A sane approach to street racing

[MindPilot]

Any tragedy involving motorsports--especially street racing--brings cries of "ban cars" from the seemingly growing contingent of DU nanny-staters. That ain't gonna happen anymore than you are going to ban drugs, porn, gambling, country music or anything else whose over-indulgence occasionally destroys a life or two.

There was a time when every little town with a population over fifty had a dirt oval and a quarter mile of flat straight asphalt, but for a myriad of reasons ranging from mis-placed environmentalism to "won't someone think about the children?!" those day are past. Cities that happily jack the taxpayers for a new football stadium won't give a race track a second thought.

Here's what a group in my city has done to address the problem:


Sponsorship Opportunities: (My employer is one of the major founding sponsors.)
For information on how you can reach a target group of 16 - 99 year old racing enthusiasts who have made the choice to, "Race Track - Not Street", look no further. RaceLegal.com, San Diego's premier safer and sanctioned track alternative to illegal street racing, routinely draws 300 racecars and 3,000 plus spectators per event. Our events are held on the average of three Friday nights per month. The event is conducted on the west side parking lot of San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium. We operate dual side-by-side 1/8 mile racetracks and have the capability of launching 480 cars an hour when functionally optimally.

RaceLegal.com is a 501 (c) 3 not-for-profit community based organization dedicated to redirecting youth from high risk illegal street racing behavior to the safer and sanctioned RaceLegal.com track alternative. RaceLegal.com is an integral part of the Center for Injury Prevention. The goal of the program is save the needless loss of young lives to illegal street racing via the significantly safer and sanctioned track alternative to illegal street racing, RaceLegal.com.

RaceLegal.com is but one component of the San Diego "Closing the Loop" approach to intervention with high-risk illegal street racing behavior. As a community, we witnessed a high of 16 dead and 31 seriously injured in 2002 as a direct result of illegal street racing involved crashes. 2003 saw a reduction to 4 dead and 6 seriously injured as a direct result of illegal street racing involved crashes, a 79% improvement. In 2004, 6 were killed and 15 seriously injured which equates to a 55% improvement when compared to our baseline year of 2002. Change of this magnitude in the appropriate direction is unprecedented.

The RaceLegal.com program now seeks corporate/private sponsorship. For additional information on how you can assist RaceLegal.com with its mission, click on the "Opportunities" tab.

http://www.racelegal.com

[DS1]

1. There's also "beat the heat" where the police actually race, too

It's neat, brings the police and kids together, and nobody dies.

[Joanie Baloney]

2. Hear, hear!

Young-uns gotta race. It's in their DNA. Might as well keep it safe and fun.



;)

JB

[MadHound]

3. In these days of global warming, increasing pollution and Peak Oil,

I find the idea of racing gasoline powered cars(especially the ones that still use leaded high octane fuel) to be rather abhorent and an abomination. I've seen the haze that rises over race tracks, both dirt and asphalt. All that more pollution going into the air, all that wasted fuel.

Does racing have a place, sure, it helps develop new cars. But the emphasis of racing has always been on providing a larger more powerful vehicle. Yet in these days, shouldn't the emphasis be on putting out a more fuel efficient, or alternatively fueled vehicle that emits less pollution?

[MindPilot]

4. Check out the Sport Compact class

Cutting on exactly that edge, these cars are four and six cylinder, more computer than engine, turning times that Top Fuelers would have found respectable a couple decades ago. There will likely be an electric class very soon. The race track is where your street car learns to be efficient, reliable and crash-worthy.

[krispos42]

5. An airliner uses more fuel flying a football team to a game...

Than is used in a whole NASCAR race.

Jus' sayin'.

[greenvpi]

6. +1

Finally a sane answer here.

All activities that consume oil that are not necessary shouldn't exist. If the kids didn't have the gas to waste they wouldn't be able to do these things in the first place.

[MindPilot]

8. And who will be the great arbitrator of "necessary"?

What is necessary? The Presidential motorcade? Military vehicles in Iraq? Your local TV station's camera chopper? The bus you ride to work (I'm assuming from your statement that you don't own a car.) Airliners? Cruse ships? Construction equipment? Lubricants? Plastics? Please provide the parameters you would use to decide what is and is not necessary oil consumption.

[Oeditpus Rex]

7. Safety features are also a result of racing

Seat belts, roll cages, fuel cells (they don't explode), anti-sway bars, more efficient braking systems and, especially, tire technology are just some of the things that make cars safer that were either developed or improved through organized racing.

[Joanie Baloney]

10. Just like the space program

Racing has always been a hot bed of innovation and high tech solutions.

Tang, anyone? :)

[Oeditpus Rex]

9. We tried this in the mid-'80s

when I lived in Salinas, Calif. We went to city council meetings to appeal for the use of an abandoned runway at the airport for weekend drags, like they had there when I was a kid in the '60s. We had the backing of the National Hot Rod Association, which provided an attorney experienced in such dealings.

The council wouldn't go for it.



Trivial footnote: When James Dean was killed, he was on his way to Salinas for the races.

[jmowreader]

11. They tried this before, and it worked

That's how the NHRA got started.

Here's the problem with all that: The fucking McMansion developers build subdivisions next to drag strips. The first time they hold an event, the McMansion owners scream about how the peaceful enjoyment of their property has been desecrated by this activity and it has to stop. Of course, no city council in America has the sense to look these nimrods in the eye and state the obvious: "You moved next to a drag strip. What the hell did you THINK was going to happen?" and the drag racing gets banned.

[blues90]

12. Everyone has their own opinion on everything

If people have the need to indulge in a sport or hobby then let these too evolve with the times .

I will never agree that anyone should be endangering anyone elses life simply because they cannot be responsible .

People do all sort of things that many times involves someone who is just trying to get through each day .

You can have all the laws on earth and nothing will ever change until people themselves finally decide where to draw the line .

I doubt this will ever happen , where do you begin .

I suppose the things that pose the highest risk would be first .

I do feel americans need to break away from the love of the car but this will never happen . It did happen to people who used to restore old cars now that most are gone and nothing new will ever be worth restoring .

There is the free market that allows something to be built which should have never been allowed for sale such as these high powered car stereos . Or kits that allow someone to raise their pickup truck 6 feet off the ground so they can run over a car .

Alot of this is insanity to me anyway .

I just don't think things will ever change until man exhausts all of the resources or pushes the button and ends all life on the planet once and for all .

If cigarettes can be bannedthen so can many other things that endanger other peoples lifes .

These leaf blowers should have been stopped before they became the norm .