Speedsters find haven at Millville track
Link: http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/185/story/199279.html
By EDWARD VAN EMBDEN Staff Writer, 856-649-2072
Millville, N.J. (July 6, 2008) – The raceway opens with little more than the sound of a race car.
In the half-empty paddock, members of New Jersey Motorsports Park and their guests sit in lawn chairs under tents, making minor adjustments to their cars and waiting for their classes to be called to the track.
There's no ceremony, no public unveiling, ribbon cutting or grinning officials. On Saturday, the sight and sound of race cars - symbols of the region's hope for economic resurgence - is it.
Just members of the raceway, a decadelong project, tested out the motorsports world's newest track.
On a 700-acre plot of land adjacent to the Millville Municipal Airport, racing has returned.
"You just can't imagine the roller coaster we've been on," he says. "It's amazing that we've all kept our sanity and our friendships. We're driven, literally and figuratively."
The story of the raceway is long, littered with milestones and setbacks.
The planning, the lobbying, the lawsuits, the time, the money, the 28 gold-plated shovels and the people jostling to use them, breaking ground less than a year ago and signaling the beginning of the raceway's construction - all are history now.
All that, Savaro says, is what we need to get past.
"Five years ago, people didn't think we were for real," he says. "A year ago, people didn't think we could build it in this time frame. Clearly what you see here today is not a finished product, but our goal is developing a customer base and exposing motorsports on a lot of different levels," referring to the raceway's driving school, go carts and other enterprises.
Savaro estimates about 200 to 250 people attended Saturday. But the entire project is far from finished.
The raceway is expected to feature two courses. The first, Lightning, is the one members used Saturday. The second course, Thunderbolt, which will be the raceway's signature, should be finished in 25 days. Other amenities promised to members, such as the clubhouse kitchen, tennis courts and VIP suites also are still under construction.
"This is just scratching the surface," says Lee Brahin, another principal owner. "This is going to be the racing destination of the East Coast, if not the country."
Brahin, with his wife and friend at his side, watches from the timing tower as members fly along the straightaway. The track, he says, has gotten great reception so far. It's a challenge, he says it's got great features and a ton of speed, and in New Jersey and not many people could have expected this amount of elevation.
It's the kind of track that can host nearly any racing event, he says, and it's the kind of track he's willing to see provide an economic boon to the county.
"There's pressure to make the project work, and if it works there's going to be a lot in it for Cumberland County," Brahin says. "If today is any indication, we're going to knock this one out of the ballpark."
Tom Hessert, a former professional race driver and Pennsylvania resident, points out the car driven by his son, a current professional race driver of the same name, as it speeds along the track.
The Daytona prototype, a type of race car distinguished by its ability to reach top speeds after slowing for turns, handled the 1.9-mile track in about a minute - what you'd expect from a car with approximately 500 horsepower.
Hessert, who knows his tracks, says this is a good one. It's quality, he says, that gets people to come back time and time again, and not just drivers either. Racing fans, like drivers, he says, recognize a good track when they see it - and the first spectator event starts Friday when the Eastern Motor Racing Association rolls in.
He has seen the numbers a good track can generate and he believes this one's got it all.
"Even though this is a big boy's toy, this is the real deal. This is a really great track," Hessert says. "When you can get (as many as) 30,000 people to come to the track and camp out, the ancillary benefits to the community are great."
Taking a break next to his 1956 Lotus, Bill Garvey, a car collector, restorer and racer, notes the track's speed as well as its challenging nature. The Sweetwater resident and Green Flag Committee member - the Green Flag Committee organized a decade ago for the purpose of seeing a racecourse come to southern New Jersey - says location, for him, is key.
Typically, he says, it takes between four and six hours to get to the nearest track. But he, and many others, he presumes, are going to take advantage of the nearby location.
"I'm 45 minutes away, and there are two tracks," he says. "It doesn't get any better than that."