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2003 Toyota IDRC Aloha Nationals
Venom & De La Cruz Visit
Hawaii for Pre-Season Warm-Up
Local racers and fans turned out in mass for the
nighttime race that has traditionally become the biggest motorsports event hit
the 50th state each year. This year, the pre-event talk centered on
the possibility of a new location for Oahu’s only drag strip. Currently, the
drag strip, known as Hawaii Raceway Park is a tired facility that shows the
results of neglect and a lack of investment. However, investment has been the
talk as a new state-of-the-art facility will hopefully become a reality in the
not so distant future.
The Fantastic Voyage
Getting mainland cars to Hawaii is not an easy
task. By sea, the vehicles need to be loaded into a container and shipped on
schedules that mean a racer is without his car for up to a month for the
round-trip voyage. By air, the costs can be astronomical.
For this event, the IDRC has originally planned to
transport Joel Tanzman, Jimmy O’Connor, Shawn Geers and Ricky De La Cruz by sea
to Hawaii for an event date in the middle of January. This date was chosen to
compliment a car show that was planned for the week following the event. As the
New Year rolled around, the original plan began to unravel. Shawn had to attend
a best friend’s wedding. Jimmy wouldn’t have his car ready in time and Joel’s
wife was going to be having a baby. Then the big call came that the car show
wasn’t going to happen.
The IDRC weighed its options. The event could go
off as planned with no mainland cars or the date could be changed and some other
cars could be rounded up. A decision was made to reschedule the event and
arrange for Saad Saad and his Supra to join Ricky’s CRX in the container while
the Venom Supra would travel by air to make the show.
BFGoodrich Tires Street Class Presented By
RACER magazine
While Saad Saad and his Supra were the favorites
to win this class, the local street class racers breathed a sigh of relief when
Saad Saad Toyota surrendered on the dyno the night before it needed to be loaded
into the container. This opened the door for Hawaii’s quickest Supra to take the
number one qualifying position when David Ross crashed the gears to an 11.36 at
129 mph. The rest of the qualifying pack was about a second off the pace.
The top half of the field all advanced into the
semifinals. In the semis, Luke Reeder and his 96 Eclipse faced the other Diamond
Star of Juan Navarro. Reeder was caught sleeping at the lights (.982 vs. .695)
and this allowed Navarro to win despite running a slower 12.49 to Reeder’s
12.21. Braden Lee and his SR20-powered 240 had the unfortunate pairing up
against David Ross and the Supra. Although Ross also slept at the light (1.024
vs. .697), Braden’s 12.68 wasn’t enough to beat the 11.84 laid down by the
Supra.
Navarro would then face Ross in the final. Navarro
would get a slight holeshot advantage (.677 vs. .730), but the Supra of Ross
would lay down an 11.35-second blast that left the Diamond Star in the dust.
Quick Class Presented By Performance Auto &
Sound Magazine
Ricky De La Cruz had run deep into the 9s on the
mainland before making the trek to Hawaii. However, once qualifying began, Ricky
quickly found that his car was not running very well and the track was very
traction unfriendly. Making passes on only two of the three qualifying rounds
wasn’t enough to put up a number to make the cut. Ricky would be making
exhibition runs the remainder of the night.
Once again, locals stole the spotlight. Lance
Onaga blasted to a 10.21 at 139 mph to capture the number one spot. Jason
Silbernagle earned the two spot spinning the tires to a 10.27 at 146 mph.
Garrick Tengan, the sole rear-wheel-drive in the group, managed the three spot
with a 10.49-second sprint. Kazu Yamaguchi and his Speedline Civic filled the
last spot in the top half of the ladder with his 10.66.
In the quarterfinals, upsets would be the
happening. David Aaron, the number-seven qualifier, would turn Silbernagle into
a spectator. Scot Morita, the number-eight qualifier, would have all the luck
when Onaga’s Honda encountered problems. Kazu Yamaguchi would not be ready for
the call and Wayde Segawa, the number-five qualifier, would make easy work of
alternate Mark Abanes. Garrick Tengan would be the sole survivor of the top half
to advance into the Semis.
In the Semis, Garrick Tengan would defeat David
Aaron while Wade Segawa would shut down Scot Morita. As the finals rolled
around, Garrick looked to be the favorite. Garrick had already run a 10.49 in
qualifying. Wade’s best time had been a 10.90. Both cars staged and when the
lights flashed Garrick got the holeshot (.696 to .733). However, the advantage
quickly disappeared as the Toyota had issues while the Honda took the win light.
Apex Integration High-Tech Class Presented by
Import Racer! Magazine
Once a year, the IDRC holds its High-Tech Class at
the Aloha Nationals. This class evolved from the original Hawaii’s Fastest
Street Car Shootouts some years ago. The premise is that these cars are “streetable”,
small tire, EFI domestic V6 and V8s.
In qualifying John Yee and his Z28 took the
number-one position with a 10.06-second effort. GMs would dominate the
qualifying with only two Fords making the field.
In the quarters, no upsets were present as John
Yee, Dean Hirata, Les Omori and Henry Tabios Jr all advanced. In semifinal
action, John Yee and his Camaro would shut down Dean Hirata and his Buick. Les
Omori and his Buick would eliminate Henry Tabios Jr. In the finals John Yee
would get the hoeshot and the win leaving Les Omori in his rearview mirror.
Venom Supra Fiasco
Communication is key. At the root of nearly every
argument is some type of miscommunication. Unfortunately, miscommunication
between the track and the Venom team would result in only two passes made the
awesome Venom Supra.
The Venom team was focused on getting as many runs
as possible for Jimmy O’Connor before the track went dark. As Hawaii Raceway
Park is a narrow and unfamiliar track with limited lighting, the Venom team was
intent on having their driver and car ready put on a show. A show was exactly
what track manger Paul Giovaneti also wanted. However, he wanted the car to make
runs at night after the main body of the crowd arrives.
When Paul held up the Venom Supra from making a
pass after it was at the front of the staging lanes, tempers flared. The sun was
quickly setting and the Venom team and driver Jimmy O’Connor was strapped in and
ready to make a pass. Finally, the situation boiled over when Jimmy had enough,
unstrapped himself from the car and verbally confronted Paul at the starting
line. The end result was that Venom packed it up and left the event.
2004 Aloha Nationals
Will the IDRC continue to conduct races in the 50th
state? Only time will tell. No decision has yet been made for a 2004 event. Much
of the decision will depend on the number of racers available for the trip and
if and when a new facility will be ready, willing and able for the fastest and
quickest imports in the world. |
