Illegal Street race gone very very bad!

avelanchefan

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

Man when are these people going to learn. I know dragging has been going on since the dawn of cars, but still.

And all I want to know is why did Crystal Gaines take her father and child to the race at 3:40 in the morning? What is a child doing out at 3:40 in the morning? And why would a 61 year old grandfather be accompanying them?

Face

Maryland has a couple of drag strips too. What a waste.

danger boy

that's sad.... there is a place and time for racing.. and it's not on the street.

Demiurge

I guess it's a mystery to some why, at legal drag strips, the lanes are lined with 4 ft., reinforced, concrete barriers and the stands are set back 30 feet from the track, often behind a 15 ft high fence. Those barriers must just be in place to give the place atmosphere. These must be the same kind of Rhodes Scholars that stand on the outside corners at high speed road rallies in Europe and the MidEast.

Ron-P

Oh well, you go and watch, your supporting the illegal racing.

F1nut

avelanchefan wrote: »

And all I want to know is why did Crystal Gaines take her father and child to the race at 3:40 in the morning? What is a child doing out at 3:40 in the morning? And why would a 61 year old grandfather be accompanying them?

Probably because that's the most exciting thing going on in Accokeek, just isn't much there. That and a general lack of an IQ higher than 80.

janmike

That car is one hell of a mess. Very sad indeed.

shack

I got my wrist slapped a while back cause I called some kid a **** idiot for bragging about the fact he was a "street racer".

Serendipity

I think street racing is very irresponsible. We have quite a few of these kids racing around at 2AM...it's dangerous and also makes it difficult for me to sleep (too much noise).

I still wished I lived at home, ever since I moved out when I was 18 I sleep much less due to the noise...

Early B.

This sentence was lifted from the article: Police said a body found in the car was one of the spectators and not a passenger, as they had previously assumed.

WTF?

PolkThug

The cars that were actually racing didn't wreck.

"Witnesses said they had just watched two cars in the illegal street race speed past when a car without any lights on came up behind them and veered into a crowd of about 50."

It's absolutely horrible that people were killed, but these 'spectators' are idiots. I've seen lots of videos on the Internet where the spectators are all bunched up next to the road where the cars are heading. I'm suprised this doesn't happen more often.

I enjoy street racing, but I wouldn't do it where people are standing next to the road.

Ron-P

but these 'spectators' are idiots.

Nature's way of thinning the gene pool.

movtarget

PolkThug wrote: »

I enjoy street racing, but I wouldn't do it where people are standing next to the road.

Isn't this somewhat similar to:

"I enjoy shooting a high-powered rifle through city parks, but I only do it when I'm fairly certain they are empty"

You will think it's fine and that you are smart enough to avoid being involved in a tragedy. You might be lucky enough to ever be the cause of someone's death choosing to race where you cannot control all the conditions, but if the day comes, it will haunt you forever...

Movtarget... not usually a soapbox kinda guy

BaggedLancer

Used to be in this scene, seen this happen first hand but only the driver of the car died. Spectators were always in cars where I was so they had a better chance of survival. Been in two major street racing accidents myself, neither of which I was driving, but a passenger. The last one sent me to the hospital unconscious....needless to say I don't participate in this scene anymore. I was never a racer, but I always enjoyed watching or being a passenger for the adrenaline rush. I would compare the adrenaline rush of street racing to same adranline rush of shooting a gun for the first time.

mantis

I used to be in this kinda crowd in the 80's and 90's. I built 2 cars for street and track. I owned a 1982 Pontiac Firebird that ran 16's stock . Then I got it to 15.2 with some mods and then very best 13.8 sec 1/4 with engine change and mad money later.

I then purchased a 1987 Buick turbo T(Grand National but in Grey). It ran 13.6 bone stock and at it's best 11.66 sec 1/4 after a complete bolt up upgrade process.

I raced both cars on the street as well. Then I got caught and lost my License. I was a Auto Mechanic at the time and it hindered my job. I had to go to detail for 6 months as I couldn't road test a car. This was a huge eye opener for me.

When you have a fast car, you tend to use it. I gave up on the scene but do miss the excitement. This is a terrible thing to happen. Street racing has been going on for a very long time. It would be so much better if street racers would ust go to the track more. They have street night 2 times a week. It's legal and safer. I loved going to the track.

I wish people would grow up. I was one of them. But it took losing my license to do so. I would still street race today if I owned a fast car and didn't experience the negitive effects it has.

Just like our hobby here, it gets in you and you want that FIX..