Gearheads of all ages will gather in strength at the Kaua’i Raceway tomorrow in Mana as the National Hot Rod Association dragster events crank up for the month of October. The NHRA-sanctioned races feature a variety of classes for cars
Gearheads of all ages will gather in strength at the Kaua’i Raceway tomorrow in Mana as the National Hot Rod Association dragster events crank up for the month of October.
The NHRA-sanctioned races feature a variety of classes for cars and motorcycles that range from the street-driven variety to blindingly fast, 180 mile-an-hour, pure-bred racing machines.
Given the success of last month’s event, where several hundred attendees came out to support their favorite cars and drivers, the Kaua’i strip should be the spot for speed-lovers this weekend. Gates open at noon.
Recap of September races
On Sept. 9, race fans enjoyed some of the closet and most competitive drag racing of the season. Typical of the tight competition on the quarter-mile track, Gilbert Barretto, driving a 1967 Chevrolet Camaro, took the Pro ET win over Dave Onodera and his 1969 Chevy Nova by a little more than 16 feet. In the same class, Randy Lawrence brought the spectators to their feet with his wheel-standing Vega station wagon.
Fans were treated to another close final round in the Muscle V8 category. Thanks in part to a better reaction time at the start, Ron Valencia in his 1970 Dodge Charger got to the finish line less than a car length ahead of Shandon Takayama, driving the Matsuda Brothers’ 1969 Chevrolet Camaro. Valencia had a 0.683 reaction time and went 103.21 mph in 12.605 seconds, and while Takayama was faster at 110.2 mph, he broke out with a 12.469 second elapsed time on a 12.5 dial-in.
In the Street class, Dylan Latif ran a great race with a .584 second starting line reaction and 16.323 second run on a 16.3 second dial-in to defeat Daniel Bunao in his 1988 Nissan pickup. Jason Fujinaka traveled the 1320 foot race track on another practically perfect pass and captured the Motorcycle class win with a 11.518 second elapsed time on a 11.5 dial-in at 124 mph over the quicker Harley V-Rod of Mike Hawkes, who ran 121 mph in 10.8 seconds.
Continuing the trend in close racing was the final of the popular Sport Compact class. Although Elena Kealoha, driving a 1956 Volkswagen, had a good starting line reaction time of 0.573 seconds, her 14.257 second run on a 13.65 dial-in was no match for Honda driver Ricky Uemura’s 0.509 light, 96.57 mph and 12.42 elapsed time on a 11.93 dial-in.
The smaller but no-less-significant racers were the Junior Dragsters. Courtney Brock won the final round of the class with a 10.304 second run on a 10.28 dial-in at 61.39 mph when her opponent, Cohlton Riskus left early and had a red light to show for it.
Along with outstanding racing, a number of drag racing luminaries attended the September race. Leroi “Tex” Smith, one of the original NHRA field directors, David Parks, Bonneville record holder and son of NHRA founder Wally Parks, and David Allio, well-known racing photographer, were all on hand. (Smith is a part-time Kaua‘i resident and Allio will soon be here full time).
