New Jersey Motorsports Park is a

road course Road racing is a form of motorsport racing held on a paved road surface. The races can be held either on a closed circuit or on a street circuit utilizing temporarily closed public roads. Originally, road races were held almost entirely on publ ...

"Motorsports Entertainment Complex" located in Millville,

Cumberland County Cumberland County may refer to: Australia * Cumberland County, New South Wales * the former name of Cumberland Land District, Tasmania, Australia Canada *Cumberland County, Nova Scotia United Kingdom * Cumberland, historic county *Cumberla ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. It has hosted races since opening in 2008 and currently hosts a schedule including MotoAmerica Pro Road Racing, 24 Hours of LeMons,

American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association AHRMA (American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to preserving, restoring and competing on historic motorcycles. With over 3000 members, AHRMA is the leading vintage motorcycle racing group in Nort ...

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional ...

events,

SCCA Pro Racing SCCA Pro Racing is the pro racing division of the Sports Car Club of America. SCCA Pro Racing was formed in 1963, the company is a fully owned subsidiary of SCCA. Current Championships Since the beginning in 1963 SCCA Pro Racing sanctioned vario ...

F2000 Championship Series The F2000 Championship Series is a North American–based open wheel road racing series based on Formula Continental, a wings and slicks series that is designed to be the second step after Formula F 1600. The series utilizes the 2.0L powerplan ...

. It is not to be confused with the New Jersey Motorsports Park: Field of Dreams, an unaffiliated Motocross facility across the street.

Current tracks and facilities

Thunderbolt and Lightning Raceways

New Jersey Motorsports Park is located on 500 acres immediately adjacent to the

Millville Municipal Airport Millville Executive Airport is in Millville, in Cumberland County, New Jersey. The airport, southwest of the Millville city center, is owned by the Delaware River and Bay Authority (DRBA) and the City of Millville. It was dubbed "America's ...

, a location that was dedicated in 1941 as America's First Defense Airport, which played a key role in the country's

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

military efforts. NJMP is one of the few facilities in the world housing two circuits that can be operated simultaneously. The tracks both feature many elevation changes, along with lengthy front straightaways. One of the best known features of this course is a stretch on Thunderbolt Raceway known as "the Jersey devil." The Park offers open seating which allows spectators to venture throughout the grounds. Grandstands are available in several locations, in addition to camping areas and on-site hotel and condominium accommodations. The facility includes a full-service bar and restaurant, The Finish Line Pub, located at the center of the property.

Go-karting

In addition to the two road courses, NJMP includes a karting facility called Tempest Raceway. Like the park itself, Tempest consists of two tracks that can be operated simultaneously. It hosts daily arrive-and-drive programs, and offers custom experiences for groups. The complex also hosts competition events sanctioned by various regional and national series. In 2011 The Motorsports park declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy, defaulting on its contracts with the City of Millville.

Millville Army Air Field

The Millville Army Air Field opened as a gunnery school for fighter pilots for the Republic P-47 “Thunderbolt” in 1941. During its four-year existence, about 1,500 pilots received advanced P-47 Thunderbolt fighter training here. New Jersey Motorsports Park commemorated this history by naming its marquee 2.25-mile racetrack “Thunderbolt Raceway.” The 1.9-mile road course – Lightning Raceway – is named after the P-38 Lightning, a World War II fighter aircraft. The facility also carries the historical World War II theme by naming its track-side condominiums “The Villas at Breighton.” Breighton was the name of an allied airfield in Great Britain, where many of the Millville-trained P-47 pilots served during World War II. Other ties to the World War II theme include the English Tudor design of the clubhouse, the Officers Club's Q-Hangar design that contains Cumberland County's largest banquet facility and the Timing Tower that resembles a World War II air traffic control tower. NJMP safety and security vehicles are based on World War II MP Jeeps. While building the various structures at New Jersey Motorsports Park, many World War II artifacts were found and collected for display at the Millville Army Air Field Museum, located on the opposite side of the Millville Airport. The Bore Site range, located just outside Thunderbolt Raceway Paddock was used by Thunderbolt pilots during training as a range to calibrate their machine guns. Today, a

P-47 Thunderbolt The Republic P-47 Thunderbolt is a World War II-era fighter aircraft produced by the American company Republic Aviation from 1941 through 1945. It was a successful high-altitude fighter and it also served as the foremost American fighter-bom ...

- No Guts, No Glory aircraft is based out of Millville Airport. It is one of only nine in the world still in working condition.

History of racing at the park

Events

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

's Octane Academy held its east coast qualifier at the Park's 1.9-mile Lightning Raceway in January 2013.

Records

New Jersey Motorsports Park's slowest hot lap was done in a Ferrari 458 Italia driven by automotive journalist Danny Korecki on the Lightning Circuit
Korecki drove the Ferrari 458 on three consecutive laps while going no faster than 25 miles per hour

Pro racing

Many renowned racing series have visited New Jersey Motorsports Park. The first was

Grand-Am Road Racing Grand-Am Road Racing or Grand-Am was an auto racing sanctioning body that was established in 1999 to organize road racing competitions in North America. Its primary focus was the Rolex Sports Car Series, an endurance racing championship series ...

Rolex Sports Car Series The Rolex Sports Car Series was the premier series run by the Grand American Road Racing Association. It was a North American-based sports car series founded in 2000 under the name Grand American Road Racing Championship to replace the failed ...

in 2008, with

Oswaldo Negri Oswaldo "Ozz" Negri Jr. (born May 29, 1964) is a Brazilian racing driver from São Paulo. Racing career Formula Three and Indy Lights He raced part-time in the British Formula Three Championship from 1987 to 1989 with few good results. He return ...

and Mark Patterson capturing the first-ever Thunderbolt trophies. The

ARCA Racing Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into the three nationa ...

and

AMA Superbike Championship AMA Superbike Championship is an American motorcycle racing series that has been run every year beginning in 1976. For most of its existence it has been considered the premier motorcycle road racing series in the United States. It is sanctioned ...

also joined the NJMP schedule, holding annual points-paying races at the Northeast facility. In 2010, SCCA Pro Racing's

Trans-Am Series The Trans-Am Series is a sports car racing series held in North America. Founded in 1966, it is sanctioned by the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Primarily based in the United States, the series competes on a variety of track types includ ...

held its first race at Thunderbolt Raceway and returned in 2012, and from 2014 on. Other notable events include the "Devil in the Dark", a 12-hour endurance race put on by the South Jersey region of the

. Regional and national sportscar and motorcycle clubs also hold hundreds of track-day events at the two circuits each season.

Race history

American Superbike

MotoAmerica Superbike Series

NASCAR K&N Pro Series East

ARCA Racing Series

Rolex Sportscar Series

Trans Am Series

References

External links

New Jersey Motorsports Park Official Site

Facility Overview video

Track History at racing-reference.info

Trackpedia guide to NJMP

Track Rental Informational video

F1 Karting at New Jersey Motorsports Park video

NJMP Official Photo Gallery (2008-Present)
{{Global MX-5 Cup tracks Millville, New Jersey Motorsport venues in New Jersey Buildings and structures in Cumberland County, New Jersey Sports venues on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey IMSA GT Championship circuits Tourist attractions in Cumberland County, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, New Jersey NASCAR tracks ARCA Menards Series tracks Road courses in the United States