Vinny & Richard Napp
The Napp brothers, Vinny and Richard, began their involvement in drag racing as soon as they became owners of their first car while still in their teens. The closest legal place for them to run was the front straightaway of the Old Bridge Speedway located in Englishtown, NJ. While they enjoyed their race participation, they soon became more interested in finding a place where racers could compete safely. In the early 1960’s the Napp brothers began looking for land to build a drag strip on that was affordable and located within a community that was open to such an operation. In 1962 they found 308 acres of wooded land just outside Old Bridge Township, NJ, that fit their needs and in 1965 they opened the gates at Raceway Park.
Like all new operations, opening day had its glitches but with the brother’s attention to detail and help from the racers, it soon found a workable groove. Before long racers from as far away as Pennsylvania and New England were racing there and the track was building a reputation as a “solid and fair” place to compete at. Raceway Park also caught the attention of NHRA and in 1968 it debuted its Summernationals there with an impressive spectator attendance of over 85,000. In 1971, NHRA awarded the Napp brothers the permanent placement of its Summernationals but its off-season nitro match racing really made it a complete success both with the racers and fans.
Vinny and Richard never rested on their success but constantly found new ways to upgrade and improve the facility. They were one of the first tracks to feature a 32 car Funny Car show, book a jet car shoot out and to bring in special match race events. They were also very good at promoting their events and finding ways to highlight unusual activities in their ads, such as Don Garlits famous “blow over” in 1986.
In 2018, after 53 years of superb racing events and shows, the brothers bowed to various pressures and closed the gates of Raceway Park. Sadly, Vinny passed away in October of 2019 and Richard passed away in December of 2021 but they will be long remembered by thousands of racers and race fans.