Politics & Government

Motorsports Advocate Discusses Possible Drag Racing Sites

Says Enterprise Park at Calverton would benefit Riverhead Town

Motorsports advocates who'd like to see a a drag racing strip at Enterprise Park at Calverton said other locations on the East End or Suffolk County could be considered.

Marty Johnson III, founder and CEO of the Long Island Motorsports Association, who has been lobbying for a drag racing strip at Enterprise Park at Calverton, would like to see a drag strip and a road course at EPCAL similar to what once existed in Bridgehampton and Westhampton.

But Johnson said Riverhead Town Supervisor Sean Walter continues to "stall."

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Walter has said one option for EPCAL could include a with a quarter mile track. But he added that the bottom line is that before any future use can be discussed, the subdivision process and environmental review by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation must be completed first.

Looking at other potential locations around the East End, Johnson said "the property issues are huge," with the heavy industrial zoning designation required for motorsports rapidly disappearing.

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Johnson said any potential parcel for a drag racing strip would need to be located far from residential homes. One possible location in Yaphank was recently sold by Suffolk County to the Brookhaven Rail Terminal, he said.

Johnson said he does not understand Walter's resistance to setting up a temporary drag strip at EPCAL; with the season over, the concept would now have to wait another year.

"If I was the town super and faced with again laying people off and killing town services, and here I have a group willing to rent the runway for a year or however long, until it's actually going to be developed, I'm going to grab that revenue," Johnson said.

He added that the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation would not require a permit for a sound test, something proponents of the EPCAL proposal have been asking for, and said the DEC "has no problem with the runway being used."

Other potential sites for a new drag strip could include a parcel in Bridgehampton, but the price, Johnson, said, is too high; the cost of a parcel next to EPCAL is also prohibitive, he said. A Northville property might also one day be a possibility, he said. Brookhaven National Laboratory, he said, would be a "perfect" option.

"We don't want to put a track where it will be a problem to get to and nor do we want to put it near people's houses," Johnson said. "There are a lot of logistical issues with a motorsports facility."


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