Street races

[MrFishah]

I've found that sometimes a little hyperbole can go a long way towards getting a point across. Clearly in this case it worked...

In reality I would never truly wish that somebody gets hurt. Of course the best outcome is that nobody gets injured at all. The only way to prevent that though is to stop racing on public streets entirely, and some people only learn lessons the hard way. I can say for sure that I would never have any sympathy for someone killed in their own act of insolence on the street, and you can be certain I'd rather see someone get killed in a fiery accident while racing then have some innocent person get injured even slightly.

[fastivaB6TG25MR]

can you name more that 3 incidents of a local street racing injury or fatality in the last 6 months? year?

[MrFishah]

can you name more that 3 incidents of a local street racing injury or fatality in the last 6 months? year?

Nope, but I can't name 3 local incidents of rape, robbery, or home invasion either. Doesn't mean they aren't problems, it just means I don't follow the news.

Perhaps someone doesn't get killed in a street race every few days, and perhaps texting drivers and drunk drivers kill far more people every year, but that doesn't change the fact that every time somebody gets hurt in a street racing accident it is a completely preventable tragedy that was caused entirely by somebody being irresponsible and acting illegally.

[fastivaB6TG25MR]

all accidents are preventable.

[MrFishah]

Not gonna argue that! I believe we should all do our part to prevent them any way possible. Step 1 is to stop street racing, and step 2 is to ban old people and women from driving.

[DriverOne]

Perhaps if more people were allowed to race in designated areas, this would be drastically reduced? By designated I mean built for just that, and then left alone. Like a skate park. Pay $5 to race one time. Hell, even a debit machine so you don't have to carry cash. Swipe your card, pull forward, and if you want to go again, get in line, swipe, and go again. $5/race per car. People could afford it, and you'd clean up. No sanctioned events, no big name racers (except if they bring an unsponsored car), just a place for people to settle the score.

[MrFishah]

Perhaps if more people were allowed to race in designated areas, this would be drastically reduced? By designated I mean built for just that, and then left alone. Like a skate park. Pay $5 to race one time. Hell, even a debit machine so you don't have to carry cash. Swipe your card, pull forward, and if you want to go again, get in line, swipe, and go again. $5/race per car. People could afford it, and you'd clean up. No sanctioned events, no big name racers (except if they bring an unsponsored car), just a place for people to settle the score.

Yea, I would love to see that!

I grew up in New England and the local drag strip opens every Friday night during the summer for anyone to use. It is a really small fee to race and I definately think it helps. The more discount racing the better!

[kellen302]

Is it down in LA that I've heard that the local fuzz organizes street races by shutting down certain roads in the city or burbs and having organized casual grudge matches. EMS on hand and they are police run so there aren't the usual slough of "activities" that go with the race scene sometimes. You also get to race the popo occaisionaly.
But as a teenage boy I can't deny the lure of illicit racing, I wish there was some on the island, but theres not.

[zoom zoom]

all accidents are preventable.

I'm confused by this statement. I've had my share of accidents, and for most of them, I can think of things I could have done to avoid the situation, but one I had in 2004 with a blazer, where a woman ran a stop sign and ran into me. Her 35mph, my 55, making it a 90mph crash, was completely unprovoked or caused by me at all, the police report reflects that. I do not know how I could have prevented the situation, aside from just not being there, but I had to get home.

[LoneManWolf]

Street racing is on par with drunk driving for stupidity in my opinion. If you want to spend countless hours and dollars fixing up a machine then to only cheap out and not spend the money to goto a track to race it... well that's pretty stupid too. I won't go so far as to say i'd like to see someone burned or crippled in a wreck. I'd rather just see their car spontaneously combust in an area and time when noone other than the car would get hurt.

[fastivaB6TG25MR]

I'm confused by this statement. I've had my share of accidents, and for most of them, I can think of things I could have done to avoid the situation, but one I had in 2004 with a blazer, where a woman ran a stop sign and ran into me. Her 35mph, my 55, making it a 90mph crash, was completely unprovoked or caused by me at all, the police report reflects that. I do not know how I could have prevented the situation, aside from just not being there, but I had to get home.

if the lady would have stopped at the stop sign the accident would have been prevented.

edit: you all have a good night im gonna go street racing... ill post videos later

[Grey Vw]

You all act like we take our cars and blast down heavy traffic. Each party knows what they are getting in too and we take no passengers.

Tell me what is so dangerous about going WOT down an empty highway for 10 seconds? " Oh no! better watch out for those kids crossing the highway in middle of the night"


And here. This is the closest thing there has been to a death related to street racing. Didn't die from street racing, died by running from the cops. 7th street is where all the street races happen. Empty industrial road, i've never actually been there.
http://abclocal.go.com/kgo/story?sec...bay&id=8777525

[Christ]

In 2 years of street racing, my net profit was about $60k... and by "street" racing, I mean racing in a generally unused/uninhabited part of town that we essentially had to break into in order to race. Sure there were tracks, but the tracks didn't allow betting, etc... and they were so far away.

I finally got caught after I sold all my quick cars and "stopped racing". I ended up getting a SR charge in PA just outside of Wyalusing PA because I passed someone on the way out of town and he floored it, so I returned the favor.

I had no real reason to stop, even my Civic at that point could easily outrun any standard Interceptor, but for some reason, I stopped.

The end result was about $1100 in fines and 2.75 years with no license, which didn't stop me from driving in the least.

I don't own anything fast anymore, and my past is part of the reason I'm so lazy when it comes to working on cars... I used to be awake for days on end just building the bottom end of an engine, installing and removing and shimming and reinstalling bearings 100 times to get the wear pattern perfect, but I just don't want to get back into that life. There are still times I spend 2-3 days working on something almost non-stop, but that's usually either a bike, or when I'm doing something for a friend.

Every engine in every car I sold is still running today, some 8 years later. And every one of them was a "backyard" build.

[Damkid]

I love how every street racing topic turns into a big deal....

[Advancedynamix]

I love how every street racing topic turns into a big deal....

That's why most veterans of this topic just call it performance driving. Having been involved in both sanctioned racing of many different types and spirited street driving of a competitive nature for most of my life I can say one thing. There are two different types of people, those who have a passion for driving and those who don't. The two will often disagree about the proper use of vehicles and roadways. Those who don't understand why street racers are safer drivers than soccer moms or teenage girls ( in general, not always), should read the statistics and get to know racers a little better. Those with a passion for driving take driving seriously, are more alert and know how to avoid accidents better than the usual commuter. Driving, to many, is a lifestyle and an artform. If proper driving instruction were available to every person who has this passion, and this passion was nurtured rather than discouraged, the roads of our countries would be much safer. Discouraging passion only leads to frustration, frustration is not safe.