HORSEPOWER & HEELS

A fair amount of drag racers will shamefully admit to getting their start on the streets with illegal street racing. This gal included. But as more and more tracks are popping up, and more, safer, LEGAL options are made available, its time to give up on the dangerous culture that is STREET RACING.

Case-in-point. Nick Hogan (Bollea). This is what can happen with a high horsepower car on the street. His passenger is in critical condition. It is a miracle that no one was killed.

There has been an abundance of street racing stories in the news across the country in the past few years. More accidents, more crackdowns, more casualties and victims. But why? I blame one movie that shot it into the limelight.... The Fast and the Furious.

Street Racing became glorified in those movies. Suddenly, you're average kid with a decent credit card limit was out modifying their civics and attempting the stunts that the ridiculously unrealitic movie portrayed. What once was a bunch of die-hard gearheads who sought the abandoned strips of pavement to test their performances was now laid in the hands of kids eager to show off and immitate the movie dramatics. Now kids were racing on crowded roads, lining the streets, and one-uping themselves in dangerous stunts. In other words, it got stupid quick.

Not that I condone street racing nor do I think my past participation in it was very smart, but at least back then, racers had a bit more common sense. They'd meet up, arrange a race, and travel to a remote location away from traffic to line them up. Most of these races took place late at night when roads were clear and most took place on abandoned road straights... old airstrips, shut down warehouse parks, etc. They did NOT perform burnouts in crowded parking lots or race weaving through rush hour traffic and endangering others.

This accident took place on a busy road during early evening (7ish pm) hours, and it was very lucky that no one else was injured.

Folks, most tracks have GRUDGE NIGHTS for these cars. No timers. No lights. Grudge Matches. Late Nights. Everything that Street Racing has to offer but in a legal, safer environment.

Posted by Erica Ortiz on Thursday, August 30, 2007 at 4:34 PM | Permalink