The Napp brothers were involved in drag racing at an early age. They often could be found racing their hot rods on the front stretch of the Old Bridge Speedway, which was the closest legal place to race at the time. The Napp family began looking for land to build a drag strip along the Golden State Parkway but it was outside their price range. Already racing in Old Bridge, the brothers began looking for land in the area, as the town was receptive to a drag strip and had existing ordinances for building and operating race tracks. In 1962 the family bought 308 acres of wooded land. In 1965, Raceway Park opened and would be forever linked to the Old Bridge Township. On its opening day, Raceway Park had 172 cars show up to compete. It took all day to run all the cars down the drag strip. It took some time for the track to find its groove, but it did with the help of the muscle car guys from across New Jersey who came to race. The track also brought in racers, not just those in New Jersey, from New York and Philadelphia. The track caught the attention of NHRA, which held the Springnationals at Raceway Park in 1968. Impressed with the facility, NHRA awarded Raceway Park its own yearly event in 1971 with the Summernationals. Over 85,000 fans jammed Raceway Park for that first NHRA Summernationals. The Summernationlas grew in popularity with the racers and fans due to the cooler springtime weather. What made Raceway Park great was the off-season nitro match racing during the 70’s, which they would hold throughout the year. Raceway Park had no problem booking a 32 Funny Car field, including hometown hero Jungle Jim Liberman. Raceway Park launched the careers of several drag racers and was home to some of drag racing’s most memorable moments, including the famed Don Garlits SR30 blow over in 1986. Raceway Park was considered one of the premier tracks because Vinny and Richard constantly maintained and made upgrades to the facility. Drag racing at Raceway Park ceased in 2018 after 53 years of exciting professional and amateur drag racing. Vinny Napp passed away in October of 2019 and Richard Napp died in December 2021.