Street Racing And The Media
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Popular Instagram accounts, YouTube channels, and other forms of social media have served as a bullpen for the Los Angeles street racing community in recent years.
Street Racing And The Media
At one point, two cars tore down the Compton track, which was slick from previous races. The drivers teased each other and placed small bets on each competition. Then someone shouted.
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The blue and red glare of a Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department cruiser bounced off their rear windows as drivers and onlookers scrambled into the nearest vehicle.
Inside one of the fleeing cars, the driver barked to a new location. Another man in the back seat typed on his cell phone and alerted the Facebook group.
A few minutes later, most of the racers regrouped on the other side of Compton. The police did not appear.
Popular Instagram accounts, YouTube channels and other forms of social media have served as a bullpen for Los Angeles’ street racing community in recent years, law enforcement officials and members of the racing community say. The bigger the online following a car club or race organizer has, the easier it is to attract large crowds to illegal activities.
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The platforms helped expand Los Angeles’ reputation as a testing ground for auto clubs as far away as San Bernardino and Oakland, allowing regional rivalries to intensify through online battles and video clips of racers playing at home.
CHP investigators suspect street racing was to blame for a 2016 fire on Highway 5 in Sooda that killed three people.
But authorities say social media is one of several factors that have made racing culture more violent in recent years, with some racers more inclined to pull dangerous stunts or get aggressive with police in the hope of creating a viral race video.
Earlier this month, seven men were charged with assaulting Los Angeles police officers who chased a suspect into a street race in South Los Angeles. Last December, Los Angeles Fire Department officials said an ambulance responding to an emergency call was also attacked by racers in a “street grab,” in which racers block an intersection or stretch of road to perform “burnouts” and other stunts. Earlier this year, a group of racers fired fireworks at a police helicopter in the Los Angeles area, CHP officials said.
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In years past, street racers would do whatever they could to avoid police, said Los Angeles Police Department Sgt. Jesse Garcia, one of the agency’s top race investigators. Now they believe they want controversy and hope that the controversial shots will bring more “likes” and followers.
“The more extreme the actions in these videos, the more famous they are,” he said. “A lot of these people are trying to stop themselves for little things to add to their fan base, to get it on the air.”
Earlier this year, a Los Angeles Times analysis of coroner’s records, police reports and media accounts found that at least 179 people have died in suspected street racing in Los Angeles County since 2000. Last year, there were 984 street races in Los Angeles County. — including spontaneous races and organized events — account for just over 40% of incidents statewide, according to the California Highway Patrol.
Street racing is on the rise in the area, police say, in part due to the ability of racers to promote meets, fuel regional rivalries and adapt to police responses through Instagram accounts.
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Abraham Kim, an investigator who participated in the latest CHP task force targeting street races, said Instagram “stories” have become a preferred communication method for race organizers in recent years. This feature allows users to create photo and video slideshows that disappear after 24 hours.
Because they disappear so quickly, police have to constantly monitor the accounts, which will set up regular rally points in Los Angeles County, he said.
“There’s one guy who’s the organizer of them, and he’s got a bunch of people following him, and he’s like, ‘Hey, the next place is on this street, hurry up and spread the word,'” Kim said. “Once it’s announced, he’ll take it down.”
While investigators believe social media is a driving force in the racing scene, it’s unclear how adept police are at monitoring such activity. Both the CHP and LAPD declined to discuss how they monitor race activity online.
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On a recent evening, two Times reporters shadowed the CHP street racing team for several hours. Investigators visited several known hot spots in South Los Angeles and Torrance, but found no racers or screeching brakes — only the skid marks of fleeing drivers.
Two Los Angeles residents say Instagram has made it easy for someone to pull off a big heist or race a dozen cars for quick cash.
“Anyone can become an organizer if you have enough followers,” said one person, who declined to be named for fear of reprisals from police or other racers.
One racer in Santa Ana, who asked to be identified only as Richard, said that while Instagram has made it easier to organize races and competitions, it can also create problems with large, noisy crowds. attracts the attention of the police.
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“Problems are Instagramming everyone, mom and mom’s friends,” she said.
In recent months, investigators say car clubs from San Bernardino, Orange County and the Bay Area have been drawn to Los Angeles to eliminate competition. Instagram and other social media accounts that feature videos of races and other competitions can sometimes fuel conflict, Kim said.
“It just invites other bands to come out more often and show that this is how we do it in L.A.,” he said. “It’s almost a north-south kind of rivalry.”
A look at some of the most popular racing accounts in Los Angeles can paint a picture of the city’s dangerous, and sometimes violent, street racing scene.
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One Instagram account called “MJ420_MonteCarlo_SS” has dozens of videos showing cars on fire and drifting just feet away from viewers. In a clip released in April, a fight broke out as the cars lined up for the race.
A screaming match quickly erupted and several people could be seen kicking and hitting the car as it tried to escape. Other clips show the woman who runs the account handling the takeover.
The account is run by a prominent Los Angeles street racer who goes by the nickname “Mary Jane” because she frequently smokes marijuana while driving in her videos, said a law enforcement official who was not authorized to speak publicly about the investigation.
The Times reviewed several videos from the account earlier this year, but it was made private in July. Operators of similar YouTube and Instagram accounts declined interview requests.
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When asked about street racing content on its platform, YouTube issued a statement saying that it “has clear policies regarding potentially harmful or illegal content, and if we are flagged, we will promptly remove videos that violate these policies.”
“Videos that promote unsafe or illegal activities that could result in serious injury are subject to review and removal in accordance with this policy,” the statement said.
An email to Instagram seeking comment was not returned. A Facebook spokesperson did not respond to questions about the content of the street race on the social media site.
A pair of cars jump off the starting line during a drag race at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale. The track hosts weekly racing and drifting events on Thursdays, attracting hundreds of car enthusiasts and spectators.
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While police fear social media has fueled some of the worst aspects of the local racing circuit, activists who want to end illegal racing are using Instagram and Facebook to reach out to organizers.
Kevin Stephens, Irwindale Speedway’s director of marketing, said he has been monitoring race-related social media accounts since becoming part of the track’s new ownership team earlier this year. When he notices trash talk between rival car clubs on Facebook or Instagram posts, Stevens tries to convince the racers to face off in the safe confines of a legal drag strip.
“In the short time we’ve been running the facility, we’ve seen four or five of these grudges on the street,” he said. “Instead, they chose to take it to the track.”
To give social media access to police or activists looking to better understand the county’s racing scene, an Instagram or Facebook account can give racers a huge advantage when they cross paths with police offline.
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“We’ll have a block or two,” said Kim, a CHP investigator. “But that’s not enough to handle 500 people.”
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