Just heard this on the radio.....

Check in with your pals daily. What's on your mind?
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Postby Gator » Tue Feb 19, 2008 8:17 am

If the illegal street race didn't take place (endangering both intelligent,innocent and not so intelligent,innocent people),
this banter wouldn't be taking place.

Having spent many years of my life speaking to groups about going to the "dragstrip" to race , Not race on the street, I feel bad every time this kind of thing happens. DEATH !....pretty final huh?

(these interviews .....oh my God ! )....

MIR , one of the finest DRAGSTRIPS anywhere is right down the "Street" :evil:

Flame away...I, for one won't budge on this kind of Idiocy......... :evil:
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Postby racersforcoffee » Tue Feb 19, 2008 9:38 am

......no flaming here, Gator. You don't BS on this; neither will I. Lions was started as a non-profit to give street racers a place to run. Pomona was started by a Police officer. Brotherhood Raceway Park was endorsed by the City and County of Los Angeles. When the Brotherhood track was being outlined, Big Willie was quoted as saying "any profiteering" off the track would happen "over my (330lb. Special Forces/Mr. Olympia!) dead body".

So, to open a can of worms: A balance of non-profit and for-profit tracks has failed to materialize. A civic motorsports park running with car club staffing for racers on a dry weekend would solve it. Tracks available, like Union Grove, on multiple days a week would solve it. The recent trend towards "midnight madness" meets many innovative promoters are using would solve it.
Was Capital running this past weekend? MIR? There are more tracks in the Potomac area than most places in the world.....how many of them were available? My views lean a little harder than EKF and most in the Brotherhood. Street racing for wagers has been documented in Manhattan since the 18th century---side-by-side horse racing on...yes, a 1/4 mi. stretch, according to National Geographic. Henry Ford streetraced his first viable car. Street racing will be around long after greed and infighting have ko'd more organized motorsports.

I will close this (and walk away from the DL for a bit while I still have some fellowship here) with a quote from an old friend in the journalism biz who finally got fed up and went back to tuning bikes on Staten Island. He would, apparently, disagree with all of you.

"Street racing is not drag racing? What is it, then? Ballet?"

-Tony DeFeo
The Free Market Of Ideas Works Both Ways

www.racersforcoffee.wordpress.com

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animal jim
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Flashlight Drags

Postby animal jim » Tue Feb 19, 2008 11:18 am

:shock: Checkout my post on Flashlight Drags. :wink: Multi page article was in Feb. 08 Hot Rod.

Get on Google and enter Flashlight Drags. :o Great idea. In Pa. they lease small airport strips for the day. been doing it for 8 years. They get 250 cars and 2000 spectaters. Have 14 events this years. :shock:

CHECK IT OUT!!
It has been quite a ride!

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draglist
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Postby draglist » Tue Feb 19, 2008 7:05 pm

I saw that stuff on the Yellow board. That board is wide open with folks able to post whatever they want without limits and without proof. For now, I'm not going to delete those posts, but please don't cut and paste stuff from elsewhere in the future. I've been on that road (Denise works two miles from there) and I have to say that without a full moon, there is no way someone could be driving 75 mph because there is NO light out there. The night just sucks it up. No street lights. I also have not heard anything about cops chasing that car. The 20 year old driver was identified today and obviously is devastated.

I have to agree with Racers for Coffee and Tony DeFeo. Like it or not, many of these street races are, in fact, drag races because they are typically two cars from a standing start with a predetermined finish line. We may not like the way our legal sport gets painted with the same brush, but calling a dog a cat when the damn thing is plainly a dog weakens our argument. One thing I heard this last week for this incident was the term "Illegal Drag Racing" as opposed to "Legal Drag Racing." Maybe that's a better thing to send letters about when someone reports "Drag Racing" on the street. After all, running your car on the Main Drag is where many think the term came from, although there are alternate thoughts on that. Also, many local municipalities actually have "Drag Racing" on the law books, so when the reporters are covering it, they are speaking very specifically about the law that is being broken.

I would rather see folks send letters to their papers with requests that papers report on ILLEGAL Drag Racing instead of straight DRAG RACING... and it would not hurt to provide an address or phone number of the local drag strip... those types of letters can not only help separate the legitimate and illegitimate forms of the sport but also provide promotion of an alternative for the racers and some good ink for the local strips to boot. bp
Bill Pratt
Draglist.com - Crowdsourced drag racing history.
Headlines and Results: http://www.draglist.com/
Drag Lists: http://www.draglist.com/draglist/draglist.php

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Postby Gator » Wed Feb 20, 2008 8:11 am

This horrific incident: *******
The driver ( who ,according to the paper is very traumitized), was Not a cop.
Just happened along. hit those people,,,Who were watching an illegal race.
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draglist
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Postby draglist » Wed Jul 30, 2008 1:28 pm

Hi gang. This just in. The kid who was driving the white Crown Vic was indicted today as was another kid (don't know his connection). bp

http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/ ... 2025.story
Bill Pratt
Draglist.com - Crowdsourced drag racing history.
Headlines and Results: http://www.draglist.com/
Drag Lists: http://www.draglist.com/draglist/draglist.php

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Postby Gator » Wed Jul 30, 2008 2:01 pm

Wow
A lot more to this situation........
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Postby draglist » Mon Aug 04, 2008 3:27 pm

More details... wow, a lot more here than originally met the eye. bp

http://tinyurl.com/6xe7s3
Bill Pratt
Draglist.com - Crowdsourced drag racing history.
Headlines and Results: http://www.draglist.com/
Drag Lists: http://www.draglist.com/draglist/draglist.php


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