Flemington Route 12 Dragway
ClosedClosed No longer racing, but some of the track is still there.
- Art Arfons ran 223 MPH in his "Cyclops" jet dragster on May 17, 1964
- Ronnie Sox, Don Garlits and E.J. Potter were booked in 1964
- Raced
- 1962-65
- State
- New Jersey
- What's left
- A good length of the old track surface is still there, in poor to good condition.
- On the site today
- State-owned land with the county police firing range and county and federal agricultural offices
- Raced on
- Built as a drag strip
- First race
- May 27, 1962
- Last race
- 1965
- Track
- 1/8 mile, lengthened to 1/4 mile in 1964
- Location
- Route 12, four miles west of Flemington
- People
- Earle Lawson, co-owner and builder (1961-63)
- Edward Dissler Jr., co-owner and builder (1961-63)
- Leon Walls, co-owner and builder (1961-63)
- Thomas Stryker, co-owner and builder (1961-63)
- William J. Grossman, owner (1963-)
- Mike Kazin, track manager (1964)
- Elevation
- 563 ft (172 m)
- Coordinates
- 40.51615, -74.95341
This strip sat four miles west of Flemington on Route 12, on land that had been Susan Barama’s farm. Earle Lawson, Edward Dissler Jr., Leon Walls and Thomas Stryker, all of Franklin, bought the 109 acres from her for $30,000 and built the strip, which opened in 1961. The first race was May 27, 1962, on a tree-lined eighth mile, with bleachers still to come. Bruce Jenson won top eliminator that day with a 7.955. Newspapers reported on June 3, 1962 that John Arbraitis would take on all comers, and that George Ogonowski had won top eliminator the week before at 103.09 MPH in his A dragster. Clyde Harnish set a track record of 7.148 at 108.70 MPH in his B dragster on July 1, 1962.
In early July 1963 Kingwood Township farmer William J. Grossman bought the property from the four owners for about $100,000. He wanted bleachers and a quarter-mile strip, and spent about $50,000 on improvements, including the longer track. Quarter-mile racing began in spring 1964, with Mike Kazin as manager. Art Arfons ran 223 MPH in exhibition in his “Cyclops” jet dragster on May 17, 1964, and A.J. Clay set a strip record of 187.50 MPH on June 7. Other draws that year included E.J. “Parachute” Potter, Ronnie Sox and Don Garlits. One racer remembered flat-towing his car down with his dad and girlfriend for a bitterly cold weekend in 1964. He and his girlfriend rode in the race car to steer it on the turns, and he came home with a class trophy and runner-up in stock eliminator. The track handicapped slower cars with a head start based on their national records and used a flagman instead of lights.
No record of racing after 1965 has been found, and the strip was up for auction on May 28, 1966. A man who grew up nearby said in 2012 that it was abandoned in 1967, that a family who bought the house next to it had quite a driveway, and that the state now owned the weed-covered land and posted it no trespassing. A 2013 newspaper article said the property held the county police firing range and housed the county Soil Conservation District and the federal Farm Service Agency. County officials chose it that year for an Emergency Services Training Center for firefighters, which may not have happened.
