Drag-Racing Proposal Gets a Tentative Green Light : Recreation: Harbor commissioners set conditions for approval, including the support of harbor-area residents.

A plan to return drag-racing to Terminal Island came closer to reality Wednesday when Harbor Commission members said they will approve the project if its organizers meet a set of strict conditions.

Port staff had recommended that the board deny the National and International Brotherhood of Street Racers’ request, on the grounds that a drag strip for street racers is “incompatible with existing and future land uses of the area.”

But after a diverse group of supporters urged the board to approve the project, board members asked the staff to find a way to set aside port land for a yearlong series of events in which youths could race one another in automobiles, motorcycles--even on foot.

For its part, the Brotherhood must meet several conditions, one of which is to show that the project has the support of harbor-area residents who might be affected by the racing.

“We would like this to be worked out,” Commissioner Steven Soboroff said. He told staff members to concentrate on “not why it can’t be done, but how it can.”

In 1974, the Brotherhood moved from the streets of Los Angeles to an old Navy airfield on Terminal Island. It paid the port $1,000 per month in rent and charged $5 admission. But the strip closed in 1984 when the port needed the land for an expansion project, said Willie (Big Willie) Robinson, president of the Brotherhood.

Robinson said last year’s riots after the verdicts in the first Rodney G. King beating trial convinced him that racing ought to be resumed, since it would bring together youths of many backgrounds in organized competition.

The Brotherhood initially sought permission to put a drag strip on a site bordered by Terminal Way and Earl Street. But other port tenants are scheduled to move onto that site between November and April, 1994, making racing untenable there.

An adjacent site to the north, currently occupied by TNT Inc., an automobile warehousing business, might be feasible, staff members said. It is scheduled to be vacated before next spring and rented again in March, 1995, which would leave a window of about one year for the Brotherhood to use the land.

Robinson said that for the plan to work, he would need far more cooperation from port staffers.

“I’ll tell you straight off, (staff) always recommends that we be denied,” Robinson said. “When we met with the staff, staff showed me your maps and that was it. They said, ‘Willie, it can’t be done, thank you and goodby,’ ” Robinson said. “They didn’t ask me, ‘Willie, what’s your input’ or anything.”

The board had said it would be prepared to vote on the matter Wednesday, but Robinson and port staff gave the board conflicting information about the costs and impact of the project.

In a 26-page memo to the board, staff members said that paving the proposed site would cost about $100,000. But Robinson said he is confident he can raise the money through donations--once the board gives him a definitive site.

Although supportive of the project, board members said they will give their formal approval only if the project wins the endorsement of Wilmington and San Pedro residents, who might be affected by noise and traffic associated with the racing.

The Brotherhood also will have to provide insurance for the drag strip and assure the board that it will vacate the site immediately upon being asked to do so.

“I’m very concerned that it not cost the port anything,” Soboroff said. “But if there is no horrible opposition from the community and no horrible opposition from the tenants, then we’re leaning toward (allowing) this.”

Speaking to the board two weeks ago, Robinson touted drag-racing’s ability to bring together people of all races and classes in unprecedented ways.

For $5, people of all ages would bring their cars to the drag strip to race one another. Those without cars would be able to race motorcycles or bicycles. And children without any wheels at all would be matched in footraces, Robinson said. No alcohol or drugs would be allowed on the premises and trophies would be awarded for all events. Membership in the Brotherhood is predominantly Anglo, Robinson said, but people of all races belong.

Two weeks ago, Robinson and his wife, Tomiko, pleaded their case to the board alone. Wednesday, Robinson marshaled about 20 supporters, including Nissan Research & Development Inc. of Gardena, whose senior project engineer, Paul Avery, is a former street racer.

Avery told the board that if the drag strip returns to Terminal Island, Nissan will contribute to the project by agreeing to rent the strip for car testing during the week.

Palos Verdes resident Robert L. Hansen, who owns the Auto Transport Co. in Gardena, told the board that he used to race on Terminal Island 10 years ago and is waiting for the chance to do so again.

“Sometimes I would take my wife and the kids and go there,” Hansen said. “It was a good, clean organization (and) well-run.

And Otis Chandler, former chairman of the board of Times Mirror Corp. and publisher of the Los Angeles Times, wrote Board President Frank Sanchez, urging him to approve the project.

“I have followed (Willie) for more than 20 years,” wrote Chandler, a racing enthusiast. “I consider it absolutely essential that you grant him the lease so he can ‘make a difference’ in directing the energies of young people and youth gangs toward car racing rather than continuing to commit street crime and homicides.”

Soboroff said he will meet with members of the Harbor Commission staff, Robinson, TNT and community members to ensure that all parties’ interests are satisfied before the board brings the issue to a vote.