Drag racing

The promoter of drag racing events on a town-owned runway in the Calverton Enterprise Park has abandoned plans to hold events this spring and early summer. 

Racing fans at Sunday’s Race Track, Not Street drag racing event at the Calverton Enterprise Park witnessed a junior drag racing tournament with the largest prize pool in National Hot Rod Association history, according to the event’s promoter.

The State Department of Environmental Conservation in 2021 advised against using the traction compound on the Calverton runway, citing environmental risks, and it's been prohibited for the drag racing event. The event promotor, who says the compound will make racing safer, is pushing for its use.

The drag racing promoter at the Calverton Enterprise Park is expanding his events this year to include car shows, go-kart racing and drifting exhibitions. 

Equipment, jersey barriers, trailers and a truck were some of the items left on a town-owned runway at the Calverton Enterprise Park by a drag-racing promoter without permission last year. The town is currently negotiating a runway use agreement to legalize the arrangement.

The modified Mustang was going 75-80 mph when the driver lost control and crashed into the concrete barrier, jumping the wall and overturning. He was airlifted to Stony Brook with non-life-threatening injuries.

Plans for 14 drag racing events at the Calverton Enterprise Park next year gained special event approvals from the Riverhead Town Board Tuesday night.

Drag racing promoter Peter Scalzo has been living in a motor home on a Calverton runway without permission for more than a week as he sets up the track for the drag racing series set to being Aug. 20. The town hasn't yet signed a runway use agreement with Scalzo for the Race Track-Not Street Summer Series.

The “Race Track, Not Street” drag-racing events scheduled for this weekend have been canceled due to confusion —or some sort of misunderstanding — over ownership of a taxiway at the Calverton Enterprise Park. The remaining events in the “Race Track, Not Street” series will go on as planned, except they will be located on the 7,000-foot runway, where they were held last year.

Drag racing events will be held on 12 weekends this year at the Calverton Enterprise Park, after approvals granted by the town board Wednesday.