Two state-of-the-art racecars stolen from Tigard business

TIGARD, Ore (KPTV) – Saturday morning, Eddie Nakato, who owns AR Motorsports, said two of his prized racecars were stolen from his business.

He called the cars “unique,” and is asking for the community’s help to find them.

He has been in business since 2006 and said that ‘passion’ remains his drive.

“We love these cars,” Nakato said. “We love racecars. We love performance cars. We just love cars.”

Unfortunately, Nakato said even with surveillance cameras all around the property, he often deals with crime.

“More often than I’d like to count.”

Around 1:00 Saturday morning, Nakato said someone stole a trailer that was parked outside of the property. Inside there were two BMWs designed specifically for an upcoming race this weekend, featuring state-of-the-art engines.

Nakato said they were testing those engines and were hoping they’d pave the way for a whole new look at racing.

“It’s just unfortunate we weren’t able to do it in an actual competition stage,” he said.

With a tracking device on the trailer, Nakato said he saw it moving around quite a bit. He said the trailer spent hours in Mount Hood and eventually stopped in Gresham. He believes for some of that time, it could have been hauling the two race-ready, expensive vehicles.

When he found the trailer in Gresham, he said he spoke with an officer before taking a look inside, because he was fearful that the 25-thousand dollars in tools and the vehicles would be gone.

When he found out that was exactly what happened, he said it felt like a gut punch.

“They even went down to taking all of the oil and coolant and everything,” he said. “It was pretty rough.”

Nakato can’t help but wonder if those involved knew what they were getting into. He said since the vehicles are designed to be on a racetrack, they’re missing safety equipment like airbags and are instead equipped with roll cages. Because of that, he said the cars are anything but street-legal and it would be next to impossible to make them so.

“Even if you could, they would be terrible,” Nakato said. “They’re not a civil sort of car you want to drive.”

He said there’s a lot of lost revenue aside from the theft itself to his business too.

Since the vehicles are rentable, those who were planning to race them for the season are likely out of luck.

“To be the bearer of bad news for the customer, as well as losing our assets is pretty rough,” he said. “It doesn’t get much worse for a business than that.”Nakato is asking people, and the car community, to be on the lookout for the very distinct racecars.

“These are cars that we poured our blood, sweat, and tears into,” he said. “Whether they’re damaged or not, we’d love to have them back. If you hear anything or see anything, please let us know.”

In the aftermath, he said they’re planning on upping security again, even though they’ve already increased security in the past.

He said he’s also not sure if he wants to report the incident to insurance, because he is fearful his already expensive rates will increase, or he will get dropped.

Above anything else, he said he hopes they get lucky and they will find the cars before their next race in June.

If anyone knows anything about the theft, they asked to reach out to Tigard Police by calling (503) 629-0111 or find out how to get in touch with Nakato at his business’s website.

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