Tyler Clark wins Kaua‘i Raceway 4x4 Shootout again at Mana

Tyler Clark’s repeat win in the 4x4 Shootout showed why Kaua‘i Raceway Park keeps drawing drivers and fans to Mana: the class is competitive, the field is deep, and the quarter-mile strip still has a loyal following on Kaua‘i.

Clark, driving a Ford SVT Raptor, won the May 2 event for the second straight year and earned $1,400 after beating Devin Almarza in the final round. He topped a 17-truck 4x4 field, a sign that the specialty race is doing more than filling a bracket. It is pulling in enough entries to make every round matter.

The night also showed how wide the local racing community has become. Andrew Canavan, a regular in SCCA autocross at the Vidinha Stadium lot, was the No. 1 qualifier before eliminations, giving the field a blend of off-road trucks and drivers who know their way around multiple kinds of motorsports. On the same program, hot rods and drag vehicles driven by Wayne Souza, Lenny Camat, Wayne Costa, Kevin Sakamoto and Ryan Medeiros added more variety to a card that felt like a community gathering as much as a race.

Garden Isle Racing Association, Napa Auto Parts and Bonilla Motor Sports hosted the event at Kaua‘i Raceway Park, which describes GIRA as a not-for-profit group focused on safe motorsports and responsible street driving. The track’s NHRA sanctioning and its status as the western-most NHRA track in the United States give the venue a bigger footprint than its island setting might suggest. NHRA Division 7 has also recognized the track as a “Most Improved” facility, a reminder that the Mana strip has kept building on its reputation.

That staying power matters in a place where weekend entertainment can be limited and every recurring event has ripple effects. A race night at the track puts drivers, crews and spectators in motion, and that traffic helps keep attention on Mana beyond the beach crowd and the usual drive through West Kaua‘i. The season has already included two days of drag racing on April 3 and 4, including a High School Challenge with racers coached by experienced drag racers, and the calendar now turns to the June 6 Shifter Class Specialty Race, listed on the 2026 schedule as the next major event.

Clark’s win was the headline, but the larger story is the same one Kaua‘i Raceway Park has been telling all season: specialty racing still has enough pull to make Mana a destination.