It is 9:05 on a Friday night in late spring, and Sam Generalao has a headache. His is the mother of all headaches. Sam is in raw, visible pain, and the deafening roar of the rear-engine dragster he built isn’t helping a bit. His eyes are red and watery, and the rough edges of his gentle voice is audible even over the din of the dragster.

“Hey, Sam, you got your car tonight?” someone asks him.

“Naw, this is Teresa’s car,” he replies, grimacing through the pain. “Paul’s gonna drive it.”

Last Friday, Sam hurt his back. His own car, the sleek, pink older sibling of the gorgeous purple dragster he built for fifteen-year old Teresa Giovanetti, is home in Kailua. It is a narrower car than Teresa’s dragster, and although Sam isn’t a huge man, he needs to be stuffed into it. When he ran last week, the stuffing process jarred something in his spine, and now he cannot drive for a while. Indeed, he can barely move without wincing. But he is still here.

He has been here for hours and it’s only nine o’clock. And he’ll be back tomorrow for more. For this is the sort of sport that could pull a lame man from his home.

Drag racing isn’t new to Hawaii. Hawaii Raceway Park was built in 1964, and kama’aina in their early thirties remember going there with their families when they were small kids. They are often surprised to hear that it’s still around. What surprises them even more is that Oahu’s drag strip has changed dramatically, and finally seems to be coming into its own.

Kauai, Maui, and the Big Island also have drag strips sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA), but Oahu’s, located out by Campbell Industrial Park, is the most organized and well-attended, with crowds of up to 3,000 eager fans coming to cheer on their favorite cars. Thanks to new manager Paul Giovanetti, who took over in January, the track and its facilities have received a facelift, new sponsors are actively being courted, and things are changing.

One gets the impression that things cannot change fast enough for Mike Oakland, lease manager of the property. An articulate, intense man, Oakland talks about the boost in tourism that racing could give to Hawaii. “Look at the Alaska-Hawaii Challenge this past February. 300 or 400 people came over and stayed for ten days. This is the best-kept entertainment secret in the state.” Then he laughs ruefully. “But we hafta kill ‘em or maim ‘em to get the media.”

Because there have been only four or five fatalities in almost 30 years, the media usually stays away in droves. Recently, however, coverage in local TV news has escalated. Many regulars think that this may be attributed to the improved facilities and increased attendance, and to Paul Giovanetti’s understanding of the need for publicity. The consensus is that Giovanetti’s management is the best thing that has happened to Hawaii Raceway Park in a long, long time.

I notice with delight that the audience is a melting pot, just like Oahu itself. There are local Asians, Hawaiians, haoles, blacks, and all hues in between; military guys, professionals, blue collar workers, and a growing number of tourists. No one group dominates. “There’s never been a race problem, either in the audience or the staging area,” insists race starter Bobby Enos. Waving at the drag strip beneath his feet, he chuckles, “If folks got a beef, they duke it out right here.”

The diversity of the crowd is rivaled only by the variety of street-legal vehicles that will compete tonight. Motorcycles, Jeep Cherokees, Monte Carlos, Honda Civics, Grand Nationals, a shiny Toyota RAV 4 with the glue marks from its factory sticker still visible on the rear passenger-side window. I shade my eyes and peer into the sun, searching for the most bizarre entry. There, waiting in the staging area for its fifteen seconds of drag racing fame, is my choice for the day’s nonexistent High Hopes award: a family minivan, its velour seats littered with Happy Meal detritus, tiny orphaned slippers, and long-abandoned Power Rangers.

The participation of entire families is not uncommon. The Hamadas, with their Joint Venture Racing Team, run three cars between them driven by papa Itsu, daughter Kari Lynn, and son Bryn. They also provide incredible support to the track, tracking the entries and posting results at each race. The Coburn family works as a smooth, well-oiled unit, maintaining and fine-tuning the shiny rear-engine dragster piloted by 16-year old David, a Campbell High School student who calls drag racing “exhilarating”.

Teresa Giovanetti is another one to look out for. When she turns 16 in August, she’ll obtain her competitor’s license. Teresa has already driven her rear-engine dragster faster than the man who built it for her, faster even than her father. At 175 mph., Teresa nailed the quarter-mile in an astonishing 7.68 seconds.

For serious drag racers, this is truly a labor of love. Building a pro-stock car can cost between $45,000 and $100,000. As prizes go, Hawaii may never be able to compete with the mainland, where the purse for first-round losers at national NHRA events is a hefty $7,000. With 22 such events, a driver who makes the national rounds can do fairly well for himself. But here in Paradise, the drive to drive is purer, somehow. It isn’t fueled by big purses or the thirst for glory. It has more to do with that simpler, primal instinct that burns in the souls of those behind the wheel.

It’s the need for speed.

For up-to-date race info, call 841-DRAG. Wednesday races (summers only) start at 6 PM and end at 10 PM. Friday and Saturday night races generally start between 4 and 6 PM, and end at around midnight. To get to Hawaii Raceway Park, take H1 Westbound to exit #1 (Campbell Industrial Park); go right at the end of the cutoff and head makai for about one mile. Park entrance is on the left.