Trenton native saddened by end of drag racing at Englishtown
Antron Brown saw the writing on the wall when the drag strip maintenance at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park slowly deterioriated in recent years, which made the finality of Wednesday’s news all the more upsetting.
Raceway Park announced that it will no longer hold drag races, ending a 48year run as host of the Summernationals, which had been a premier event in the NHRA’s annual 24-race series.
The Napp family, who has owned the Englishtown facility since its opening in 1965, said in a statement that the park will continue most of its operations, including car shows, motocross racing and kart racing. The grandstand and about half the strip will be converted into an outdoor concert venue.
“That was a place where a lot of people’s dreams became reality — including mine,” said Brown, who is fourth all-time in Top Fuel victories. “It’s definitely created a lot of the stars in our sport, and the history of the track will always be there. Every time you hear Old Bridge or Englishtown, you’re going to think of the Summernationals.”
For Brown, the history goes way back.
The 41-year-old Trenton native first visited Englishtown while being pushed around in a stroller with his family in the early 1980s. He remembers being at the track when his father showed off his new California roadster in 1981.
“I can distinctively remember going to Englishtown as a kid back when it had wooden stands — not even the metal stands that it has now,” Brown said. “I remember playing underneath the stands, coming out, looking at the cars. It was the place to go. You know how kids get excited when they say they’re going to Great Adventure, the amusement park? Everybody goes crazy? Well that’s how our family took to Englishtown.”
Brown can even envision the exact shorts and Buster Brown shoes he was wearing at the 1986 Summernationals, where his passion for the sport took off.
The legendary “Big Daddy” Don Garlits accelerated so quickly in his Top Fuel dragster that it flipped over backwards. Garlits brought the dragster to a halt with a wheel stand and emerged unscatched as the crowd erupted with a standing ovation.
“That’s what helped develop my love for the sport of NHRA drag racing, and just to know that a part of that’s gone now that’s not there anymore ... it’s sad,” Brown said. “People all across the country came to the Summernationals. They knew it was going to be speed-breaking, world-record runs. Then they ran at nighttime underneath the lights. That was part of the culture there, man. I mean, that was the thing to do.”
Brown, who moved to Chesterfield when he was 6, raced in the NHRA’s Pro Stock Motorcycle division from 1998-2007 before moving on to Top Fuel, the fastest class of drag racing.
His one and only Top Fuel win at the Englishtown track was in June 2015. That marked his 50th career win overall. Brown also won his second of three Top Fuel season championships that year.
In 2016, Chesterfield Mayor Jeremy Liedtka honored the star racer at the Englishtown track with a ‘Antron Brown Way’ street sign in Chesterfield.
“That was my hometown track. I came there and that’s where I always saw a lot of families, a lot of friends,” Brown said. “I always looked forward to coming there and racing with my father and uncle at the local town track.”
Raceway Park was also one of the sites of the NHRA’s YES (Youth & Education Services) program, an educational motorsports program.
Students would have the opportunity to learn and explore career opportunities with science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Brown was one of several professionals involved in leading presentations.
“We were able to bring out kids that were in middle school and high school and show them different career paths, and that’s one thing that’s going to be missing each and every year,” Brown said. “That’s what helps grow our sport and get people involved and interested in our sport. We’re not going to have that in that community anymore in New Jersey. That was a big part of it.”