The Hawaii Rally Sport Association is proposing to bring car and truck racing to Aloha Stadium this summer with its Auto X series.
Subject to approval by the Aloha Stadium Authority, the group said it hopes to hold its races in the lower parking lot area in August and September. The HRSA’s application could go before the board as soon as the March 25 meeting.
“Once we lost Hawaii Raceway Park there’s not been an official race track, so we look for creative ways to get folks off the street and have fun using their cars,” said Avery Tsui, regional executive for the HRSA.
HRP, which had operated for more than 40 years, closed in 2006.
Most recently, the HRSA, a nonprofit group sanctioned by the National Auto Sport Association, has used Coral Crater Adventure Park in Kapolei in the evenings and Kualoa Ranch during daytime hours as sites for its events featuring sports cars and pickup trucks.
The HRSA is proposing to run during the day at Aloha Stadium.
Tsui said the competition, “Is time attack race. Is not wheel-to-wheel or door-to-door type racing,” but “defined car control competitions where tracks are laid out in a large parking lot using traffic cones.” He said drivers are electronically timed running the course one at a time at highway speeds.
Vehicles are classified based upon their type and modifications.
After Tsui testified before a state Senate committee, he said, Sen. Glenn Wakai, in whose district Aloha Stadium sits, suggested the HRSA might want to consider the Aloha Stadium site.
Tsui said, “We thought it could be a wonderful win-win idea. Aloha Stadium was looking for additional revenue and we could use the lower parking lot.”
