Why aren't Drag Strips everywhere nowadays?

[JerryMather]

There would be a lot less of these if there were, IMO.

[Rinkydink]

We have an abandoned airstrip in a suburb of Little Rock that a bunch of enthusiasts have petitioned to turn into a "safe" place to race. The opposition is very very strong. I sure wish the Maryland incident would steer it into fruition for safety's sake.

[ericfoerster]

So true.

 

Our municipal airport is used by bikers for stunts and stuff. The bikers are usually out every weekend from surrounding cities. It appears from all the burnout marks that they are having a good time. Most of the operators at the airport put up with these guys because they are very polite and they stay at one end of the airport.

Rumor has it that there is a Yellow Gix that shows up from time to time to practice some wheelies and stuff with the group. The rider has never been identified

[keithb]

I have to tell you it made me sick seeing those 4 bodies covered with yellow sheets this morning on the news. How senseless and unnecessary. As you know Jerry we have our share of the same thing here in SoCal. Prayers go out to the families of the deceased and everyone involved.

[f86sabre]

Capitol Raceway is 40 miles away. That is not too far to go for safe jollies. What stunned me was one CNN report that said there was a 61 year old grand father there with his daughter and grandchild. He was sadly killed.

 

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/16/drag.race.deaths.ap/index.html

 

Really, there is no excuse for this at all. I feel for the person driving the car and semi that may have been involved.

[JerryMather]

When I was a kid ............ many years ago, there were numerous drag strips throughout the SoCal area that my friends used to go out and drag race each other in their Camero's, Chevelle's and GTO's most every weekend. Now we have only a couple left and street racing has taken the place of going to the Drags instead.

 

You would think that it doesn't take a Rocket Scientist to figure out that there needs to be a few more of these safe places to race for the younger generation instead of them taking to the streets.

IMO, our public officials need to bite the bullet and set aside land to make this happen for the public's safety. Racing and that need for speed will always be in some of our younger males DNA and these senseless fatalities need to stop.

[ShovelStrokeEd]

I agree on the safe outlets. I'm lucky in that there is a pretty good track only about 40 miles from my house. It doesn't stop the street racing though, and here's why.

 

Drag strips all have safety rules in place to keep the racing, ummmm, safe. That means 10 second cars have to have roll bars. Scatter shields on anything modified with a clutch. Protective apparel for the driver, fuel line routing and protection, axle retention devices, parachutes for anything going over 150 mph (motorcycles excepted). The list goes on.

 

I don't argue that all of these are GOOD things. Trouble is, the average guy hopping up his car doesn't think of them or doesn't have the budget for it. A purpose built race car is something else. So, here is good old Joe, just wants to beat his buddy Jim. Jim has added headers to his Civic and a cold air intake, Joe does the same but Jim is just a little quicker cause the factory had a better day with Jim's engine. Joe goes out and buys a NOS kit for his car and spanks Jim next time. Jim buys a bigger system and gets some cams as well and there is poor Joe, back looking at Jim's tail lights. Here comes the turbos. A year or two of this will find them both running in the low 11's, high 10's and not a whit of safety equipment has been added to either car. These guys show up at the track and are instanly banished to the spectator area for the night. Think either one of them is gonna go back home, spend 3 grand on the right safety gear and come back to the track, when they have been dumping 50% of their paycheck into the car for 2 years? Nope, they are gonna go back to Racer Road and have at it, late on Friday or Saturday night.

[T__]

When I was young & reckless we used to race on the street a lot.. There were drag strips available in my area but we mostly raced on the street.. I grew up in the early Woodward Ave. cruising days so we cruised that at least 3 time a night (every night)..

 

Problems with using a drag strip were many & varied but mainly it wasn’t one of our usual cruising hang outs,, too darn many rules & regulations to be allowed to run there without hassle,, it cost money that we just didn’t have at that time,, you could only get a few runs in a night as opposed to about any time any place on the street,, & probably a biggie was no liquor allowed..

 

We did have more than a few close calls & did kill a couple of racers.. Never hurt a spectator (really didn’t have many of those back then).. We did usually use a couple of chase cars to block traffic from behind (that probably would have helped in the incident you linked to).. If we raced across side road entry points we would try & block those with cars if possible..

 

Street racing is dangerous but is tolerated in a lot of areas (I know a couple of places now that even the local cops watch & sometimes even participate with their personal Hi-Po cars)..

 

I guess the act of street racing is probably not the best way to do it but in the incident you linked to it wasn’t the actual racers that were the danger it was those spectators that stood in the middle of the road in the middle of the dark night in a cloud of smoke..

 

Twisty

[steve.foote]

Local government's won't touch them. Municipalities would get the snot sued out of them if they were to sanction a drag strip and ANYTHING went wrong.

 

Ed is right on the money about the rules and regulation part. Street racers simply won't conform.

 

Personally, I don't see any solutions here. People are going to race, and people are going to watch. And, every now and then, the bill of statistical certainty will come due.

[upflying]

Lawsuits, environmentalists, Green politics, insurance, red tape, bureaucrats, profits vs investments... to name a few reasons.

[JerryMather]

Lawsuits, environmentalists, Green politics, insurance, red tape, bureaucrats, profits vs investments... to name a few reasons.

 

and the alternative would be .................... ?

[ShovelStrokeEd]

There is no good alternative.

 

Boyz will be boyz.

 

I have been out of that scene for a good long time now but, I'm aware of some of the stuff going on. Down here there is both drag racing and top speed runs and both draw some pretty large crowds of racers and spectators. Once in awhile, someone dies. The papers make a big deal of it, enforcement is stepped up a bit, mostly at the hangouts that are the start of the evening's activities. Then the brooha dies down and things are back to normal. The guys that do this, do it for some serious money sometimes and they aren't gonna get caught. Technology works both ways and there are lookouts posted at some of the venues that give adequate time for everyone to scatter.

[Bill_Walker]

In San Diego, we've got an outfit called racelegal.com that organizes drag races in the parking lot at Qualcomm Stadium. It's only a 1/8 mile track, though, and there are still safety requirements. And, of course, they only have a meet once or twice a month, not every Friday and Saturday night.

 

Here in SoCal, the tracks have closed because the land is worth more than the business, and/or because of nearby housing tracts generating noise complaints.

[Ken H.]

Lawsuits, environmentalists, Green politics, insurance, red tape, bureaucrats, profits vs investments... to name a few reasons.

And NIMBY.