This happened about two weekends ago in Downtown Dallas, about half a block from where my old office used to be. 6 pm on a Saturday. They got away before the police got there. No arrests were made. Now people are up in arms and complaining to the mayor and the city council, the local media is all over this and the police give me the eye when I drive my Mustang. Not sure this is a good thing for motorsports in general in my neck of the woods.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/crime/2019/10/16/watch-street-racers-shut-down-dallas-freeway-to-do-donuts-under-deck-park/
84FSP
UltraDork
10/20/20 1:13 p.m.
Had a group of suberbike guys drop the 275 loop around Cincinnati down to 5mph for a few miles so they could dick around and do wheelies. All the while threatening the rest of the traffic they were stopping...
Followed the link. I'm glad they're not making the common error of calling them drag racers instead of street racers.
From the looks of it, it won't be long before a lot of them meet the business end of a Mustang and the problem fixes itself.
84FSP said:
Had a group of suberbike guys drop the 275 loop around Cincinnati down to 5mph for a few miles so they could dick around and do wheelies. All the while threatening the rest of the traffic they were stopping...
We had that happen too a few years ago.
Snowdoggie said:
Not sure this is a good thing for motorsports in general in my neck of the woods.
its not.
we had this same clownery go down near me in Atlanta about 6 months ago. idiots doing donuts inside a major interstate tunnel on the perimeter highway. i think its driven primarily by COVID boredom and the urge to be recognized on social media. the police came in and made a few arrests later based on security cameras. since then, similar situations have popped up all summer and as a surprise to absolutely nobody, its turned the local populace generally against anything loud, fast, or vaguely sportscarlike. lots of profiling going on now by the police if you drive anything that fits those characteristics.
ScottyB said:
Snowdoggie said:
Not sure this is a good thing for motorsports in general in my neck of the woods.
its not.
we had this same clownery go down near me in Atlanta about 6 months ago. idiots doing donuts inside a major interstate tunnel on the perimeter highway. i think its driven primarily by COVID boredom and the urge to be recognized on social media. the police came in and made a few arrests later based on security cameras. since then, similar situations have popped up all summer and as a surprise to absolutely nobody, its turned the local populace generally against anything loud, fast, or vaguely sportscarlike. lots of profiling going on now by the police if you drive anything that fits those characteristics.
Umm. Yeah. The car in that video looks exactly like my daily driver and this is near where I work and live.
Takeover event. They are all over California. Police are having a hard time getting them rounded up. LA is just straight impounding cars for 30 days even if you spectate so people have been uning Turo to rent cars to go and drag and then just leave them when they get caught and run.
Idiocy like this is why I continue to identify myself less and less as a car guy and more as a track rat. But these events don't make me overly fear for the legal Motorsports.
The annual madness around TX2K in Houston is much worse IMHO because a legitimate legal event is associated with all the shenanigans that happens on the streets.
One of the participants used the word "bro"
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssshocking.
wearymicrobe said:
Takeover event. They are all over California. Police are having a hard time getting them rounded up. LA is just straight impounding cars for 30 days even if you spectate so people have been uning Turo to rent cars to go and drag and then just leave them when they get caught and run.
This was the first time on such a busy freeway in the middle of the day. Here in Dallas we are more shocked by this sort of thing. I'm sure some of these guys are bringing it from California.
Not sure street racing is exactly the right term, because none of what I see going on here constitutes racing.
wearymicrobe said:
Takeover event. They are all over California. Police are having a hard time getting them rounded up. LA is just straight impounding cars for 30 days even if you spectate so people have been uning Turo to rent cars to go and drag and then just leave them when they get caught and run.
"sideshows" supposedly started in Oakland in the 80s. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sideshow_(automobile_exhibition)
I'd argue that "street racer" is incorrect too, they aren't even drag racing.
tuna55
MegaDork
10/20/20 3:18 p.m.
This exactly why the NHRA was created.
Someone needs to get the punk kids by the scruff of their necks and sternly explain how gentlemen behave.
Street's closed pizza boy
tuna55 said:
This exactly why the NHRA was created.
Someone needs to get the punk kids by the scruff of their necks and sternly explain how gentlemen behave.
I think it's the natural result of racing getting taken over by rules. Rules that make racing too expensive.
Rules intended to protect organizers from law suits instead of honestly making racing safe.
New cars are a lot safer than back in my day. Even 15-20 year old cars the driver should be able to survive a moderate speed crash.
Look at LeMons and Champ car racing. That is relatively safe endurance racing. Without fuel cell requirements and a few other costly requirements.
They have shut down several drag strips in the DFW Area where cheap racing used to take place. We have also lost an autocross site out at the Mineral Wells Airport. The new road racing tracks around here are basically sports car country clubs for the well healed. Lots of expensive race cars. High membership fees. Poor kids need not apply. The real estate boom here is taking its toll on racing sites. There are about two Lemons/Chump Car events in Texas and they are both in Houston, about 7 hours away. They even killed Cars and Coffee in Dallas a few years ago.
There aren't many places to go in DFW if you aren't in the high dollar club.
I feel clickbaited. 6PM Saturday =/= middle of the day IMO.
AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) said:
I feel clickbaited. 6PM Saturday =/= middle of the day IMO.
Street racing in Dallas used to take place in the middle of the night when there was very little traffic. The few people who did show up were either there to race or to spectate. If they got killed, and sometimes they did, they were there for the street racing and got what they signed up for. Not as many people cared back then. When I lived in California as a kid the racing they did on Mullholland Drive was all done late at night. The locals knew not to go driving there late.
They are getting a lot bolder now doing it in the daylight. That particular event blocked a whole lot of traffic that didn't come out to 'race'. There were people downtown who weren't expecting a street race that found themselves in the middle this mess. Somebody who didn't come for the so called event could actually get killed in the crossfire.
Snowdoggie said:
They have shut down several drag strips in the DFW Area where cheap racing used to take place. We have also lost an autocross site out at the Mineral Wells Airport. The new road racing tracks around here are basically sports car country clubs for the well healed. Lots of expensive race cars. High membership fees.
DFW has the most choice of any metro area in Texas when it comes to affordable track time.
MSRC membership is $3700 initiation fee and then $100 a month recurring with a $25 per session cost.
it's not chump change.. but it's not something you have to be uber rich to afford. the consumables for your track car can and probably will easily outweigh the membership costs on a monthly basis. it's just a decision of how often and when you can get to the track vs doing and paying for trackdays individually.
ECR is more expensive, but not by a huge margin.
Both of these tracks also run regular events themselves or they rent the track to every group under the sun for group track days.
SCCA runsTrack Night in America at Cresson every month from April to October once a month on a weekday afternoon and its an hour of track time for ~$150
Poor kids need not apply. The real estate boom here is taking its toll on racing sites. There are about two Lemons/Chump Car events in Texas and they are both in Houston, about 7 hours away. There aren't many places to go in DFW if you aren't in the high dollar club.
Obviously.... I couldn't disagree more. The ability to get on track in DFW is limited only by your desire.
Compared to what actual high dollar tracks cost in Chicago or greater NYC, DFW's track costs are very very affordable.
spacecadet (Forum Supporter) said:
Snowdoggie said:
They have shut down several drag strips in the DFW Area where cheap racing used to take place. We have also lost an autocross site out at the Mineral Wells Airport. The new road racing tracks around here are basically sports car country clubs for the well healed. Lots of expensive race cars. High membership fees.
DFW has the most choice of any city in Texas when it comes to affordable track time.
MSRC membership is $3700 initiation fee and then $100 a month recurring with a $25 per session cost.
it's not chump change.. but it's not something you have to be uber rich to afford. the consumables for your track car can and probably will easily outweigh the membership costs on a monthly basis. it's just a decision of how often and when you can get to the track vs doing and paying for trackdays individually.
ECR is more expensive, but not by a huge margin.
Both of these tracks also run regular events themselves or they rent the track to every group under the sun for group track days.
SCCA runsTrack Night in America at Cresson every month from April to October once a month on a weekday afternoon and its an hour of track time for ~$150
Poor kids need not apply. The real estate boom here is taking its toll on racing sites. There are about two Lemons/Chump Car events in Texas and they are both in Houston, about 7 hours away. There aren't many places to go in DFW if you aren't in the high dollar club.
Obviously.... I couldn't disagree more. The ability to get on track in DFW is limited only by your desire.
I could easily afford most of that, but then again, I'm not the one out racing in the streets. You used to be able to go out to Yellow Belly Dragstrip and race for $20. Drag racing is cheap. Most track events around here start at over $100 and go up. $200 weekends are not in everybody's budget. I also remember seeing a lot of low budget drift events at Mineral Wells with $20 to $40 entry fees and lots of used tires. I watched a few of them. Those went away. I am wondering how many of those guys are doing it in the street now.
Snowdoggie said:
When I lived in California as a kid the racing they did on Mullholland Drive was all done late at night. The locals knew not to go driving there late.
I was born in Los Angeles and lived about 10 - 15 minutes from Benedict Canyon Dr and Mulholland. I spent quite a few nights up there from about ’73 to 80-ish I also cruised Van Nuys Blvd in the early part of that time. I also raced both.
On Mulholland a couple/few of the people who lived up there were participants. Others called LAPD. Since the area was inhabited by fairly wealthy people a number of them were away or out on the weekends. But a few got caught up in the middle of a run.
There was a spot where people congregated (“Grandstands”) but not like on that video – it was an open lot. I don’t recall Mulholland ever being blocked like that – that is just stupid.
Van Nuys Blvd was different but similar. Neither races nor cruisers blocked the street but races were a bit dangerous.
Angeles Crest Hwy and Whittier Blvd were also in SoCal and of a similar nature.
L5wolvesf said:
Snowdoggie said:
When I lived in California as a kid the racing they did on Mullholland Drive was all done late at night. The locals knew not to go driving there late.
I was born in Los Angeles and lived about 10 - 15 minutes from Benedict Canyon Dr and Mulholland. I spent quite a few nights up there from about ’73 to 80-ish I also cruised Van Nuys Blvd in the early part of that time. I also raced both.
On Mulholland a couple/few of the people who lived up there were participants. Others called LAPD. Since the area was inhabited by fairly wealthy people a number of them were away or out on the weekends. But a few got caught up in the middle of a run.
There was a spot where people congregated (“Grandstands”) but not like on that video – it was an open lot. I don’t recall Mulholland ever being blocked like that – that is just stupid.
Van Nuys Blvd was different but similar. Neither races nor cruisers blocked the street but races were a bit dangerous.
Angeles Crest Hwy and Whittier Blvd were also in SoCal and of a similar nature.
My Aunt lived off of Van Nuys Blvd. There were some amazing cars there on Saturday night. I remember one guy who had a 'street legal' Lola T-70 that he was running on Mullholand. At least he said it was street legal. He could have pulled the plates off of something else.
Snowdoggie said:
L5wolvesf said:
Snowdoggie said:
When I lived in California as a kid the racing they did on Mullholland Drive was all done late at night. The locals knew not to go driving there late.
I was born in Los Angeles and lived about 10 - 15 minutes from Benedict Canyon Dr and Mulholland. I spent quite a few nights up there from about ’73 to 80-ish I also cruised Van Nuys Blvd in the early part of that time. I also raced both.
On Mulholland a couple/few of the people who lived up there were participants. Others called LAPD. Since the area was inhabited by fairly wealthy people a number of them were away or out on the weekends. But a few got caught up in the middle of a run.
There was a spot where people congregated (“Grandstands”) but not like on that video – it was an open lot. I don’t recall Mulholland ever being blocked like that – that is just stupid.
Van Nuys Blvd was different but similar. Neither races nor cruisers blocked the street but races were a bit dangerous.
Angeles Crest Hwy and Whittier Blvd were also in SoCal and of a similar nature.
My Aunt lived off of Van Nuys Blvd. There were some amazing cars there on Saturday night. I remember one guy who had a 'street legal' Lola T-70 that he was running on Mullholand. At least he said it was street legal. He could have pulled the plates off of something else.
Your Aunt must have hated us. I lived on the other side of the hill. I ate a lot of Bob's Big Boy burgers. My Van Nuys car was not as high profile it was a sleeper 64 Impala SS lightened by about 700lbs and with a Traco motor. It surprised the crap (and $$) out of a number of Camaro guys.
L5wolvesf said:
Snowdoggie said:
L5wolvesf said:
Snowdoggie said:
When I lived in California as a kid the racing they did on Mullholland Drive was all done late at night. The locals knew not to go driving there late.
I was born in Los Angeles and lived about 10 - 15 minutes from Benedict Canyon Dr and Mulholland. I spent quite a few nights up there from about ’73 to 80-ish I also cruised Van Nuys Blvd in the early part of that time. I also raced both.
On Mulholland a couple/few of the people who lived up there were participants. Others called LAPD. Since the area was inhabited by fairly wealthy people a number of them were away or out on the weekends. But a few got caught up in the middle of a run.
There was a spot where people congregated (“Grandstands”) but not like on that video – it was an open lot. I don’t recall Mulholland ever being blocked like that – that is just stupid.
Van Nuys Blvd was different but similar. Neither races nor cruisers blocked the street but races were a bit dangerous.
Angeles Crest Hwy and Whittier Blvd were also in SoCal and of a similar nature.
My Aunt lived off of Van Nuys Blvd. There were some amazing cars there on Saturday night. I remember one guy who had a 'street legal' Lola T-70 that he was running on Mullholand. At least he said it was street legal. He could have pulled the plates off of something else.
Your Aunt must have hated us. I lived on the other side of the hill. I ate a lot of Bob's Big Boy burgers. My Van Nuys car was not as high profile it was a sleeper 64 Impala SS lightened by about 700lbs and with a Traco motor. It surprised the crap (and $$) out of a number of Camaro guys.
I remember Bob's Big Boy. Are they all gone now? My college roommate from Glendale was one of the Camaro guys who frequented that area. I will have to ask him about getting beat by an Impala.