dirt racer
10-04-2008, 11:45 PM
http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20081004_whatever_happened_to.html
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 04, 2008
Question: What ever happened to efforts to build a new raceway for motor sports in Honolulu?
Answer: Ever since Hawaii Raceway Park closed in 2006, car enthusiasts have been searching for a new place to race legally.
A group called Kalaeloa Raceway Park LLC, supported by the Oahu Motorsports Advisory Council, is hoping to open a quarter-mile dirt oval racetrack on a leased 38-acre Department of Hawaiian Home Lands parcel off Coral Sea Road and Tripoli Street in Kalaeloa.
George Grace III, the developer, said they are trying to get permits from the city to build the dirt track and are using volunteer labor and donated materials. Grace, the owner of Paradise Lua, said he is paying for the lease with his own money.
Once the permits are obtained, Grace said, the group will build the dirt track. Then he hopes fees from racers and additional sponsors or investors will pay for the construction of an asphalt parking lot for drifting and a small paved race area. The dirt oval could open next year, if the permits are obtained, he said.
Another group of motor sports enthusiasts, the nonprofit Save Oahu's Race Track, is opposed to the DHHL site.
Evelyn Souza, a spokeswoman for SORT, said the DHHL land, known as parcel 24, has native Hawaiian cultural sites on the property that would be disturbed by the building of the raceway.
In addition, she said, racers would be driving through a residential neighborhood to get to the site, and there are traffic, noise, water and other concerns.
Les Vallarano, a SORT board member, said the group would rather see a raceway on 43 acres of the original Hawaii Raceway Park in Campbell Industrial Park, now owned by the DHHL.
Michael Kitchens, chairman of the Oahu Motorsports Advisory Council, said the Kalaeloa project has been redesigned so that native Hawaiian and historical sites on the property will not be affected by the raceway's first phase.
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Oct 04, 2008
Question: What ever happened to efforts to build a new raceway for motor sports in Honolulu?
Answer: Ever since Hawaii Raceway Park closed in 2006, car enthusiasts have been searching for a new place to race legally.
A group called Kalaeloa Raceway Park LLC, supported by the Oahu Motorsports Advisory Council, is hoping to open a quarter-mile dirt oval racetrack on a leased 38-acre Department of Hawaiian Home Lands parcel off Coral Sea Road and Tripoli Street in Kalaeloa.
George Grace III, the developer, said they are trying to get permits from the city to build the dirt track and are using volunteer labor and donated materials. Grace, the owner of Paradise Lua, said he is paying for the lease with his own money.
Once the permits are obtained, Grace said, the group will build the dirt track. Then he hopes fees from racers and additional sponsors or investors will pay for the construction of an asphalt parking lot for drifting and a small paved race area. The dirt oval could open next year, if the permits are obtained, he said.
Another group of motor sports enthusiasts, the nonprofit Save Oahu's Race Track, is opposed to the DHHL site.
Evelyn Souza, a spokeswoman for SORT, said the DHHL land, known as parcel 24, has native Hawaiian cultural sites on the property that would be disturbed by the building of the raceway.
In addition, she said, racers would be driving through a residential neighborhood to get to the site, and there are traffic, noise, water and other concerns.
Les Vallarano, a SORT board member, said the group would rather see a raceway on 43 acres of the original Hawaii Raceway Park in Campbell Industrial Park, now owned by the DHHL.
Michael Kitchens, chairman of the Oahu Motorsports Advisory Council, said the Kalaeloa project has been redesigned so that native Hawaiian and historical sites on the property will not be affected by the raceway's first phase.