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why do people street race?

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91gst

20+ Year Contributor
112
0
Dec 19, 2001
Miami, Florida
hey whats up everyone, im doing a paper on street racing for my professional writing class at UMD and i wanted to get some input straight from the source as to "why people street race". Just give me any input you got. I know its cheaper than the track and its more fun to some extent but why else?
thanks
 
There may also be the thrill of breaking the law. I know juveniles get excited by this, and so do many adults. LOL
 
first off this is more then likely goin to get closed due to the subject BUT i'll help ya out

I think 90% of the people would say its ### of the thrill.

In my eyes there are MANY different levels of street racing. I dont really think what i do is considered street racing. I go down to the "stripe" where all the cars and people end up goin late at night and you cruise up and down a 4 - 5 miles divided highway doin some 2nd gear pulls against your stupid civic's mabye a launch or 2 every now and then. There is no "fast and the furious" shit goin on where we line the cars up and shit. Its really just driving up and down having fun. Cops leave us alone unless people do some real stupid shit and i've never seen anything bad happen :thumb:

So there is my answer
 
Back in the day when I use to do this (7yrs. ago) it was more about hanging out with friends also girls would always come around so it was also a place to me people, but most of it was for just flat out racing with no rules like you have at the track.
 
its a way of life....im mean, you build your car the way you want it, you do the stuff (most of us) and take it to the streets where others have done the same. you compare, learn, and just have fun exchanging car talk. its always a thrill to see what others can do because there is always someone faster. Im not a fan of the organized street racing scene, but i like the atmosphere in a sense, talking to a bunch of cars is always fun
 
Because my local track isnt open at 11:30 on a saturday night.

I dont want to pay to race

I dont want to drive from out strip to race

If the government offered a resonably priced, open all weekend drag strip, id be all about it. Weekend pass would be cool.

Also easy to make money from high school kids with stock cars that "just dont know"
 
oh and those RWD boys always wanting to run from a "roll" cant do that at the track.
 
thanks for the responses.

the main reasons that i plan to use are that:
1. tracks arent open late at night when people are off work and out and about. its not worth it for some people to drive an hour to the track and pay 20 bucks to get a few runs in.
2. the atmosphere is more lax and just more fun for some reason, everyones out there and it just seems that its easier to approach someone when watching street races then it is to approach someone when youre at the track. maybe its because youre surrounded by more people that are like yourself.

i go out to watch, ive never participated in an organized street race. so i guess my reasons are the same as all of yours.

also for my proposal i was thinking that maybe in more locations closer to organized street racing there could be a track that was open late, say from 10pm- 2 or 3 am. it could be a low entry cost and there would be police supervision but it would just be a strip with a flagger. i guess maybe it could just be on a street with police supervision so you know youd never get busted but it would be the same atmosphere. let me know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions.
thanks
 
chuckdog_5 said:
its a way of life....im mean, you build your car the way you want it, you do the stuff (most of us) and take it to the streets where others have done the same. you compare, learn, and just have fun exchanging car talk. its always a thrill to see what others can do because there is always someone faster. Im not a fan of the organized street racing scene, but i like the atmosphere in a sense, talking to a bunch of cars is always fun

+1 I think this sums it up for me aswell.
 
91gst said:
i guess maybe it could just be on a street with police supervision so you know youd never get busted but it would be the same atmosphere. let me know what you guys think and if you have any suggestions.
thanks
That would never happen because you still have the general public around. The drag strip is a much more controled environment. You won't have people walking by on the sidewalks, ect.
 
because people say 4 cylinders cannot beat 8 and we have to prove them wrong. I've only "street raced" once in my opinion, and I dominated a trans am. good enough for me
 
Because people are ####ing idiots and want to ruin it for the few of us that have enough common sense to control ourselfs in a mature maner so that we don't put inocent people in harms way.
 
I don't street race per-se. I've watched a few organised style street races and generally thought they were full of posers and idiots.

Occasionally though I drive 'aggressively' on the street. Sometimes I 'race' someone. It's usually either running into an interesting car on the highway and giving each other a little run or fiddling around in some local twisties. Personally, I do it, because day to day driving is absolutely boring. I enjoy pushing my car harder than 30% throttle and 15mph corners. It makes driving more exciting.

There is also a a bonding effect when you race someone. You see a total stranger on the road and for a few minutes you are on exactly the same page, then you part ways and probably never see each other again. I find that interesting.

On occasion, I also really like putting stupid ricers in their place :)
 
because the track sucks and its a ricefest. im not gonna pay 20 bucks in gas to get a run in, and wait 3 hours for 300 honduh's to run, then wait a hour for eveyrone else to run before its my turn again.

but i dont go out of my way to race someone. i dont go to huge "organized" streetraces. i "cruise" as its called here, down the strip. sometimes theres good cars out there and well "play" that is, do a few 2nd-3rd gear pulls and see whats up. from 10pm on till about 1am on fri-sat nights, all the cars out there are there for that same reason, to cruise and have automotive fun. most the time i like to just instagate it, rev up on some ricers till i downshift and they think im gonna finally run, and they downshift and go for it, while i upshift and return to normal cruising speeds, and they fly ahead and get popped by a cop, and i drive by and laugh and point.

i do it because its in my blood. my dad raced his cars and my grandfather before him did. hell, my grandpa was telling me stories of racing his flatheads against the cops for fun, well, the cops werent having fun, they were trying to catch him. even my dad said that F&F to us is just like American Graffiti was to his culture. after that came out, cops tried to crack down on the hot rodding, but it didnt change anything, just as the cops today are trying their asses off, but its getting them (and the system) nowhere. ive heard stories of numerous encounters with my dads hopped up El Camino and then his Camaro after that.
 
Thomas91169 said:
i do it because its in my blood. my dad raced his cars and my grandfather before him did. hell, my grandpa was telling me stories of racing his flatheads against the cops for fun, well, the cops werent having fun, they were trying to catch him. even my dad said that F&F to us is just like American Graffiti was to his culture. after that came out, cops tried to crack down on the hot rodding, but it didnt change anything, just as the cops today are trying their asses off, but its getting them (and the system) nowhere. ive heard stories of numerous encounters with my dads hopped up El Camino and then his Camaro after that.
I hear you man. This is a quote from my post about the california cops cracking down. I just didnt come right out and say it was parents/relatives. haha. I rode along with my dad once to a street race event when I was about 10:shhh:

DSMcamaro said:
Like street racing is new or something? A lot of older people i know would tell me stories about street racing back in the 70's, 80's, and 90's. (I mean $hit, who hasnt seen American graffiti? and that was in the 60's!(filmed in the 70's I know) I know its just a movie, but you hopefully get my point.) The only reason its a big deal now is becuase it has become more popular because of movies and other media.
http://www.dsmtuners.com/forums/showthread.php?t=217401&page=2
 
The nearest track to me is almost 2 hours away, unless I want to go to Canada. The track here is pathetic, they don't prep the track at all for the imports, and you are lucky if you can run 3 or 4 times in 8 hours.

I live in a very secluded area. There is a stretch of road about 5 miles from my house that is straight and flat for over 2 miles. There are no ditches, no houses, no driveways, no cross streets. It's 10 times better conditions than the local(2 hour away) track. We don't have a large amount of people, usually 6 or less. We wear helmets. We have people with 2 way radios a few miles away in both directions to alert us of any cars on the road. 2 years on this road and we have NEVER seen another car when we were racing.

So my options are: drive for 260 miles in a car that might not make it home and spend almost $150 to race 4 times in an 8 hour period, and 4+ hours of drive time. Or drive 5 miles and race for free.

I agree street racing is not safe, but in my case, my friends and I have made it as safe as we possibly can for ourselves and other drivers on the road.
 
I have to ask the question, who hasent driven a little unsafe on the street? Lets just face it, almost everyone on here builds thier car so it will beat anything in town. Only a select few build their cars for the track. I say why kill a tradition that has been going on for years?
 
I'll just sum it up with..because its more convenient than going to a track.
 
toofasteclipse said:
I have to ask the question, who hasent driven a little unsafe on the street? Lets just face it, almost everyone on here builds thier car so it will beat anything in town. Only a select few build their cars for the track. I say why kill a tradition that has been going on for years?


I dont know about anything in town, I would haveto run 9's to beat some of our street cars. But the point is the same, it is like a one sided competition untill you get out there. It is like a reward at the end of the night.

You might try looking up Mtv true life: I am a streetracer. on a P2P prorgram. it is corny as hell yet mey be useful to you.
 
the people around me that street race are usually rich kids whose parents buy them M3's or mustangs, and sometimes thier few that actually build their car by themselves. its mostly for bragging rights, i've attended a couple races and its all for bragging rights and a little bit of money. a kid around me bought a tsi awd for his winted beater. a week after he got his car he blew his 14b so he ended getting a 16g, and his summer car is an 98 M3. thses kids are all high school kids and they just want bragging rights
 
blueblotch: yeah i got some ideas from the mtv true life: im a streetracer and i also found a clip from dateline about streetracing and teckademics that helped i was trying to get some more first hand from some people.

thanks for the responses guys keep em coming.
 
I do it for the money and do it for the hustle, plain and simple its all about making money. If its not for money im not goign to race.

Chitown's racing scene is just that, only for money and everyone claims stock and has no mods. The car could pull the wheels but you still claim stock, most cars have hidden kits and its sleepers racing sleepers everyone is trying to out hustle each other.


The streets that are raced on are completly blocked off, its late at night around1-3 in the morning. The streets have room no one stands on the the side of the road or stands to close. When you are racing for money you dont see anyhting reckless going on or RICERS'

If somone comes around and is a ricer or is driving wreckless there are told to leave or there is going to be a problem. No one messes around in this scene only punk kids that just got there cars.


Dody road is were you find alot of ricers and thats were you go to see slow 15 sec cars race and see wings and fasrt cans.



Its all about the money......



Joe
 
Talk to people from NYC, Detroit, Huston(H-TOWN),Chitown those are the big real street racing citys. Thats were you find BIG money racers and trailer cars coming out..

You will get more info from people in those citys, thats pretty much the top 3 and its more of a underground scene. Its not racing really is making money, there is alot of big money races.

DSM people should know, were the sleeper cars since most mods can be done and not be seen and look stock.
 
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