Effects of Street Racing on Today\'s Youth

¶ … Street Racing on Today's Youth

Street racing has existed for generations. Actually, one could say that it goes back to before the invention of the automobile when horse and buggy racing was popular among the rebels of society, such as in the movie, 'Friendly Persuasion' when Gary Cooper rebelled against his Quaker roots and took pleasure in a Sunday race on the way to church. However, it was most likely James Dean in 'Rebel Without a Cause' that spurred the American youth to the streets for nighttime drag racing, creating a cult that lives on among today's youth. Street racing is found in every city and town across the country and the consequences prove fatal for many youths.

It's been nearly half a century since James Dean sat behind the wheel of his car revving his engine for a 'chicken' race and asked the other driver, "Why do we do this?" To which the other replied, "You have to do something" (Lopez Pp). Although there seems to be many more options available for today's youth to do, such as multiplex theaters with a selection of dozens of movies, cable television with hundreds of channels, more video games than one can count and shopping malls within a few minutes drive, YMCAs that are more like spas, not to mention extra-curricular activities such as sports, karate, yoga, good old fashion board games, today's teenagers still race. And the police still chase them, and parents still complain, and laws are still enacted (Lopez Pp). But teenagers still street race just as they did generations ago.

Reporter Steve Lopez described a night in Southern California's San Fernando Valley for 'Time' magazine. One thing that has changed since the days of James Dean is that girls are now racing. One girl claimed she wanted to be a professional driver and loved the thrill of 'smokin' some guy who thought she couldn't do it (Lopez Pp). Shortly after midnight the parking lot of a McDonald's is filled with twenty or so Japanese and American cars, all "modified to blow off the doors and pin back the ears" and then someone gives a signal and they all pull out single file and head to a remote industrial stretch of road (Lopez Pp). A Toyota and a Honda nose up to an invisible starting line, someone stands between them and raises his arms, then drops them, and they're off, "engines scream and rubber burns, speeds approach 100 m.p.h. And 1,320 feet later the Toyota's rear lights flash, signaling the winner" (Lopez Pp). Police say they have tried everything, helicopters, unmarked cars, plainclothes officers and one night an officer wrote over a hundred citations, but nothing stops them (Lopez Pp).

In the 1940's bored teenagers began making their own cars from frames of 1920's and 1930's Fords and Chevys and started racing along the dry lakes of Southern California (Street pg). The vintage gangster mobiles were the first proven formula cars, especially Fords and Chevys and especially the '32 Fords with the first V-8 engine (Street pg). Then street racing began to take over city blocks, however, the police turned an eye, it was considered harmless, unlawful, but harmless (Street pg). By the 1950's street racing teams had formed, collaborating on one high performance car, the engine bored and stroked with headers and Mallory ignitions (Street pg). Across America, stoplights became the unofficial street racing launch pads, and police began cracking down and making arrests (Street pg). By the 1960's, commercialization of street racing had created 'drag racing,' in an attempt to make it a more solidarity sport Fords and Chevys had been replaced with Oldsmobiles and Buicks (Street pg). The 1970's was the decade of the muscle cars stocked with "unlimited straight-line power, 600 horsepower engines, blowers, and nitrous oxide systems, and CB radios that kept the racers one step ahead of the police," however, the loss of performance caused many racers to go back to the 1960's sports cars like the '68 Cougar and '67 Chevelle and again police were unable to curb street racing (Street pg). The 1980's saw street racing become a technology-driven event, "with emphasis on suspension and handling, road feel, luxury ride, and gas efficiency" (Street pg). Toyota invented Downhill Racing or Canyon Racing and Japanese engines and transmissions were modern and computerized, racers could tweak their engines with a computer instead of a garage (Street pg). In the 1990's tuning subcompact import cars was popular among gangs in Los Angeles and gave the sport a new glamour and Acuras, Mitsubishis, Toyotas and Honda were the car choices (Street pg). "Japanese street racing is the tradition you see today" and can be found on any street anywhere. Moreover, NDRA is becoming one of the "country's most popular sanctioned sport-compact drag racing circuit" (Street pg).

Today there is more information and commercialization than ever before concerning street racing. One book on Honda performance tells how to ready a car for racing. To figure out what top speed a car's top gear will allow, it suggests the 'quick and dirty' method, whereby the car is opened up on a stretch of road until the tach reaches half the car's red line, then check to see how fast the car is going and multiply that by three (Honda p 3).

In 2002, police and lawmakers in Fresno, California attempted to cub illegal street racing by "padding penalties and making it easier to report violators to police" (Fitzenberger Pp). Three bills that went before the state legislature, including one written by Assembly Member Sarah Reyes, D-Fresno, were sparked by several recent street races that ended in fatalities which authorities believe could have been prevented (Fitzenberger Pp). What is called, AB 1726, would establish a toll-free telephone number to notify law enforcement and allow a county to level a fine of $50 to anyone convicted of racing illegally (Fitzenberger Pp). The two other bills, SB 2087 and SB 1489, would actually make watching an illegal race a misdemeanor crime and permit police officers to impound the involved vehicles (Fitzenberger Pp). Law enforcement officials believe the new bills could make a difference in curbing street racing (Fitzenberger Pp).