Serious Moment: Racing at the right time and place

Honolulu Advertiser Article

Rarely ever do I try to post something serious but in this case I feel compelled to voice my opinion. I understand the thrill of putting your foot to the floor and having your car surge forward. Pushing things, be they mechanical or psychological, to their limit is the very heart of racing. However like all things there needs to be temperance. Street racing's allure is often glamorous be it in anime or movies. Between Initial D and Fast and the Furious there's no want for thrilling footage of cars burning rubber and taking turns at high speed. Don't forget however, that's the movies.

In real life there are consequences. You don't get to yell cut when your car drifts outside of the usable line and you go smashing into a guard rail. There's no medical team waiting on the shoulder for a street racer to plow into a divider. It isn't as if there aren't track facilities out there in Hawaii, we just seem to be short on them. Hawaii Raceway Park has been around for decades and unfortunately this latest incident is exactly what park owner Mike Oakland alluded to in this post. Should HRP indeed close I'm sure other drivers will agree, this sort of thing is going to become more common.

The freeways are not race tracks. There's only so much you can push on a public road. With the chances high that road conditions are poor and innocent bystanders could be hurt, I stress to everyone. If you're a racing enthusiast, a ricer, or anything in between, please know when to throw down. Support the efforts to build a new track facility and be safe.