Illegal Street Racing

One of the fastest growing sports in the world is racing. Racing in general can consist of many different types such as: Drag Racing, NASCAR, Indy, Motor Cross, Truck Rally. The topic of racing that I am chose was street racing. Street racing originated from drag racing on the quarter-mile strip. The concept of drag racing is when two racers in different cars would line up at a white line, and in the middle of the two cars would be a light post, called the Christmas tree for its red, yellow and green bulbs. The tree does what a stoplight does, except backwards, it starts from red, then to yellow, then to green. On the quarter-mile strip, when the light hits green, the two racers are supposed to try to go as fast as they can before the end of the quarter-mile, which would then set off a electronic board showing their electronic times (E.T.) and their speeds.

As the sport of street racing began to boom around the early Ð''90s, people couldn't really afford to go to a legal track and race their cars, because of the price that it cost and the rules that they had. So there was a street track that was created on Terminal Island, called the Brotherhood Raceway. The Brotherhood Raceway or Brotherhood for short was basically a quarter-mile drag strip that was put down on a closed off street, where street racers could go and find out their quarter-mile times and speeds for the price of nothing. This was a quarter-mile drag strip to keep racers off of normal streets and highways. Around time of the mid-90s, the Brotherhood was then closed down, forcing street racers to take their racing to another legalized track, or to the streets and highways.

People say that street racing is bad, illegal and dangerous to everyone. There is another side which thinks that street racing is ok, and safe. All street racers know that street racing is illegal and can be dangerous, but in their minds they will think they won't hurt people around them but accidents do happen. When it comes to racing on streets, racers an open or deserted street and line two cars up, and basically race off of the line and see who stays ahead of the other person, this set-up is basically like racing on a drag strip, just without lights and tech and safety people around. There is a person that acts like the lighting tree, who stands in the middle, and is called the "flagger." This person puts his/her arms up, signaling to the racers to get ready, and as soon as he/she drops their arms, the two racers in the cars take off and whoever stays ahead wins. When the street racers thinks he is ahead with a sufficient amount of road and time in between the other racer and himself, the racers through on their hazards as a sign of winning or finishing.

In these past few years, there has been a booming growth to the street-racing scene, because of the movie "the Fast and the Furious" which doesn't depict the car scene correctly as it is. Since the release of the movie, everybody who owns a car thinks they are a street racer. The true scene of the real street racers has gone away and faded due to the copycat sense of the imitation racers. The imitation racers and the movie "Fast and Furious" have given real street-racing a very bad name. The imitation racers think that they can race anywhere and at anytime. They don't care about safety of themselves and others around them.

Lets start with the movie "Fast and Furious." This is a movie about the import scene where people have fast cars, and lots of money. The producers also depicted street racers are thieves, thugs, killers, and hi-jackers. Also in the movie, they have a quarter-mile race, which seems like it is two to three miles long. The makers of the movie even with the help of legal, well-known drag racers blew the whole street racing scene of out proportion, having cars all line up a certain way, people polishing their cars, girls showing off and having numerous cars lining up to race, and showing them race for a lot of money and for their cars. In real street racing, most of that does not happen. When comparing the real street racing scene as it was to the way it was shown in the movie, racers would all show up on a empty street, not a big business street usually an industrial area, and people would ask each other if they want to race, and if they choose to, they would then line up and race each other. If there was any betting going on at the races, it wasn't shown and flaunted in front of everyone as it was in the movie. (Fontana)

When it comes to street racing, people are basically allowed to use any type of engine/car set-up that they want, and race whoever they want. Some match-ups are uneven, some are even, it all depends on what the person has done to his car. Modifications to cars nowadays is way out of hand, and parts can come a dime a dozen at any store at any corner. It is hard to sort out the old-fashioned street racers from the imitations, because all the imitations have money from their parents to fix up their car. In the early 90's when Hondas, Mazdas, and Toyotas were starting out at the street races, people would use all of their little money from jobs and such to put it into their cars. Some people from back then, used to race for a few bucks to buy them food at the local In-N-Out or to buy them drinks after the races. Street racing used to be a small, friendly gathering where people became social with one another. Nowadays at the street races, people keep to themselves, and take winning and losing very seriously. Street racing has grown over the whole United States, and even into many other continents. "Everyone's got a hobby. And this just happens to be mine. Why? Because it gets your blood flowing to your head, you get this amazing rush when you know you just beat your quarter mile time and you whupped up on that Civic next to you." (Brown) A crew member for a racing team in Connecticut agrees. "Hardcore street racers enjoy every minute of it, and they love the risk involved," "but our crew does it because it is a hobby of all of ours that brings us all together as friends. We meet new people every time we go out there." (Silla) This sport isn't only popular in the United States, either. A racer from Australia says that his reasons for racing may be a bit different from kids just starting out with racing. "I do it for the sound and noise of racing and the speed. It is a hobby and it's competitive to have the fastest car, the most powerful car and the best looking and loudest car. But, I'm in it for the cash too." Other kids though, explains Adam, see the thrill in racing being illegal. "Kids think that its cool because the cops don't want them to be there," continued Adam "...they think its cool that they get chased out, and that its breaking the law. They