Neil Abercrombie, a candidate for the Governor of Hawaii and former US Representative, recently released a public statement (Click Here!) in support of a motorsports facility. Intrigued by this, as well as encouraged by those of you who left comments on our Facebook page, our BTT! team (SORT/OMAC) asked Neil for a personal meeting to discuss his thoughts and to pick his brain on why he supports a motorsports facility.

Today, we had that meeting, and personally, I feel it was a a positive experience. I'd like to recap my personal opinion. Take this as you will, I am not trying to influence your political opinion on this. I'm just going to tell you how I saw things.

We sat down with Neil, and we had a one-on-one with him, and asked him questions that we thought were important. He expressed full-on support for the creation of a motorsports facility. He believes that a motorsports facility can provide alot of things, including boosting our local economy, providing peer guidance for our youth, an outlet that can provide a solid alternative to street racing so that we can keep our friends and families safe all while giving our motorsports enthusiasts a place to follow their automotive passions. All of which are things that our team already support and believe in.

I've got to say, I was impressed with his candor. One of the first things he asked was "Why has it taken so long? What have been the problems facing you?". And of course, we laid it out for him so he could see where we're coming from.

During the meeting, he was quite personable, and seemed to be looking well beyond the here and now, and more at the long term future of what it would take to get something done beyond a temporary facility. He asked what type of space we need, what type of support, what types of events would be run, the whole kit and kaboodle, and we even talked about the infrastructure already in place, as well as alternative motorsports that could be held.

I must say, I came away impressed, and very encouraged by his expressions of support. Politics is, of course, politics...but when someone holds out their hand and says "We'll make it happen", I certainly have to give them the benefit of the doubt. I always have. If you have any questions, please feel free, and I'll follow up with an answer to the best of my ability. I certainly would like to thank Neil and his staff for the great meeting we had, and I can only hope that something great will come of all this. At the very least, we have a very strong political supporter of our motorsports passion...and that's something quite new for all of us. Pictured from left to right are: Tom Bryant, Michael Kitchens, Neil Abercrombie, George Grace Jr., and Chris Messer.

Please Click Here for Neil Abercrombie's Public Statement Supporting a Motorsports Facility