A large crowd of drag racing fans rallied at Riverhead Raceway Sunday in support of a drag track on Long Island.
Racing fans have long eyed the former Grumman site in Calverton as a potential location for a drag strip — or a new NASCAR track — holding rallies at Riverhead Town Hall, lobbying town officials and circulating petitions.
Drag track advocates formed a Facebook group called L.I. Needs a Drag Strip that’s collected nearly 6,700 members in about two months’ time.
Organizers of that group staged Sunday’s rally at the Route 58 raceway, drawing a crowd they estimated at about 600 people. They were joined by Rep. Lee Zeldin, who told the crowd he supports their demand for a drag track on Long Island “1,000 percent.”
Zeldin, who was at the racetrack with his two daughters, said a new drag strip was needed for the next generation of racing fans on the island.
“As they grow up here on Long Island, they want to o know what makes Long Island great. For many of you, what made Long Island great is when we had drag strips,” Zeldin told the crowd.
Zeldin urged drag racing enthusiasts to make their presence known in town halls across Long Island.
“That’s the message. Tell every elected official who is out there, wherever you are on Long Island, you need to listen up. This group may be several hundred strong here but it is several thousand strong all across Long Island and they will come to your door to tell you …We want a drag strip on Long Island… Long Island needs a drag strip,” Zeldin drawing applause and cheers from the crowd gathered around him.
It’s also a matter of public safety, the congressman said, alluding to the practice of unauthorized — and illegal — drag racing on local roadways by motor sports enthusiasts who have no legal drag-racing options on Long Island. The dangers associated with street racing affect young people in particular — sometimes with deadly results, like a 2014 Farmingdale crash that left five teens dead.
The island was once home to three drag strips: National Speedway in Center Moriches, Islip Speedway and LI Dragway in Westhampton, which was the last operating drag strip, and closed in 2004. Now the nearest drag strips are in New Jersey, forcing thousands of drag-racing drivers and fans to travel long distances at great expense to participate in their favorite sport.
Riverhead Raceway, which does not presently have a drag strip, is Long Island’s last remaining auto racing track. Prior owners Jim and Barbara Cromarty had limited 100-foot drag racing at the track, but the new owners, Ed and Connie Partridge and Tom Gatz, have not yet scheduled any drag racing, said John Cozzali, who founded the L.I. Needs a Drag Strip Facebook group.
“We wanted to show the owners of Riverhead Raceway that we need a place to drag race,” Cozzali said in an interview this morning.
“Maybe there’s an option here [at the raceway],” Zeldin said Sunday. He advised the group to talk to the race track’s owners, local residents and town board members.
Ultimately, Zeldin advised them, it usually comes down to “a zoning issue.”
“Some of you are looking at EPCAL, others are looking anywhere,” Zeldin said. He said they need to identify a parcel of land with a willing owner, and then “begin talking to residents, talking to the community, talking to local civics… get the media to start reporting on it.”
Cozzali said an important mission of his group is to bring awareness about drag racing to the broader community.
“We want to get kids who are drag racing off the streets,” he said. At the same time it would also have tremendous economic benefits, he said. Drag racing teams — some big names have already left Long Island because “it’s cheaper for them to work from another state than trying to commute there from here” — spend thousands and thousands of dollars wherever they go,” Cozzali said.
“They stay at local hotels, eat at local restaurants, enjoy local attractions and activities,” he said. “The revenue is unbelievable.”
Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said he had not been aware of Sunday’s rally. He agrees Long Island needs a drag strip, he said. But the Calverton Enterprise Park is off the table.
The State Department of Environmental Conservation has advised the town it does not want to see a drag strip there, Walter said. “And the Gold Star Mothers came out in force against it in 2010.” They cited the proximity of the EPCAL site to Calverton National Cemetery. See prior story.
“The bottom line is this. Long Island needs a drag strip and Long Island needs high-paying jobs. Guys running drag race cars have to have six-figure jobs,” Walter said, because running a car is an expensive proposition.
“All those guys who drag race can’t run those cars working at Walmart,” he said. “I want to give them $100,000-a-year jobs, not $15-an-hour Governor Cuomo jobs.”
He added: “When we spend five years wrangling with the DEC and in the end the DEC says we don’t want to see a drag strip there…” Walter said, “I’m going with high-paying jobs at EPCAL.”
The Riverhead supervisor said Riverhead has done its share to support racing and “protect Riverhead Raceway.”
“All those guys who drag race, they have to look someplace else for a drag strip. They should start looking in Brookhaven — or Southold. It’s time for another town to step up. There’s land in other towns,” Walter said.
“I have never been approached by anyone expressing an interest in establishing a racing or drag racing track,” Southold Supervisor Scott Russell said today. “I have also never been approached by anyone in the community that has identified it as a need.”
