The New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP) is a set of motorcycle and automobile racing facilities comprised of two main road courses, Lighting and Thunderbolt, and an additional go-kart racing complex called Tempest. It started operations back in 2008 and offers the possibility to host racing events on each racetrack, separately and simultaneously. It is located right beside the military airport of Millville, New Jersey. The humid subtropical climate prevalent in the southern part of New Jersey means the tracks tend to be humid most of the year, with up to 15 days of light precipitation a month on average.
Some of the major events where NJMP is a staple part of the calendar are the Trans-Am Series, CCS, ARCA Racing, SCCA, or the AMA Superbike Championship, to name a few. Both Lighting and Thunderbolt road courses have an asphalt surface, with noticeable elevation changes and long straightaways combined with sweeper curves, resulting in fast driving circuits. The average speed in Lighting is 92 mph and in Thunderbolt is 88 mph. Both racetracks have a clockwise direction and open seating throughout the course, with a large capacity for spectators' accommodation.
Thunderbolt is far more difficult to race than Lighting, primarily because of The Jersey Devil, the signature stretch of New Jersey Motorsports Park. It comes after a long segment of fast straightaways and sweepers that come to a sudden halt in speed as drivers go into a long, really tight right-hander followed immediately by another equally long and tight turn, this time in the opposite direction. If drivers do not bring their velocity down enough, the rear part of their car will tend to slide sideways and hit the curb, which may be a potentially dangerous situation.