EPCAL

More drag racing could be coming to Riverhead next year, as “Race Track, Not Street” promoter Peter Scalzo has submitted event applications for 12 weekends, each featuring two drag racing events at the Enterprise Park in Calverton.

"The explosion and ensuing fire that consumed five cars being stored on a runway at EPCAL Wednesday night demonstrates exactly what residents were worried about when we objected to the town’s plan to allow hundreds, if not thousands, of storm-damaged vehicles to be stored at the EPCAL site."- Guest column by Kelly McClinchy

The auto fire at the EPCAL runway late Wednesday night is something some residents feared might happen when they expressed opposition to a contract with an auto salvage company to store flood-damaged vehicles on the runway.

A Tesla among the storm-damaged vehicles on a runway leased by the town to an auction company was fully engulfed upon police arrival late last night. The fire was deemed "not suspicious" police said, but the investigation is ongoing.

The Scrambul Runway Challenge drag racing event scheduled for this weekend at the Calverton Enterprise Park will go forward despite last-minute safety concerns raised by Supervisor Yvette Aguiar.

An auto auction company that stored flood-damaged vehicles at EPCAL after Superstorm Sandy in 2012 has signed a new runway use agreement for the same purpose in the wake of Tropical Storm Ida. The deal could be worth more than $600,000 to the Riverhead Community Development Agency.

More than 200 cars raced on one of the Calverton Enterprise Park runways Saturday afternoon in the first installment of "Race Track, Not Street" series of drag racing events in Calverton. Photo slideshow.

The Navy has "no intentions of dissolving" the Calverton Restoration Advisory Board, according to a Navy spokesman, who said the Navy remains committed to its cleanup responsibilities at the former Grumman manufacturing site.

Some town board members expressed confidence that everything will work out fine, despite apparent conflicting terms of permit and runway agreement.“We always can stop it on a moment's notice if it's not what we agreed to,” Councilman Tim Hubbard said.

In first public appearance in Riverhead Town Hall since Triple Five signed a $40 million land deal in 2018, company chairman Nader Ghermezian told the town board Triple Five wants to close as soon as the town is able.