Hawaii Hates Drifters – Spending Money to Prove It
Posted by Wrecked Magazine on 20 May 2010 at 12:16 pm | Tagged as: Misc
The state of Hawaii has to be one of the most anti-motorsport cultures you could find in the United States and probably one of the only states without a race track that has drifting on it. Magically with these elements in place kids take to the great back mountian roads of Hawaii and drift it up. This tends to upset the locals who call Local PD frequently and complain of drifting in the area.
The state of Hawaii hates getting phone calls so much they are spending money they probably don’t have on a product called Tyregrip. This is desricbed as a sandpaper like product resulting in great amounts of “grip” or “traction.” The product is a the technology packages a very sharp aggregate inside a tough resin and is applied on top of a road already in place (normally with a different color so drivers note the surface change).
Hawaii claims this TyreGrip will ruin drifting in the locations it is installed and they plan to lay it down in 8 high drifting areas as a test run. I guess no one in Hawaii has heard of “touge” driving…. Maximum grip in turns sounds like a field day for all those guys who run the same exhaust systems as evil drifters….. Oops, I guess there is always tommorow’s plan Hawaii.
Source:
http://jalopnik.com/5543621/
For some reason I don’t think this is going to work.
Hawaii needs to think about it, other then MMA stars there only good human export is drifters lol.
Ross Petty, and Alex Pfeiffer
This will work in the areas. If they apply it in strips as stated ( I think they already use this crap on crosswalks in some areas, I’ve seen it before so people have extra grip before they mow down pedestrians when its raining, their car isn’t equipped with ABS, and the driver is an idiot ) It will be an absolute nightmare to grip/drift on, with the grip level being exponentially different every 2′. Drifting will suck on that setup unless you have huge power, and there would be no advantage to gripping on it as you’re still limited to the tarmac with the least traction, so you probably in all reality won’t push any harder.
Its a good idea for what they’re trying to do. And with the video of hawaii raceway park I think unless a new venue comes along they’re just stuck at a standstill, unless the stadium lets them back.
Come on, Joey, some of your comments make Hawaii sound real ignorant. Yes, our local government is retarded, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t heard of touge racing. Seriously, your article, as much as it helps expose our need for a track, makes it sound like Hawaii doesn’t know squat about anything outside of drifting.
One of the reasons why it’s mostly harder here in Hawaii to build a track is because of the fact that the land prices are so effin’ high. We don’t hate drifting/racing, it’s just hard (read: impossible) to find us a venue, especially on O’ahu.
The stadium kicked us out because of sound complaints from the community, which to me, was ridiculous. The part of the parking lot where the drifting happened was surrounded by shopping centers on both sides. It wasn’t nearly as bad as the U2 concert that happened inside the Stadium.
The local news report if you guys haven’t seen it yet.
http://www.kitv.com/video/23536528/index.html
There’s so much room on the western shore of O’ahu with NOTHING around for a track. These kids are not going to stop drifting because of some special pavement anyhow.
I see where you guys are coming from, but I can see it from the people who live in those areas. How would you like it if you were trying to sleep, then suddenly a car buzzes by, tires squalling. I’d get pretty ticked off myself, but just as Matt said, grip pavement probably won’t stop them from trying.
However, the movement needs to be taken by the drifters to encourage development of a track they can drift at. They need to show it in a way that the state will see it; revenue, safety, and, well, more revenue.
bad for drifters, good for grip drivers
For $125,000.00 they could make a small track and satisfy everyone. Someone contact Dole and get the city to donate 125k to them to pave a small track in the pineapple fields. Problem solved.
BOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
@ Cam-dont forget Forest Wang.Isnt the the lack of tracks in Hawaii the reason Forest Wang came to thw states?
This will not stop anyone overseas in japan they have the same crap in some spots and they still just slide right through it, and it makes more noise when you hit it.
Sorry for not being clean Tsunami-DONNY.
I was referring to the government not knowing about it, not people in Hawaii. I know the scene is pretty big down there and three Formula D drivers currently are out of Hawaii. That is bigger than most states in the USA.
I just think it’s funny the government of a state in this economy would spend money to prevent drifting….. clearly those dollars can be allocated elsewhere?
I don’t know how bad the economy is in Hawaii from any personal experience but I know people who live there that tell me it’s not doing great and a simple Google search can confirm this with high profile media companies like the WSJ reporting on it:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125047318664935729.html
Would it not make more sense for the government to work on creating a sanctioned place for the sport? If some of our Hawaii readers want to get active, I will gladly help in any way me and the Wrecked Magazine staff can at getting drifting back at the stadium or where it could be viable.
Thanks for the link: BKH808
Also, in case you didn’t watch the video they said it would cost $100,000 to $125,000 dollars to do this installation. Seems like an overkill solution to please a few residents.
To the govornment these are people committing crimes (sorry people who can’t deal with reality, it is what it is).
Should you expect them to create a venue for street racing, running red lights, speeding, not using a signal, DUI, driving without a tag?
Hell no.
It is what it is. If you think it costs $125k to build a facility you are either completely and genuinely stupid, or you are under the age of 15 and have never used this bartering material called “Money” or know how it works.
There are enough parking lots in Hawaii where I’m sure someone could work with the local Auto-x club or something to try to find a venue if a lot of rules are laid out. It may require mufflers and enforcement of rules, but in order to get something, you have to 1st improve upon the current venue, which is nothing.
I will say the street drifting/breaking of law has got to stop if you’re going to expect the govornment to help out, like I always see people claim. Why should they even waste their time with a bunch of people who have only displayed the ability to break laws and endanger citizens (in their eyes). Will it really stop the street drifting? I think everyone reading this blog knows the answer to that.
Sorry to all the people who are going to get offended/pissed off by the realistic perspective. But reading some of the comments here absolutely blows my mind.
Logically the state could offer a $10,000 tax incentive (break on taxes) to a venue that would allow drifting….. chalk up a good $90,000 in savings to the taxpayers.
@Mike: I agree. Nothing against the native hawaiians, but when it comes to land, they’re some of the most touchy and most rich-blooded in selling off their land. Granted, it really is a small mass of land, it’s not like there’s NO WHERE near enough space to loan us for a car-park or something. In fact, where they used to hold the drift events at the stadium, they now have what? Yep, regular auto-x events.
There has a been a small lot in, quite frankly, the middle of fuckin’ nowhere where some of our drifters have used for a while. No one got hurt, but they got shut down, even though that was one of the most isolated places they could be, and possibly the closest thing we had to a track.
I’d say make friends with the local autocrossers.
Participating in Autocross would be a good start to building Ally #1 it seems. Drifting at an Autocross would be detrimental.
Unfortunalely, a group may have to step up, quit street sliding alltogether and spend what could be years to remedy the problem.
Wasn’t Steevo working on getting some land/tarmac laid?
The stadium let yall in once, I’d say be professional and persistant, participate in already existing events there, and see where that goes.
Isn’t there an 1/8 mile dragstrip/dirt track there, or was that on big island?
It was Big Island. They have a small kart track, but I doubt that’ll ever see a car.
Also, not too sure about Steve O’s work. I actually haven’t heard much from PUNISH’UM since the last event. Just that Tracy’s been opposing any productivity of other groups, slowing down any progress, but that’s just hearsay. Neither OMAC or SORT can agree, it seems…
Hi all,
For the record OMAC & SORT are on the same page now, and have been on the same page for the past two years since Feb 2008, when we came together to work on Parcel 24, now known as Kalaeloa Raceway Park (www.kalaeloaracewaypark.com). I’m afraid your info is a little out-of-date, Donny.
Anyways, I’m part of that team, and also the former Media Director for the now-defunct Drift Session which started back in 2001. Do a search on Youtube, you’ll see a few of my vids. Much love to all my friends from DS. Anyways, I’m Chairman of OMAC and we’ve been working diligently since before the close of HRP to get a place to race. I probably know our situation better than most people in Hawaii.
Alot of what has said has been tried…including tax incentives, including alternate locations. I’ve damn near talked to every city, state, and county official regarding alternate locations, and I have tried to rent, lease, or use every available large amount of pavement on the island including parking lots, the deep draft harbor, the Barber’s Point Airfield, yadda yadda. It’s impossibly difficult and politically charged.
Plus trying to get the drifters together to support is like pulling teeth, lol…that’s just their way. Build it, and they will come…that’s how it works for most of them.
I guess alot of people don’t really know this, but we went before Governor Lingle in in 2007 and asked for help. She appointed the State Comptroller, Russ Saito, to deal with our situation. He asked me to look around the island for potential spots we could use to create a motorsports facility on. We scoured all of Oahu, and came back with 9-10 different proposals which included every logical place where motorsports could happen. This included every active and abandoned runway, and pretty much anything that had already pre-existing asphalt on it. Every single one of the proposals ended up being shot down or a no-go in some way.
We ended up getting on the same page, at that moment, with George Grace Jr. of SORT. We all met in front of the Department of Hawaiian Homelands (DHHL), and swore to help each other make P24 happen. We were basically given about 30+acres of land located out in Barbers Point to develop into a temporary motorsports facility on a month-to-month lease with 1-year renewable contracts. Even though some of the members had a falling out (and are now the ones trying to make hell for us [see above comment from Donny]), we have made slow but steady progress on the facility, and have basically got everything we need to build the facility, including hundreds of barricages, generators, vehicles, and safety equipment. We could put on an event next week if we were allowed to. We’ve had to deal with this as a grassroots campaign since the beginning…there’s no big money spender, and all of this is new to us, so it’s been a slow learning experience punctuated by heavy-handed politics and anonymous complaints. But we’re doing it.
Currently, we own the lease, we can walk on it, and you can see the potential when you walk through the gates. There is hope that we can get something going soon. It’s just really hard to give a timetable due to all of the politics and crap.
Anyways, The truth of the matter has already been stated…land here is too damn valuable to just give away to a minority group of racers. And our motorsports community encompass more than just drifting. HRP has had racing since the early 1960′s including drag, dirt, motocross, and road racing on the former 2 mile plus road course. We also started Time Attack with the Super Lap Series way back in 2004, had our own racing school with Hawaii International Racing School (formerly Skip Barber), motorcycle racing, our own Wheel 2 Wheel racing, and all of the other various crap that happened there.
It’ll never be handed to us on a silver platter. You’ll never get permission to rezone any Agricultural land on Oahu. It’s just too valuable…you can forget Dole even considering it. It’s not going to happen. Neither is industrial space, because it’s in the same boat. The only way a true, multi-venue motorsports facility is going to happen is if someone with ALOT of money, and ALOT of political connections steps in and makes it happen. You’ll need both, because you can’t do anything in Hawaii without those two factors.
We used to have alot of support for a track, and althought it’s died off a little, it’s still there. Every year, I put together a very large motorsports show that showcases the different motorsports on the island. It’s happening on June 19th, 2010 at the Aloha Tower Marketplace. It’s called the Build The Track! Motorsports Show and it’s a non-profit, free to enter, free for spectators, car show. If you support racing, and support building a racetrack, then I highly suggest you attend. We’ve had great attendance levels for the past 3 years, including over 4,500+ people last year…which I think perfectly shows how many people are interested in getting motorsports back on track here.
Also, you can join our page on Facebook…just search for Build The Track. If you really support getting a track, visit our KRP website and use the provided letter template to write a letter to send in to your local reps as -well as us. We’ll get it to the right people. Gimme a yell if any of you have any questions. 808-782-7432. Lataz.
By the way, I left out alot of what is happening…but estimated costs for asphalt for a 1.1-mile road course/drag-strip/drift/autocross course is a little over 1.25 million dollars. That’s just the cost for asphalt. We’ve got our own crew to lay it down, we’re just looking for a discount from GP.
The point is that if anyone thinks that building a track is cheap or easy, you’re really unaware of the total costs to build a proper motorsports facility. And that’s besides the politics involved to make it happen. It’s taken us a year just for the city and state to figure out who’s responsible for the permits, and who has authority over bla bla this and bla bla that.
Mike pretty much hit it on the head. I hear it from people all the time that just say, “Hey brah, just build’em already…” LOL. I just have to shake my head sometimes. I wish…I really wish it was just that easy. Also, please check out http://www.buildthetrack.com for more info on our efforts and the upcoming show. Mahaloz!
@Tsunami-DONNY: Agreed. I wish Tracy NEVER got involved with any thing motorsports in HI.
What ever happened with Mike Kitchens’ (ArchangelX on all the forums..) “Build the Track” organization?
Whoa.
I asked for Kitchens/Build the Track, and he replied before I even posted my comment!
Thank god you came, Mike K., you probably were the only one making sense to me in the conflict. But in any case, thanks for correcting me, glad to hear that things are going smoothly, for the most part. There’s buzzing around the Hawaii circles that there actually is an investor looking to build a track in Hawaii… the only problem is, no one knows who, and how long that could take.
Looks like anyone reading this blog posts needs to get with this Mike K guy.
Also that Tracy guy is a complete idiot. Make sure he has nothing to do with this, as he still owes money to several companies on the mainland (even though they are out of business, haha) and I’m sure he has many burned bridges in Hawaii as well.
YES.
F Tracy.
If you don’t know about Mike K in Hawaii, you don’t know Hawaii drifting.
I got my start drifting in Hawaii and was there when they closed Hawaii Raceway Park. It’s really a shame because there is so much talent out there. Look at Alex Pfeiffer, Ross Petty, and Forrest Wang.
Wow, thanks guys…I certainly do appreciate all the positive comments. It makes the drudgery and hard work worth it. For the record, I freakin’ miss DS alot. It’s one of my main reasons for pushing so hard on this stuff. I miss seeing all the guys and girls and filming and all of that. We’re still working hard…we’ll make it happen some way or another. My RX-7 is also itching to get in on it this time…
And yeah, Donny, it would be great if we could get a big time investor here. I personally don’t care who builds the track as long as it gets built. For now, we’ll just keep plugging away, but if some bigshot with money falling out of his pockets wants to do it, I’ll gladly pay my entry fee at the gate to him.
If any of you have any questions, or need anything answered, shoot me a line, and I’ll answer it as best as I can.
Hawaii still has alot of talent…it’s getting a little rusty, but once we get a track, they’ll be tearing it up again, no doubt. Take it easy guys, and love Wrecked!
I’m glad you guys are getting the word out about the situation in Hawaii. I had no idea being an east coaster now land locked in Chicago. With the talent that Hawaii has exported we pretty much thought all you guys do was drifting, but sad to see there is no where for you guys to openly get it on.
Yepz…it’s been tough for our guys. It’s hard for them to not take it to the street, too…they’re hardcore. It’s a dangerous situation for everybody involved.