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The Last Sandy Beach
Outlaw Race, 1982.
Posted
Sunday, January 25, 2004
Told
by the Kalama Valley Kid.
Honolulu Streets Magazine
Kalani
(Kalaniana'ole) Highway A long scenic road that also runs along
the eastern part of Oahus coastline, is adjacent to one of
Hawaiis most beautiful stretch of beachs known as Sandy's.
Starting from the mid 1950s, it had been a place where a couple
of local hot rodders would go to race when they wanted to prove
who would be king of the road.
Illegal
and dangerous only made drag racing at Sandy Beach more desirable
and its history can be unofficially documented all the way up into
the early 1980s, when the last Sandy Beach outlaw race took
place.
Now
It's time to grab yourself a cup of coffee, kick back and enjoy
this very true tale from the road.
THE
STORY BEGINS:
As
a kid, I can remember hearing races at Sandys. We lived in
Kalama Valley, only a few blocks from the beach.
Sometimes the sound of the surf would lull me to sleep. Other
times, it was the sound of two engines screaming down Kalani
highway as they went through their gears.
Like
an old spaghetti western, gun slinging hot rod racers from Hell
had been coming from all around the Island looking for a little
maroon painted deuce coupe to race with. One in particular was a
lightning fast Volkswagen Bug called the Flea. Little did they
know, street racing had always been the last thing on my mind. My
thing was building street rods. Turning old pre `49 relics, mostly
Model A Fords and `32 coupes into something that twinkled in the
sunlight. I just wanted to build `em.
I
got a genuine high from spending months planning, building, then
when it was all said and done, going for that maiden voyage
directly to my favorite hang out, the old Hawaii Kai Chevron gas
station.
My
coupe was chopped 4 inches, making it extremely hard to see
traffic lights at intersections and channeled six over the frame,
which gave cops plenty of excuses to pull me over.
Here
I was though, making a name for myself whether I liked it or not
as the Kalama Valley Kid. Racing every Wednesday during the summer
of `82 between 10:30 p.m. and midnight at Sandy Beach.
CONTINUED
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