One of the most popular events among car lovers returns to Raceway Park, in Old Bridge, this weekend. The track known for it's NHRA event, and weekly drag racing will be filled with collector cars, hot rods, imports, and parts, parts, parts, this Friday, September 23rd thru Sunday, the 25th. Doesn't matter what kind of car you like, you will not only find it here, but there's a good chance you can find the parts needed to restore it.
The gates open all three mornings at 7am, and don't close until 6pm. Once you pay your $10 admission, you enter a facility that for this weekend is one part car show, another discount auto part store, and last part junkyard. The spectator parking area, and pit area, depending on where you enter present you with aisle after aisle of vendors selling car-related merchandise. You can choose to shop, or head straight for the 1/4 mile dragstrip, where the car show takes place.
I personally, even when I'm not looking for specific parts, love to start the day by walking up and down the many aisles of vendors before I head to the dragstrip. The car show portion is best viewed from about 11am to 2pm, anyway, as that is when most of the cars are present. The diversity of vendors is simply amazing. There are professional restoration part companies, right next to the local guy who started a project car, never finished it , and is now selling what was left over in his garage. Merchants selling new tires, next to a guy who seems more concerned about his bbq, and can of beer, than actually selling anything. For people looking to restore a vechicle, this area is like a giant treasure chest of potential hard-to-find parts, that they look forward to twice a year at Raceway Park.
Once you make it to the dragstrip, be prepared, no matter how car savy you may think you are, to see things you have never seen before. Rare, classic cars, worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. Custom machines, that have been chopped, lowered, or lifted. And the contrbution from the younger generation, imports, with high performance engines, wild paint schemes, and sound systems loud enough to drown out John Force's Mustang on a 1/4 mile run.
Raceway Park on Swap Meet weekend is truly a car lover's dream. The event takes up most of the grounds of the facility, and honestly, one day may not be enough to take it all in. Luckily, despite the fact that Raceway Park only hosts this event twice a year, once in the spring and again in the fall, it does take place over three days. Quite possibly the three best days a car lover in New Jersey can have.
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