Effort Under Way To Bring Racetrack Back To Oahu

 

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Todd Okuhara juggles a variety of tasks at Don Schumacher Racing. He helps Phil Shuler tune Khalid alBalooshi’s dragster (formerly Spencer Massey), crisscrosses the country for 24 races in all of the major markets, keeps tabs on the fabrication and machine shops at the DSR headquarters in Brownsburg, Indiana., and oversees the seven teams that collectively have dominated the National Hot Rod Association this season. He’s calm amid chaos.

Todd Okuhara. Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

Todd Okuhara. Photo courtesy NHRA/National Dragster

When his hectic schedule permits, Okuhara jets back to Hawaii to visit his widowed mother. There it strikes him that the pace is more casual than it is on the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series tour. But his rhythm has been disrupted. It’s quieter in Honolulu. And that’s the problem.

From the happy-noisy, engine-building cocoon of dad Tommy’s Okuhara Machine Shop in Kaka’ako to the bustling Hawaii Raceway Park, Okuhara’s soul wasn’t with surfboards and sand as he grew up on Oahu. It was electronic Christmas trees, not palm trees. It was with the clanking of tools, with the alluringly acrid smell of rubber and fragrance of motor oil, not slow-roasting kalua pork or hint of sunblock. His mechanical heritage, his racing roots, his social circles have vanished without a trace.

Hawaii Raceway Park is a memory, another victim of urban sprawl, like Lions, and Orange County, and Ontario, and Irwindale in Southern California. All that’s left is what he can remember of it: “We used to go there every weekend, whether we were racing or not. They had the street nights and the race nights. It didn’t matter–we were there every weekend,” he said. “It was pretty cool to get to hang out there. You met people there. You didn’t have to arrange it–you just knew you’d see them at the track on Saturdays.

It was pretty cool to get to hang out there. You met people there. You didn’t have to arrange it–you just knew you’d see them at the track on Saturdays. – Todd Okuhara

“It was an NHRA-sanctioned track. We were in Division 7. We had Super Gas, Super Street, Super Comp, and there were some Pro Stock-style cars, too. There’s still some alcohol cars there,” he said. “Oahu used to have the most cars. We would have what they call a South Pacific Championship in December where all of the other [island racers] shipped their cars to Oahu to race,” he said. “The sanctioning body they had in Hawaii was actually pretty cool. They had a deal with the Alaska sanctioning body, and certain years they would ship their cars to Alaska and the Alaska [racers] would ship their cars to Oahu. It’s sad that it’s not there anymore.”

Okuhara drove the family’s ’68 Camaro to four consecutive Hawaii Raceway Park championships. Trophies prove it, but he doesn’t have the luxury of going back to the racetrack and exchanging handshakes and pats on the back with his old pals or competitors, or to swap stories of how it was. His pals who still have their race cars have tucked them away in a garage, and on the site of his glory days sit warehouses and industrial buildings. Hawaii Raceway Park has been wiped out and the parcel of land divided for commerce of a different kind. The authorities paved his paradise in Kapolei and put up parking lots.

Hawaiian drag-racing legend “Safari Char” lines up against a rival at the old Hawaii Raceway Park in Honolulu. He raced in the Top Fuel ranks on the mainland in the 1960s and ‘70s and is among those on Oahu who would love to see a new dragstrip on the island after the historic facility closed a decade ago. Photo courtesy of Safari Char

Hawaiian drag-racing legend “Safari Char” lines up against a rival at the old Hawaii Raceway Park in Honolulu. He raced in the Top Fuel ranks on the mainland in the 1960s and ‘70s and is among those on Oahu who would love to see a new dragstrip on the island after the historic facility closed a decade ago. Photo courtesy of Safari Char

So that unsettling feeling of knowing his roots have disappeared have started to settle in. They’ve lasted a decade. The dragstrip, Hawaii’s first, opened July 4, 1964, and shut down April 1, 2006. With land at primo prices and few choices of alternative property in this finite island space–plus a familiar din of racetrack opponents–replacing Hawaii Raceway Park is a tall order to fill.

But while Okuhara has graduated to a career as a highly respected NHRA crew chief and leader beyond that, he’s discovering he can help Hawaiian racers and drag racing fans. Tracy Arakaki, a former racing rival of Okuhara’s who hosts a PunishUM Motorsports TV program on Honolulu station KFVE, is spearheading an effort to bring drag racing back to Honolulu and Oahu–and Okuhara is lending his support.

Arakaki, too, has fond memories and a fierce desire to recreate similar memories for fellow Hawaiians today.

“I remember seeing–live–Roland Leong’s Hawaiian Punch Funny Car and Jim Dunn’s Fireman’s Quickie. They came out for some exhibitions, and the place was packed,” Arakaki, a former motorcycle racer, said.

All the old-timers who were there when it opened in the ’60s say the ’70s were bigger than the ’80s and the ‘60s were bigger than the ‘70s. – Tracy Arakaki

“There were close to 12,000 to 15,000 people every day. I remember the first round of qualifying. There were so many cars. They came in from all the islands to participate in their classes. The first round of qualifying, from Friday morning at 10 a.m., they didn’t finish until 4 a.m. Saturday morning. That’s how many cars were there for the first round of qualifying. So it was extremely popular,” he said.

“All the old-timers who were there when it opened in the ’60s say the ’70s were bigger than the ’80s and the ‘60s were bigger than the ‘70s,” Arakaki said. “It was such a big thing that when the park opened in 1964, on July 4. Mr. Wally Parks himself flew down to help christen it.”

Hawaii was a strategic market, and this Honolulu track introduced the state to the sport and raised awareness of the drag-racing enclave in the remote Pacific Ocean. And Arakaki sees no reason a new Honolulu dragstrip can’t rejoin member tracks from across the nation, even around the globe. He’s hard at work, trying to make that happen, trying to raise awareness about the positive economic impact motorsports has on a community.

According to Arakaki, “All the shops in place that existed when the track was open are no longer here. We’ve probably lost 15-20 shops that specifically catered to the motorsports community,” he said. “One shop, one of the oldest here, at one time had four locations. It’s back down to one now. When the racetrack closed, they lost 60 percent of their business, and they’re the only one that’s surviving.”

Hawwain native and former racer Stacy Arakaki has been an active proponent of bringing drag racing back to the island of Oahu.

Hawaiin native and former racer Tracy Arakaki has been an active proponent of bringing drag racing back to the island of Oahu.

Without Hawaii Raceway Park, which also provided a venue for the Honolulu Police Department’s evasive vehicle training program, the island has lost its ability to redirect potential illegal street racers to a safer environment.

“When the track closed in 2006, you could see the steadily rising fatalities on the road until it got to epidemic heights. For an island like Oahu, they were having approximately 85 fatalities out of 800,000 people. That statistic is pretty high,” Arakaki said. “In 2009, we had a campaign called ‘Speed Safely’ that we did with some of our elected officials and we had a huge public service ad campaign. The fatality rate did drop somewhat.

“We talked about how dangerous street racing is. We included Doug Herbert’s story,” he said, referring to the Top Fuel owner-driver who lost two sons in a traffic accident caused by poor decision-making behind the wheel. “It was well-received.”

When the track closed in 2006, you could see the steadily rising fatalities on the road until it got to epidemic heights. For an island like Oahu, they were having approximately 85 fatalities out of 800,000 people. – Tracy Arakaki

Ron Capps, who has worked alongside Okuhara for many years with two different organizations, helped Arakaki’s cause, speaking out for a new Honolulu dragstrip.

Said Capps, “There needs to be a track. You need to get the kids off the street. Growing up, it was huge for me to have a place to go to spend my money fixing my car up. And not out on the public roads, where people can get hurt.”

Another hurdle facing Arakaki in his effort is enduring government bureaucracy and red tape, for if this track is to become a reality, he must depend on heavy government involvement.

“The problem in Hawaii is any particular property of significant size is going to have to come from the government. It’s not going to come from a private entity,” he said. “We have the highest real estate prices, not just in the United States but in the world. It’s a very finite [piece of land]. It’s about $30,000 a square foot.”

The Honolulu property that was christened July 4, 1964,  by NHRA founder Wally Parks  and has hosted such drag-racing luminaries as Roland Leong, Danny Ongais, Keith Black, and Don Prudhomme is home today to warehouses and industrial buildings. PunishUm Motorsports is spearheading an effort to give restless drag racers a safe place to compete again on Oahu. Photo courtesy of PunishUm Motorsports

The Honolulu property that was christened July 4, 1964, by NHRA founder Wally Parks and has hosted such drag-racing luminaries as Roland Leong, Danny Ongais, Keith Black, and Don Prudhomme, is home today to warehouses and industrial buildings. PunishUM Motorsports is spearheading an effort to give restless drag racers a safe place to compete again on Oahu.
Photo courtesy of PunishUM Motorsports

Trying to establish a racetrack on private property, he said, surely would trigger steep environmental impact statement costs, predictable cries of ‘not in my back yard!’ and assorted other aggravations.

“What should have happened,” Arakaki said, “is that track should have been named a historical landmark. A lot of history happened here at the facility, and it’s part of our history.”

Citing Roland Leong, Danny Ongais, Todd Okuhara, and Anthony Lum, who started at John Force Racing and has Pro Modified crew experience, Arakaki said, “Some of the biggest names in the sport got their start at Hawaii Raceway Park. And it’s sad to say that probably Anthony Lum and Todd Okuhara are going to be the last of anybody from Hawaii at the professional level in any form of motorsport.”

Okuhara likened the track’s demise to “a punch in the chest” and said he would like for fellow Hawaiians to have the same chance he did to launch a career on the mainland.

“Something that was so good for me, and for sure it got me where I am today, for it to close, it kind of hurts other people’s chances of doing what I’m doing,” Okuhara said. “Drag racing can be a very good career for a lot of people. Unfortunately for people in Hawaii, being a little further (from the mainland U.S.) makes it harder. That doesn’t mean you can’t do it.”

Drag racing can be a very good career for a lot of people. Unfortunately for people in Hawaii, being a little further (from the mainland U.S.) makes it harder. – Todd Okuhara

So how fast can a new track regain Hawaii Raceway Park’s lost glory?

“I don’t know. I just know there are a lot of people who want it to happen, a lot of racers.”

PunishUM Motorsports, Boyd’s Vacations Hawaii, NAPA Hawaii, and Don Schumacher Racing have teamed to offer a Las Vegas trip giveaway to the fall NHRA race at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It’s the first such opportunity a Hawaiian entity has coordinated. The winners will receive airfare, hotel accommodations, and meals, plus VIP passes from DSR. The Hawaii winners will get to hang out with Funny Car racer Ron Capps and Hawaii natives Todd and Scott Okuhara, of DSR.

 

 

 

 

About the author

Susan Wade

Celebrating her 45th year in sports journalism, Susan Wade has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with 20 seasons at the racetrack. She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, St. Petersburg Times, and Seattle Times. Growing up in Indianapolis, motorsports is part of her DNA. She contributes to Power Automedia as a freelancer writer.
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