gets liquor license
for racing events
Raceway Park to host
skateboarding festival
Old Bridge track
gets liquor license
for racing events
BY SUE M. MORGAN
Staff Writer
The Vans Warped Tour, a renowned punk rock and skateboarding festival, will roll into Old Bridge for one date this summer.
The annual concert tour, billed as punk rock’s answer to Ozzfest and Lollapalooza, is scheduled to stop at Old Bridge Township Raceway Park for an eight-hour show on Aug. 8, according to Michael Napp, owner of the Pension Road drag strip.
On Monday, the Township Council unanimously agreed to give Napp the necessary mass assembly permit for the nonracing event, which is expected to draw as many as 27,000 spectators.
The Raceway Park booking is the first for the 10-year-old festival, which for its first nine years made its local appearance in Asbury Park at a venue behind the Berkeley-Carteret Hotel on Ocean Avenue.
Over the past weekend, Napp conferred with Old Bridge Mayor Jim Phillips, Police Chief Thomas Collow, Ward 5 Councilman Richard Greene and Ward 6 Councilwoman Lucille Panos about the traffic and public safety issues regarding the event, which will run from noon to 8 p.m.
The 41-year-old drag strip is located in Greene’s ward, and many of Panos’ constituents reside near the location as well.
Satisfied with the outcome of his meetings with Napp, Collow and the two council representatives, Phillips expressed confidence in the ability of the drag strip’s management team and the local police department to handle traffic and crowd control.
"Raceway Park can handle the volume," Phillips said, noting that the festival’s past tour stops in Asbury Park have gone off without incident.
Collow indicated that he also walked away satisfied after meeting with Napp.
"The police department is satisfied that we will have adequate manpower there," Collow said.
Raceway Park’s management will alert police in neighboring Manalapan Township, Monmouth County, about the scheduled event and enlist their support in directing traffic on nearby roads in that municipality.
The racetrack is located just over the boundary from Manalapan, where a number of residents living near the park have often complained to officials in that town of traffic and noise emanating from certain racing events.
"We’re working with Manalapan," Napp said. "Some Manalapan police will be there."
The Vans Warped Tour should not adversely affect any of the neighbors, Napp said, adding that the anticipated attendance is much less than the number of patrons that come to racing events.
"[Having] 27,000 people at Raceway Park is not uncommon," Napp said. "It won’t even fill the parking lot."
Because the Vans Warped Tour is directed at teenagers, many of whom do not drive, Napp does not expect any major traffic problems. Most attendees will probably be picked up and dropped off by their parents or guardians, he said.
In addition, the drop-off and pickup points for attendees will be inside the racetrack’s premises itself, Napp pointed out.
Such has not been the case in Asbury Park, where teens often had to walk several city blocks from the Asbury Festival Area to be picked up after 8 p.m., he said.
The Vans Warped Tour provides its own security detail at festivals, which, coupled with Raceway Park’s security force, should protect the patrons inside the park, Napp said.
"[The Warped Tour] doesn’t have a bad reputation," Napp said. "[Attendees] come to hear live music and watch skateboarding."
Several bands are already lined up for the Raceway Park gig, according to Jon Vena, marketing and publicity manager for Concerts East, the Red Bank-based promoter of the local booking.
Included on the bill to date are the bands New Found Glory, the Bouncing Souls, Bad Religion, NOFX, Yellowcard and numerous other bands, and Vena said the lineup is subject to change.
The Vans Warped Tour kicks off on June 25 in Houston and ends Aug. 19 in Boston, according to its official Web site.
In an unrelated action, the council approved the person-to-person transfer of a liquor license held by English Pub Inc. to Daydream Drinks LLC, also owned by Napp.
The transfer will allow Napp and his employees to sell alcoholic beverages in a specially designated area of Raceway Park during racing events. Alcoholic beverages will not be served at the Vans Warped Tour.
No one under the legal drinking age of 21 will be served alcohol and servers will check for identification inside the self-contained selling area, which Napp described as a beer garden.
Children and teenagers will not be permitted inside the serving area without a parent or guardian, he added, and security will be posted at the entrance and exit of the serving area.
Raceway Park was the only racetrack in the United States without a liquor license, he said.
The serving area will be subject to compliance with Old Bridge ordinances as well as the regulations of the New Jersey State Police, according to Marc A. Leckstein, Napp’s lawyer. The bar area should be open in about a month, he added.