Police arrest dozens at numerous illegal street takeovers in L.A. area

[SergeStorms]

44. This is not racing.

This is just punishing mechanical equipment, tires, and people's patience.

There are street races, of course. People raced on the streets when I was a young lad, but it was still dangerous and dumb to do it off track.

In the early 70s I worked in Detroit for a speed shop and the only local "race track" was Woodward Avenue. It was, and I believe still is, a non-sanctioned proving ground for the Big Three auto manufacturers and speed shops. Even in the 60s police would have trouble keeping the races shut down, and they knew it was going to happen.

Just about every new innovation in American racing in the 60s and 70s was proved on Woodward Avenue before anywhere else in the country. Look it up. You'll probably find pictures galore. It was crazy, but really pretty safe. Two lanes each way, so no running other oncoming cars off the road, no head-ons etc.

Again, what these kids are doing isn't racing. It's just being loud and obnoxious for the sake of being loud and obnoxious. The "Fast and Furious" franchise brought an entirely new aspect of street racing with it. They portray a type of racing, and just annoying showing off, unknown to earlier gear-heads who were primarily drag racers. What these kids do is just dangerous and stupid, running turbo-charged rice burners with NOX, racing for miles on city streets. It's totally unrealistic, but like everything else Hollywood does, monkey see - monkey do, and these inexperienced drivers are killing themselves and others in the process. Paul Walker included.