First it was slalom car racing, and now another automotive sport is likely headed to the Aloha Stadium parking lot.

The Aloha Stadium Authority voted yesterday to allow drifting — where drivers maneuver their cars in a controlled slide — in the lower Halawa parking lot if the sport's organizers meet certain safety and insurance requirements, according to Aloha Stadium Authority chairman Kevin Chong Kee.

The organization's insurance policy and formal application must be presented at the Stadium Authority's next meeting, Nov. 30, before the stadium finalizes the agreement, Chong Kee said.

"Now that we did OK it, they can go back to their insurance people, and put something together," Chong Kee said. "The insurance is to satisfy the policy which is needed by the stadium itself for all events."

Hawai'i's drifting and racing enthusiasts have been looking for a venue since Hawai'i Raceway Park closed in April. In July, stadium officials approved a three-month trial period that allowed the Sports Car Club of America to use the lower stadium parking lot for slalom car racing, which features cars driving through a traffic-coned obstacle course at average speeds of 30 to 40 mph.

The drifting organization had been looking at hosting monthly weekend events starting sometime in December, but organizers haven't put in a formal application, Chong Kee said.

The Stadium Authority requested a trial period with drifting at the stadium parking lot, similar to the trial with slalom car racing, Chong Kee said.

Some on the stadium staff were concerned the sliding cars may damage the parking lot asphalt. But Grace Pacific Corp., the company that recently repaved a portion of the stadium's parking lot, assured that the pavement could handle the cars, Chong Kee said.

Yesterday's meeting drew a sizeable crowd of about 40 people from the racing community.

"There were a lot of kids," Chong Kee said. "That's the age-group that this is going to attract. I think these guys who are doing this drifting, they did an excellent presentation. They answered every question. They had everything down."