Alternatives to Street Racing

Every form of speed competition, from the Kentucky Derby to NASCAR, originated from one cocky racer challenging another to prove whose ride was fastest. Even as motorsports events have grown into an organized, multi-billion-dollar business, homegrown hot rodders continue to throw down the gauntlet, with challenges played out on back roads where people get arrested, hurt or even killed.

Consequences
Today's faster cars and more crowded streets multiply the problem. Jennifer Aull, a young woman from St. Louis, Missouri, who used to street race with other sport compact owners, learned that the hard way. "I saw several of my friends die from street racing," she says. "I also got arrested and almost lost my car." She now only attends organized events.


Except for experiencing those tough knocks as Aull did, though, efforts to convince teens and young adults that their enthusiasm for speed could be fatal fall on deaf ears. Mortality is not an issue when you're 18 and the owner of a really hot sport compact, motorcycle or musclecar. The logical solution is to develop a safe alternative and let the hot shots roar around a legitimate track.

Sanctioned Racing
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) addressed the issue of street racing in the 1950s. Working with law-enforcement agencies, the NHRA lured street racers onto dry lakebeds and abandoned runways for sanctioned competition. The program has evolved with the street racing culture. In 1994, at the urging of Southern California law enforcement, NHRA developed the Street Legal program and today there are 140 participating NHRA member tracks across the country, in Canada and Mexico.


The format varies from track to track but most offer time trials and grudge racing, which allow racers to choose his/her competition. The program is set up to allow for as much track time as possible for each participant. Only street-legal cars and motorcycles are permitted, though some events allow open exhausts and/or drag slicks. Requirements are simple: a valid driver's license and vehicle registration, insurance, seat belts, and usually mufflers and street-legal tires. The competitors go through a tech check for a basic safety inspection, register and go to the staging area to wait for their first race. The racers come away from these events with proof of their speed and driving proficiency and, most important, they come away alive and uninjured.