The Risks Of Street Racing For Bystanders – Thirteen years ago this past April, I stood at the finish line of the last official street race I would ever witness. It was after midnight in an industrial park in the middle of nowhere in the Midwest. We’d come to the place in two- and three-car groups, driving our wild and muffled Supras and 240SXs and Bimmers as calmly as we could. Under a flickering street lamp, at the end of the service, two young men discussed “place” (
That one of them would get the cash terms of the bet. A neutral third person, who would serve as the starter, got into one of the cars. It was not an attractive woman. this was Ohio reality, not a Hollywood fantasy. My friends and I gathered at the end of the impromptu towpath and watched the taillights of the two cars shrink until they disappeared and were replaced by a distant pair of white rectangles.
The Risks Of Street Racing For Bystanders
There was a screech as the two cars flew off the starting line, some screeching as the Mustang on the side of my road swallowed its 100-shot nitrous, then a loud bang, followed by the erratic idle of the supercharged Volkswagen turbo. engine that had fallen into “bulb mode”. Confident of his victory, the Mustang driver eased off the gas. It was perhaps twenty seconds later, not a mythical ten or less, when the two cars rolled over the curb. Bored with the whole thing, I hopped back in my 330i and headed home. Just as well; Half an hour later, the police arrived and arrested most of the staff for trespassing.
Colorado State Patrol Leads Crackdown On Street Racing In Denver
My untimely departure reinforced the suspicion of some of the local street racers that I was a nut, and if I returned to the industrial park another night, I might be in some trouble. As fate would have it, however, I was busy doing something worse than ripping, at least from a Midnight Club-type perspective. I was in the process of turning street racers into real racers, one driver at a time. A while back I got to know one of the scene’s most infamous “40 rollers”, a Supra Turbo driver who had over six hundred horsepower at the rear wheel and could leave Suzuki GSX-Rs in freeway races that started at 40 MPH and ended when all but one lost heart. He was tired of the scene, tired of the people, tired of the risk. Most of all, he was convinced that eventually something terrible would happen that would put us all on the hunt for criminals.
So we announced our intentions on an invitation-only message board frequented by the area’s most dedicated outlaw racers. Anyone who was tired of the “game” could join instead of us. We’ve offered a rotating schedule of legal motorsports action, from mass competition in the SCCA to participation in the US Grand Prix. We have even rented a racetrack for our exclusive use a few times. Fourteen people left the street race and joined us. Over the years, some of us went all the way to Grand-Am racing, while others were content to participate in the occasional open session, but none of us returned to the street. My friend and I were proud that sixteen of us had “become legal.” We tried not to think about the hundreds of drivers we left behind.
This is what most people in the automotive hobby are unwilling or unable to admit. You can’t kill street racing. You can’t even discourage it. Not completely. As long as young people (and it’s mostly young men) can get their hands on some kind of car, there will be illegal racing. It happened when the Stanley Steamer was the hottest thing on the road, and it will happen long after you need a PhD in computer science to disable the speed limiter on your electric vehicle. There were teenagers racing cars through the streets of London when a horse was the only way to pull them.
Every year, thousands of street racers realize that the danger to themselves and innocent bystanders, like the four people killed in the Raleigh area this week, outweigh the rewards when the first car hastily crosses a quarter-mile from the painted line. So they leave, and in turn are replaced by thousands of young people who have been able to find out where the action is in their hometowns. Maybe they’ve seen a movie that glorifies street racing. Maybe they have friends who do. Or maybe they just hear a voice telling them to come out and see what you’re made of. That sound is also older than the car by a long shot.
Consequences Of Stunt Driving Or Street Races
Street racing as an activity has little to offer. If you stick with it long enough, you’ll die or end up in jail. The mythically expensive street racers of movies and television don’t actually exist. You can’t make more reliable money as a street racer than you can as a nickel grape player. But it offers things that money can’t really buy. The exhilaration of absolute victory in front of an enraptured crowd. You get a sense of belonging when you secretly run your business with a select group of like-minded people. Faith that here, finally, you’ve found yourself and defined yourself the way you always thought you would at six, that you’ve become the outlaw hero of your own imagination. That you, as a man once said, are neither your work, nor your apartment, nor your property.
You can’t discourage young street racers addicted to that adrenaline rush without offering them something just as good in return. That’s why when I look at the list of participants in any local NASA race, I see a lot of names that were found on reckless operation tickets five, ten or twenty years ago. That’s why I’ve talked about the joys of legitimate competition at every street race I’ve ever attended. But not everyone will listen. Therefore, we should be satisfied with small victories. Every name on the autocross entry list is one less name you’ll see on the arrest report.
A few years after I watched that late night race in an industrial park, a member of my old underground club lost control of his GTO in a 40 roll. A family traveling in the opposite direction was killed in the accident. He lived. Lived to face charges. To become a pariah among his friends and loved ones. To sit in jail and read about the life he took. And I want to tell you that the secret message boards and midnight meetings stopped the day after the crash. But that would be a lie. That’s why I still find myself in parking lots on random Saturday nights telling my story to young drivers. I can’t stop street racing, but I can slow it down.
Jack Baruth is a writer and competitor who has earned podiums in more than fifteen different classes and sanctioned car and bicycle competitions, both amateur and professional, as well as an avid hobbyist and audiophile who owns hundreds of musical instruments and audio systems. . His work has appeared in Bicycling, Cycle World, Road & Track, WIRED, Wheels Weekly, EVO Malaysia, Esquire and many other publications. His original guitar design, the Melody Burner, was played by Billy Gibbons, Sheryl Crow and others.
The Consequences Of Drag Racing
So long and thanks for all the emails saying you don’t need more than an EV. The new Toyota Supra was supposed to be a factory SUV. GT cars replace Homebrew Racers.
How Chrysler’s Aging Sedans Compare to the Accord The Challenger, Charger and 300 Could Live Forever Motorsports Resolutions to Take You to the Races The 2019 Lexus GS-F will be a big collection of the future.
Taming those pesky teenagers What if automakers loved their customers? EV May Always Be the Car of the Future Distance Learning Is Safe If you live in or around Atlanta, you’re probably aware of the growth of street racing on public roads, highways and interstates. Often these racers live out of town and only in Atlanta to participate in this dangerous activity. While street racing can be exciting for participants, it poses a serious risk to innocent bystanders and other drivers on the road. Recent accidents have resulted in serious injuries and deaths.
Racing on public streets is expressly prohibited by O.C.G.A. §40-6-186, which makes street racing punishable by up to one year in prison and up to $1,000.00 in fines. In addition, street racers also violate O.C.G.A. §40-6-390, which prohibits driving with reckless disregard for the safety of others, is also punishable by up to one year in prison. Of course, street racers are likely to break a number of other laws as well, such as speeding, lane failure, and tailgating.