Popular Street Racing Car
It’s a Saturday night in the back streets of a large North American city.
Sitting behind the wheel of small import cars with engines revving are two young men staring each other down. Their feet poised over the gas pedals, they anxiously await the thumbs up. When given, the car is dropped into gear, the pedal is slammed to the floor and the two cars are quickly off, screeching their tires and sending up clouds of dust.
Sounds like a plot from a summer blockbuster movie. It is, and it isn’t.
Cars and movies have teamed up for many memorable films over the years. Movies like the The Fast and The Furious have brought the high-powered cars of today’s street racing scene to the big screen. But, what many of today’s street racers will tell you is that it’s not all about taking risks.
One racer lays out his rules of the road: “Don’t race on busy streets, be it day or night, especially if there is a school in the area. If you want to act cool in front of your friends, you shouldn’t be racing. If it’s not your car, you shouldn’t be racing it. Know your area…if you don’t know the road or the area, you are asking for big trouble. And, use common sense. Think before you go, and if you don’t think it’s safe, it’s probably not.”
These sentiments are echoed in many chat rooms and on message boards that appear all over the Web, hosted and visited by both street and legal track racers.
“Remember that a car can kill you in any situation and that a real man lifts off the throttle in a dangerous situation, ” says one racer known only as Dr. Disque.
The racers are also very adamant about flying solo.
“I will NOT race with someone in my car, no way, never, ” says Turboed 2. “I know what I am doing is stupid, and I should be the only one to pay if something happens.”
“I never drive stupid when I have a passenger in my car, ” says noslow5oh. “Usually it’s my girlfriend and I couldn’t live with myself if I did something that got her killed.”
They all agree that they thrive on the rush they get from pushing their cars, and their luck, to the limit.
“I race because it’s a rush. I don’t do drugs or any of that garbage, so racing is my high for that moment, ” says Zakk, 19. “It’s a rush running from the cops.” he adds.
A typical racer is a male aged 17-24 and most likely driving an import. Honda Civics and Camrys have been cars of choice because of their size and street handling. The money being spent to supe up, remodel and refit these machines generally starts in the thousands of dollars.
