A word of warning about street racing...
 

A guy in our local car club was involved in a roll over accident on Friday night. He raced his W-body Impala against a Camaro on a road he didn't know and ended up coming up to a curve real fast. He ended up rolling once and then hitting a telephone poll. Luckily for him he escaped with only some scrapes and bruises but it could have been worse... a lot worse. Be careful out there and keep it on the strip. I'm guilty of street racing from time to time in the past, but no longer. I keep it on the track just as everybody should.

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RE: A word of warning about street racing...
 

Definatly a Good Reminder

I keep it at Firebird Raceway

Friday night drags race what you got for twenty bucks, definatly safer and more fun. Its great to meet your competition and see what each has done to their cars as far as mods, plus time sheets.

BE SAFE ALL IN 2009

RE: A word of warning about street racing...
 

thats great that hes ok. thats to bad for his car. looks like it was real nice.
i do agree with keeping it on the strip. i have see many accidents by my school from stuff like this, only not as bad.

RE: A word of warning about street racing...
 

Great reminder...

A good friend of mine from high school whom I went offroading with frequently was ina horrible accident on a curvy road just a few miles north of my house the week before Thanksgiving. His friend in the car died in the crash, and my friend was in the hospital unconscience for about 2-3 weeks. He is still there getting surgeries for broken bones, and his best case scenario is 3 months in the hospitol and then 1 year before being able to fully take care of himself again. Plus, we don't know how much his brain will heal and how well he will be able to move again.

The difference in those crashes though is that when hsi car began it's first roll, it went roof first into th woods and was stopped VERY fast... from an excessive speed that the police never released (to me anyway) to nothing in a very short period of time....

GOOD REMINDER!

I keep it on the strip

a friend of our car club president was in a head on collision and died on impact he was our car clubs presidents best friend.

we did a benefit car wash on saturday morning and afternoon to help

it wasn't due to racing he was just driving home at night

Be careful all on the roads and Don't take life for granted enjoy life to the fullest

May The lord keep us all safe out there, amen

ditto on that, one of my best friends died street racing a few years ago. not that i've never done it, but i know i shouldn't. we all take so much pride in ourselves and in our cars, but it only takes one wrong move by us or someone on the road with us for it to go from fun to devastation. keep it safe you guys - and girls!!

I'd be a hypocrite to say I never street raced but I ALWAYS knew what/where I was racing. At the very least I'd make one pass just to look for where cars might pop up, hills, potholes, anything that could be an "unsafe" condition... maybe I should say I minimized the risks as much as possible with a little preparation.

I'm glad he's ok, I just hope he learns to be safer in the future.

everyone has street raced at least once. its almost hard not to, but when your racing, you never really think about the bad stuff that can happen. hope your friend will get better and nothing serious to come!

I used to do it...a LOT. I was very fortunate, and am almost glad that I no longer have my LS1 TA due to the fact that I may have eventually done stupid in it, like getting myself or someone else killed or seriously hurt.

One close call I had was when I had lined up against a turbo Eclipse. At the time, I was on Nittos, Heads/Cam, weight reduction, N2O, 4000 stall. Needless to say, I didn't hook worth a damn, got sideways, and sprayed some dirt and gravel on a few spectators before I got it under control. I learned from that and only did roll races from that point on.

I finally got my racing under control when I jumped the gun a bit and raced a 2.2 KB '04 Cobra. A couple of SRT-4s were behind us to watch. I ran a true-dual exhaust setup with full dumps, so our cars together were stupidly loud. We had a few spirited runs from a 20 mph roll(I had a couple cars on him until we got into the higher speed shuttin' 'em down around 125 or so). When our little pack pulled into the gas station, about 6 police cars were right behind us. I thought for sure I was going to get arrested, or my car taken, or license revoked, and lose my job, or even a night in jail. They didn't stop me, but it sure as hell made me think.

A couple of weeks later, my TA was flooded out, and transmission ruined due to a very nasty storm in my area.

Damn Dustin, who was it that rolled their car? Did I meet him at the meet I attended?

I used to street race ALOT. Then my son was born and I decided that it wasnt worth it. In NC ( IDK about other states) if you are caught redhanded in a "premeditated street race" your car in impounded and crushed! No questions asked. This all happens BEFORE the trial. They dont auction it, or anything like that it is DESTROYED! I hate to think about the Monte being crushed:eek:

Impounding maybe, but crushing?? not in ca.

i heard about that a while ago in the paper near me. also saw it online...

http://www.ridelust.com/california-e...street-racing/

A friend of mine got caught racin his honda, and he told me that they used a big front end loader and just dropped the bucket on his car, full force.

they destroy the hondas keep the american mucil to catch the ones faster then the crown vics that the police have. i work for the sheriff's motor pool they have alot of cars that they have taken. have them taken a look at destroy the ones they dont want manly hondas toyotas though. but the rest that they use you'll never know that there police car's. seen one monty carlo ss my year as a under cover speeder catcher and the thing looks awsum with the police lights turned on sitting off the side of the road pulled some one over pissed off. kinda looked like the same guy that preveusly owend the car befor it was turned into a police car

crushing cars is crazy. a lot of people are going to be out running the police like the article said

street racing is very dangerous, and can get you in alot of trouble. but i know any1 here sitting in there modded monte carlo is thinking about racing all the time. when u see alittle teenager in there 98 civic with a muffler and nothing else revving it you know all you wanna do is take off at the light or next stop sign. im not a big fan of street racing, i do most of it on the track but i will have to say i occasionally step on the pedal now and then

i street race but not on a city road hwy only & if someone pulls up & wants to race & theres traffic in front i will not race, i do street race but i try to be safe while doin it

nice
 

like the ride i got one same color sitting in my garage same yr too

The idea of the cops crushing the cars is a b.s. way to get media coverage IMHO. Seems to me they could make some well needed money by parting them out. Then send the empty shell to the scrap heap.

Wow, sounds like that was a sign in disguise. Just goes to show how street racing can get taken to too great of lengths, unsafe, dangerous, life jeapordizing risks, but you learned, I hope more people come to realize the risks they are running as you have.

See here is where the problem lays in nebraska. There is a 1/8th mile strip, MAM, but I hear its kind of a crap hole and they have evens mabye every 2-3 weeks.

Down in Kearney, its a 5 hour drive from my house, they host events every once in a while.

One strip was shut down for various reasons. So now they are trying to build a strip in lincoln, which has a crazy amount of street racing, some betting into the $1000 area. Its all over the town. Now heres the catch, a guy has offered to pay for and build the strip, not even use tax dollars, and the city wont let him or his group, they say it will be too noisy. The sad thing is that the only alternative for all these people is street racing. Its easy to say go to a track, but when you dont have one it kinda sucks.

Yeah "going to the track" isnt exactly an option for everyone. I know around here, the closest track is over an hour away and their test and tunes are on thursdays. Now who wants to work all day, drive an hour, make a couple passes and then drive and hour back home. I know I sure dont.

I agree -- the closest track to me is 2.5 hrs away. But I can honestly say I've only street raced 1 time. I was coming home from work one day and I was taking 480, I didn't leave work until 10:30 and by that time the freeway was practically empty. Up behind me I see a pair of headlights and he's coming up on me fast, he jumps over into the other lane and flashed his high beams a few times. By now he's close enough I can see it's some really ugly Honda -- I mean this guy puts ridiculous amounts of crap onto it to make it look "cool." What the hell I thought, I gunned it, I had no problem leaving him behind me and eventually he dropped back and moved over behind me, we both dropped it back down to 65 and went on with ourselves. It didn't last long and luckily we didn't meet any cars by surprise. I only peaked about 95, but that was still 30 over the speed limit.

I got home a little after 11. Got in the house and saw a message flashing on my answering machine. It was my cousin calling me from Metro hospital, his sister (my other cousin) was life-flighted there about 20 minutes prior. She was driving her 6 month old baby home from her parents house, they were having dinner and what not since her husband was out of state on a business trip. She took I-71 and apparently some young, dumb punks were racing about a mile behind her, the finish line was the exit ramp. She was sitting at the traffic light at the end of the exit ramp and the one kids brakes were worn, and worn bad, so he couldn't slow down at all. He smashed into the back of her car going about 85 mph, killing the baby on impact and she died while being transported to the hospital. I have never street raced after that and can guarantee you I never will.

Although the person who probably got it the worst in this situation was her husband. He didn't have a cell phone and we had no way to get a hold of him on his trip and we couldn't delay the service until he got back because none of us new when he'd be back except his wife. That had to be the worst feeling ever to come home to find your wife and child are dead and you weren't able to be there for any of the services or anything like that to even say goodbye.

:( very sad to read this story, sorry, just 1 more reason not to street race...

I've already had at least two guys try to race me. The first one was only a week after I got my car. I was driving home from work at 9:00 pm. The road I was on was a 40mph two lane road. Woods on both sides and this road is known for having deer come across it quite a bit.

This guy comes up behind me, then pulls along side in the opposing lane (while we were approaching a blind curve) and he floors it. I did nothing but look at him pull away from me. I shook my head in disbelief. He was driving what appeared to be a 2001 Mitsubishi Galant 4 door. Not sure why he wanted to race, maybe he thought my Monte was the V-6 version and he could take me??

Then last week I was traveling down I-95 and two punk kids in a late 90's white VW Jetta pulled up behind me. I was already doing 70 mph, they then pull along side, look at my car and took off. Like the previous time I did nothing but look at them go by.

Back in the late 90's when I was in high school a high school class mate of mine died in a roll over wreck. He wasn't street racing but he was speeding in his 95 Ford Explorer. He had a fight with his girlfriend and left her house. He was known for speeding and running stops signs (he bragged about it). He came up on a curve at 100 mph, lost control and rolled his Explorer. He wasn't wearing his seat belt and was thrown through the windshield and into a tree. His body hit the tree so hard his clothing was literally ripped off his body. He survived the intial wreck and was still conscious. He died later on at the hospital from severe injuries. I was told he had too much trauma and his heart gave out.

It's the same thing around me Matt. There is no track we can go to here either.

But scenes like this picture is what comes to mind when I see people street racing. This picture is taken from crash tests done by Mythbusters. Both cars were the same make and model. The orange one on the left crashed at 50 MPH. The yellow one crashed at 100 MPH.

Sorry to dig up an old thread, but reading this just sent chills down my spine! That's just absolutely horrible, I couldn't wish that on my worst enemy, ever.

Wow, I wouldn't even know how to continue with my life.

This is a real tragedy.
Best wishes.

I agree about keeping it on the Strip...as a matter of fact im going to build my 1984 Monte Carlo(light baby blue) into a strip street car....setting a 383 in it...

nod
 

sorry to hear and sorry to the other stories of people known who died..

Just going to give a little input on street racing:

Im 20 years old and i go to mechanic school with a bunch of people around my age. All of us like racing. Do We crash? Of course! Have kids from my school been killed? I can name 8 people who have who were good friends of mine from school. I dont street race because ive had enough friends die from street racing. Let me put it this way. Im going to use Maple Grove Raceway as an example. I can pay $20 to race, and about 180 total for gas/fluids. So lets just say i spend $200 for everything.

Now lets say i street race. I get pulled over for doing 95 in a 65 zone. 30+ over lose of license. Reckless driving- $150 ticket, Street Racing- $200. Misc other fines- $100.

So for street racing i lost my license and have around $500 worth of fines. Is it worth it?

Not to mention it'll land you on SR-22 High Risk insurance which can be very costly also.

I know people who are on High Risk Insurance. They spend more money on insurance than anything else. But i dont understand why they insure their cars when they dont have a license!

All of the stories in here are terrible, but the same stuff happens daily with things just like tired drivers. Honestly if people weren't idiots about street racing it wouldn't be an issue.

This is a good reason to get involved in your local politics. We're gearheads; we build our cars, care for them, show them. It's only natural to want to compare what you've done to the other guy, or maybe just satisfy a serious case of footin floor disease. A track is the best place to do that. But local government won't allow it. Noise, safety, whatever. The thing to remember is that if you live there you are local government. Your voice counts as much as anyone else's, if you vote. I've seen fights to save track, and were there's no money to build one simply lobby the town or county to close off a remote piece of road once a month for people to run on after paying a fee. If you want to challenge the cops to bring thier cars out and run, many of them are gearheads too. Laws make it illegal but they can be changed with effort

As far as street racing goes, it risky, not just for the racers but for spectators as well. If you're 100 ft off the road a car running 140 can get to you in just under half a second. Even if you cut the speed in half its little or no time to react. The next time you think about it don't just look for what's on the road, look for what's near it as well. Light polls are designed to break when hit to save lives but trees are not. If you're gonna run a maching you put so much tlc into, do it right. And never race anything you're not willing to light on fire and push off a cliff

Glad your friend is ok.

I have Haggerty Insurance they will not cover me in any speed competition spontaneous or planned. So no more showing off in the Deuce

Sad stories here indeed! I too am guilty of the occasional stop light drag race! more so in my younger days with the '68 Camaro, but sometimes in the Monte! there are so many really fast production model cars out there its silly to race them in my 3.8 200 horsey monte!! lol! I do however enjoy watching the t.v.show, the outlaw racers from Oklahoma city, but it makes me wonder what kind of influence/role model that the show is having on drivers? especially young inexperienced ones who think they have a fast car!! Im kind of surprised that this show is even allowed on TV?? what are the producers gonna do/pay when somebody dies or gets seriously hurt? which it will happen?? JMHO!

Here is what NHRA thinks about it:
NHRA Warns: Participate In “Street Outlaws” Cable Show, Lose Your Competition License!

Written by Thom Taylor on February 17, 2015 Letters Sent To Reality Show Participants
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NHRA Responds To The Hate Over Their Street Outlaws Letter


It seems that the NHRA is finding it problematic honoring competition licenses to those that participate in the Discovery Channel’s Street Outlaws reality cable show. They have issued letters to a select group of racers seen on the weekly show, basically warning they will be ineligible for future racing at NHRA events if they continue to appear on the show.
It’s created some lively discussions everywhere, and as you can imagine Facebook has gone wild, including NHRA’s own Facebook page, with all sides being posited from slanderous slams at the organization to supporting their warning for the obvious reasons that street racing is everything you know it is—mainly dangerous and potentially deadly.
Many are likening it to just a money grab, saying that with the one hour Street Outlaws show garnering a better share of viewers in the 18-49 year old male demographic than NHRA’s Mello Yello ESPN event broadcasts, that it’s an embarrassment for the NHRA and could potentially siphon off sponsors.
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Of course we wonder if the NHRA would continue to take sponsorship money from companies who also happen to advertise on the reality show? Would the NHRA send similar letters to all Street Outlaws sponsors who advertise in National Dragster or sponsor their events or broadcasts? If the NHRA feels that this is unbecoming to the sport as they state, do they also feel it would be unbecoming to the sport if a certain driver posed naked for ESPN magazine in 2013? Where does the NHRA draw the morality line?
Even though the show is [spoiler alert] scripted and staged, we know Street Outlaws sends the wrong message that street racing is exciting and fun—which we also know it is. But, with the potential for things to go wrong in a hurry being part of the street racing equation, can you really blame the NHRA for defending the foundations which they were built upon?
Tell us how you feel about this latest development, and we’ll have more on this after speaking with the NHRA and possibly some of those that received one of these Valentines.

I have done my share of street racing. Mainly in my 1988 Camaro. A friend and I would be at a light. he would be behind me. The light would go green and he would disappear from my rearview mirror and next thing I know, he's flying by me. We've done this a few times only on this one strip of road in my hometown. After a friend of ours was killed, we all vowed to slow down our driving. Now I go down that same strip of road late at night and I will be by myself. I will admit, I have hit the gas in my Monte. I never stay in it very long. I plan on bringing my Monte to the local strip about an hour and a half away in Epping, NH just to get an idea of the performance of the car. I've raced there before, and as a previous poster mentioned, it's a lot cheaper when you add up all the possibilities versus running at the track.