too narrow for even me to race at in my younger days.

While not a drag strip, the NYS Fairgrounds ripped up the mile long oval track and tore down the grandstands. There's an "Expo Center" there now and a large parking lot. Literally millions of dollars came into the area during DIRT week. Motels were sold out, restaurants were full.... Gone now... Racing bad.. Home shows good is the mantra..
My sister in law lives down the road from ESTA, between that and the Rod and gun club. Those were both there when they built in the 80's so no surprises, it's only Sundays and not all year. ESTA does though offer free admission to neighbors though, (I've taken advantage a couple times).
 
If it sold, as mentioned, they you can suspect the owners were wanting to do something different, took what they perceived as "a good offer" (or better) and will use that money to have a good quality of life as they continue to age. They've contributed a lot to the lives of others, over the years, so that is "good".

The auto auction can be a good and easy adaptation. Auction lines are already there (race track itself) as is the bidder area (grandstands and PA system). Just need some canopies over sections of those areas for a more all-weather orientation and they can be open for business quick and easy. BTAIM

Presuming the "auto auction" is for used cars, not insurance-bought salvageable used cars.

Cherish the great memories of attending Atco and the other famous drag strips of that region, which is all that can be done now. We went through similar things when Green Valley closed after a 40 year run on what started out as a dairy farm in a peaceful part of the county. Perhaps another entrepreneur will or has already begun putting together plans for a new track in the region, somewhere away from "things". Cycle repeat.

Take care,
CBODY67
 
If it sold, as mentioned, they you can suspect the owners were wanting to do something different, took what they perceived as "a good offer" (or better) and will use that money to have a good quality of life as they continue to age. They've contributed a lot to the lives of others, over the years, so that is "good".

The auto auction can be a good and easy adaptation. Auction lines are already there (race track itself) as is the bidder area (grandstands and PA system). Just need some canopies over sections of those areas for a more all-weather orientation and they can be open for business quick and easy. BTAIM

Presuming the "auto auction" is for used cars, not insurance-bought salvageable used cars.

Cherish the great memories of attending Atco and the other famous drag strips of that region, which is all that can be done now. We went through similar things when Green Valley closed after a 40 year run on what started out as a dairy farm in a peaceful part of the county. Perhaps another entrepreneur will or has already begun putting together plans for a new track in the region, somewhere away from "things". Cycle repeat.

Take care,
CBODY67


There is no room here in Jersey to add a " new track ".
 
Back
Top