Two-day drag racing event at EPCAL approved
The Riverhead Town Board unanimously approved a resolution for a special event application for a two-day drag racing event in June at Enterprise Park at Calverton.
The Scrambul Runway Challenge will be held June 19-20 with rain dates of June 26-27, according to the resolution.
The resolution for the site plan application, which was submitted in February, was originally tabled for Tuesday’s Town Board meeting. But the Town Board first voted to untable it and the proceeded to approve it.
The approval for the runway use includes a $10,000 fee that will be paid to the town no later than June 1, according to the resolution.
“Riverhead really loves racing and I think this two-day event gives us an opportunity to try this out,” said Councilwoman Catherine Kent. “This has been something that’s been talked about for many years. So I’m in support of it.”
She added that she would like an engineer to check the status on the runways before the event. Both of the EPCAL runways would be used for races of varying lengths: 1/8-mile, 1/4-mile and 1/2-mile. Spectators would only be set up at the runway for the 1/8-mile and 1/4-mile races. A jumbotron would be set up that shows a live feed of the other runway where the 1/2-mile races are done.
The special event application could still be denied if certificate of insurance is not received 30 days prior to the event.
Andre Baxter of Hempstead spoke about the event during Thursday’s work session. The Scrambul Runway Challenge is a different proposal than what was discussed by the Town Board a few weeks earlier for a series of 14 special events over seven weeks.