NHRA - National Hot Rod Association

NHRA Pro Stock Motorcycle star Karen Stoffer will be in Hawaii this week, not racing her quick Suzuki but helping to try to get a new dragstrip built in the 50th state.

Hawaii has a very low voter turnout in the nation, and Stoffer wants to help move that needle by coming to the Islands to encourage racers and racing fans to vote. 

It’s part of a Public Service Announcement campaign, Race the Vote, in which celebrity racers encourage people to get to the polls. Local race promoter Tracy Arakaki estimates there is a huge base of untapped voters; he cites a 2003 Star-Bulletin story that noted there were over 150,000 users of Oahu’s Hawaii Raceway Park annually, when it existed.

Hawaii Raceway Park, which served not only Oahu’s racing community, but also the entire state. on Oahu closed on April 1, 2006. Top racers from around the Islands used to ship their race vehicles to compete at Hawaii Raceway Park for the annual South Pacific Championships every December, as well as for races between Alaska and Hawaii.

Economically, having a raceway has brought in business in the past. Former racing promoter Tracy Arakaki brought several major professional drift racing events to the Aloha Stadium from 2006 to 2008. Professional drifters from Japan, Armenia, and Thailand flew in with their crews for these races, and the state received publicity from as far away as Russia. He is the only promoter to have ever brought these type of high level professional events outside of the closed Hawaii Raceway Park and worked with local as well as national and international sponsors to accomplish this.

Not having a raceway on Oahu has several impacts. One, people like Hawaii's Todd Okuhara who today is one of the top crew chiefs in the world and tuner for Atlanta winner Leah Pritchett, have no place to gain racing experience. Two, auto shop classes across Hawaii suffer from dwindling interest and enrollment. This actually has a cross-over effect on consumer cars, because these automotive classes also train the mechanics who service your cars.

Stoffer will arrive on Oahu May 24 for meet and greets with her fans and ask them to register to vote and vote. Stoffer is an eight-time NHRA Pro-Stock Motorcycle national event champion. Stoffer’s Suzuki is being flown in by Kalitta Air for all Oahu appearances for the duration of the Race the Vote campaign.