New Jersey Motorsports Park
  Thunderbolt (top) and Lightning (bottom) circuits | |
| Location | 8000 Dividing Creek Road, Millville, Cumberland County New Jersey |
|---|---|
| Time zone | GMT-5 |
| Coordinates | 39°21′32″N 75°03′42″W / 39.35897°N 75.061628°W |
| Capacity | Open seating without capacity limitation |
| Opened | 2008 |
| Major events | AMA Superbike Championship (2009-Present) ARCA Racing Series (2008-Present) American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association 2013 SCCA (2008-Present) CCS (2010-Present) 24 Hours of LeMons (2011-Present) |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 2.25 miles (3.62 km) |
| Turns | 14 |
| Race lap record | 1:10.211 (Carl Skerlong, King Taco Pacific Coast Motorsports, 2008, Atlantic Championship[1]) |
| Lightning Raceway | |
| Surface | Asphalt |
| Length | 1.9 miles (3.06 km) |
| Turns | 10 |
New Jersey Motorsports Park is a road course located in Millville, Cumberland County, New Jersey, United States. It has a somewhat turbulent past, being the subject of repeated noise complaints from neighboring property owners. In 2010 the NJMP declared bankruptcy, and has been struggling since to gain a foothold. It has hosted races since opening in 2008 and currently boasts a schedule including AMA Pro Road Racing, ARCA Racing Series, American Historic Racing Motorcycle Association, and SCCA events.
Current tracks and facilities
Thunderbolt and Lightning Raceways
New Jersey Motorsports Park is located on 500 acres immediately adjacent to the Millville Municipal Airport, 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 military efforts.
NJMP is one of only a handful of 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.
F1 Karting at New Jersey Motorsports Park
In addition to the two road courses, NJMP includes a 1.1-mile (1.8 km) karting facility called F1 Karting. Like the park itself, F1 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.
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 embraced this rich 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 WWII fighter aircraft.
The facility also carries the historical WWII 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 WWII.
Other ties to the WWII 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 WWII air traffic control tower. Upon visiting New Jersey Motorsports Park, you will also notice that NJMP safety and security vehicles are based on WWII MP Jeeps.
While building the various structures at New Jersey Motorsports Park, many WWII 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- 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 New Jersey Motorsports Park
Events
NBC's Octane Academy held its east coast qualifier at the Park's 1.9-mile Lightning Raceway in January 2013.
Pro racing
Many renowned racing series have visited at New Jersey Motorsports Park. The first was Grand-Am's Rolex Sports Car Series in 2008, with Oswaldo Negri and Mark Patterson capturing the first-ever Thunderbolt trophies. The ARCA Racing Series and AMA Superbike Championship also joined the NJMP schedule, holding annual points-paying races at the northeast facility.
Other notable events include the "Devil in the Dark", a 12-hour endurance race put on by the South Jersey region of the SCCA. Regional and national sportscar and motorcycle clubs also hold hundreds of track-day events at the two circuits each season.
Race history
American Superbike
| Year | Date | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Race Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laps | Best Lap | |||||
| 2009 | September 5 |  Josh Hayes
|
Yamaha Motor Corp. | Yamaha | 23 | 1:21.979 |
| 2009 | September 6 | Josh Hayes
|
Yamaha Motor Corp. | Yamaha | 23 | 1:21.287 |
| 2010 | September 4 | Josh Hayes
|
Team Graves Yamaha | Yamaha | 21 | 1:21.210 |
| 2010 | September 5 | Josh Hayes
|
Team Graves Yamaha | Yamaha | 23 | 1:21.242 |
| 2011 | September 3 | Josh Hayes
|
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha | Yamaha | 23 | 1:21.264 |
| 2011 | September 4 | Blake Young
|
Rockstar/Makita/Suzuki | Suzuki | 23 | 1:21.904 |
| 2012 | September 8 | Josh Hayes
|
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha | Yamaha | 23 | 1:20.737 |
| 2012 | September 9 | Josh Hayes
|
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha | Yamaha | 23 | 1:20.895 |
| 2013 | September 14 | Josh Herrin
|
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha | Yamaha | 20 | 1.21.804 |
| 2013 | September 15 | Josh Hayes
|
Monster Energy Graves Yamaha | Yamaha | 23 | 1:20.716 |
ARCA Racing Series
| Year | Date | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Race Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laps | |||||
| 2008 | September 28 | Justin Allgaier
|
Allgaier Motorsports | Chevrolet | 48 |
| 2009 | September 13 | Patrick Long
|
Cunningham Motorsports | Dodge | 67 |
| 2010 | August 15 | Casey Roderick
|
Bill Elliott Racing | Dodge | 67 |
| 2011 | May 22 |  Andrew Ranger
|
NDS Motorsports | Dodge | 67 |
| 2012 | July 1 | Andrew Ranger
|
NDS Motorsports | Dodge | 67 |
| 2013 | July 28 | Andrew Ranger
|
NDS Motorsports | Dodge | 67 |
| 2014 | June 1 | Andrew Ranger
|
Dodge | 67 | |
| 2015 | June 18 | Kyle Weatherman
|
Dodge | 67 |
Rolex Sportscar Series
| Year | Date | Driver | Team | Manufacturer | Race Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laps | |||||
| 2008 | August 31 |  Oswaldo Negri &  Mark Patterson
|
Michael Shank Racing #60 | Ford Riley | 105 |
| 2009 | May 3 |  Niclas Jönsson & Ricardo Zonta
|
Krohn Racing #76 | Ford Lola | 87 |
| 2010 | August 18 | Jon Fogarty & Alex Gurney
|
Bob Stallings Racing #99 | Chevrolet Riley | 116 |
| 2011 | July 24 | Scott Pruett &  Memo Rojas
|
Chip Ganassi Racing #01 | BMW Riley | 117 |
| 2012 | May 13 |  Max Angelelli & Ricky Taylor
|
Wayne Taylor Racing #10 | Corvette DP | 117 |
External links
- Millville, New Jersey
- Motorsport venues in New Jersey
- Buildings and structures in Cumberland County, New Jersey
- Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey
- IMSA GT Championship circuits
- Visitor attractions in Cumberland County, New Jersey
- National Register of Historic Places in Cumberland County, New Jersey