Anyone see Prime Time last nite. About kids that died "drag racing"...no not at all.....they were driving for miles speeding and racing each other in their squirrely ricemobiles. They show a clip (probably from file) of what I would call illegal street racing from standing start, which still isn't "drag" racing. But...what they did the story on wasn't drag racing at all. I sent PrimeTime an email saying that "drag" racing is an organized, sanctioned sport with safety rules and only covers 1/4 mile at most not 5 miles of racing around mountain turns! They were following each other most of the time! Gives "drag" racing a bad name. Calling this stuff drag racing is like saying I'm playing baseball if I hit someone over the head with a bat! Bruce
Saw that! Bruce: I saw a bit of that story(I think it's the same one). No wonder they die, things happen real fast at speed, faster in the dark, even faster if you're inexperienced! It's all about peer pressure, and being an indestructible youth. o No: How about the girl that had her license for one month, challenging all comers to race? :spank: I agree, they were "road" racing if anything. Why don't they pick on the SCCA? I believe the media always has some hidden agenda, I wonder what that is in this case? :af: You're right: a drag race is an organized event on a sanctioned strip, of a predetermined distance. The last part is what these kids don't understand! I think this style of "racing" is where the ricers get their whole "flyby" at 150 attitude. "The race isn't over until "I" say its over." ou: I raced on the street when I was younger, but we always had limits, I think the parents have not given these kids limits in their home lives, so they don't believe there should be any on the streets. :Smarty: Jim
Here's a link to the story http://abcnews.go.com/sections/Primetime/US/drag_racing_040923-1.html Just last weekend kids were killed in my home town. whether you like the story or not. Lots of kids get killed in cars. I lost several friends in highschool and feel I was lucky on several occations. My kids are starting to drive now. Scares the crap out of me.
I hate people that give other people with giant wings a bad name! (as if we dont do it to ourselves by owning a car with a big wing) honestly, the misuse of a word in a negative manor has ruined the true meaning of hacking. I hope it doesnt happen to drag racing.
what a crock... First off, I just read that story, and I am livid... What has went so terrribly wrong in our society, when your Son or Daughter gets tragically killed in a car crash, and you, as the parent, have to go looking for someone else to blame it on? " 'Cause certainly, my little Johnny can't be to blame.." :spank: If anyone should have been prosecuted, it should been the parents of the girl who was driving. I fail to see how any responsiblity can fall on any other individual. The guys were not driving the car, period. End of discussion. It's not too much of a stretch to believe that this girl never had any boundries set upon her by her parents, and their was little or no consquence for her actions, as she was growing up. So, out on her own, why would she think that she had to be responsible for her own actions, or for her passenger's life? Secondly, This is another example of the loss of common sense, in the generation born in the 80's. I'm sorry, I don't know if it's because of all the drugs their parents (my generation) took when they were teen agers, but there are a lot of kids out there in their late teens to mid 20's who are dumber than a box of rocks. The Suburban kids who want to act and talk like they are "from the hood". Give me a break...Imaturity in that age group is rampant. I know a few individuals of that generation who act like they are 12, not 20. And as oft as not, the problem is that their parents won't make them grow up. Rather, they enable the child to continue to "act up", buy letting them live at home for free, paying their bills, ect.. Gone are the days when you got kicked out of the house, and your financial support cut off, if you didn't "toe the line" and respect authority. Whether that be the authority of your parents, the police, or whomever. When that happened to kids in my generation, we were forced to grow up, in a big hurry. At what point in time shouldn't some "little voice" go off in your head, if you know you have had your driver's lisc for a month, the road is dark and winding, and your going twice the speed limit. Hellllloooooo... maybe that's not such a good idea. When me and my friends 'street raced', we did it on a little used, divided highway, with no intersections. We ran them up to a "comfortable speed", and then everybody backed down. Common sense ruled our activities. We packed up the stupidity, and left it in the trunk. This was true, with little exception, of all the folks who raced in this town of 2 million folks, back in the mid-late 80's. You came up on a guy, slowed down, took off, and then backed off it.. many guys who I never knew, and encountered just that once, did just that. Nobody ever speed off at 100+ mph. It just "wasn't done". Sure, we had our idiots, but they were the exception, not the rule. And lastly, Personal Responsiblity ---- RIP Apparently even the crimial justice system no longer believes you, and you alone, are responsible for your actions. Regardless of peer pressure, or any other outside influence. :rant: JW
Personal Responsibility will more than likely be buried next to Common Sense and the English Language. Patrick
Jim I cant agree with you more!!!!!!!!!!! It has all started with the parents and the schools in this country. When I was in school you studied and if you did not you FAILED. Well today, you dont fail them because you might discourage them. You give them an "E" for effort and let them try again. Remember DON'T hurt their feelings. Kids these days are so protected from everything when they are young that when they get older they expect everyone to be accountable for their actions. I learned to ride a bike without a helmet and lived! Our high school had a yearly drag race at a track in May. Cant have that anymore because somebody could get hurt and sue the track but lets throw them out on the streets and let society worry about it. These kids are handed everything and expect it as they get older. Kids get cars, gas cards, insurance paid and dont have to work. All they do is "hang out" at the mall. They dont get together to work on a car or improve something just to be cool. Being cool doesnt pay the bills when you get older and its not their fault its the schools. Lets throw more money at the school system because they are the problem not the kids. I could go on and on and on but I have to get my Skylark ready for that level 2 motor you are building. If I dont get it done, I will need to find somebody to blame. Hey its that kid that was racing because if he didnt race that girl and she didnt die I wouldnt have to type this post. Wait, Let him rot. He is taking time away from my car. Hey I could get use to this, its the easy way out.
And then the parents cry after giving their kids brand new cars that are capable of 100+mph. Give them a geo with a 45mph speed limiter.
Well, I'm going to play devils Advocate here for just a second on one key issue. Many of the people here seem to have a do as I say not as I do attitude. Daily, people post in the "Kill" section anbout some highly illegal activity they've partaken in on the road. And any racing, anywhere other than the strip should be all in the same category, "running a car up to a comfortable speed" is no different. I'm 23 and from what I see, (and I hate to generalize) Is a bunch of middle aged men saying "Well back in my day.... We had respect!" I'd like to talk to YOUR DAD, and see what he would have to say. I think he would sound a lot like you do, while talking about you. Who do I blame? Everybody that was racing, all three cars, the person I feel really bad for is the guy that just happened to be driving along and got smashed into.
Man, I am sad to hear stories like this. Unfortunantly, I was somewhat a high speed racer back about 5 years ago. I had a supped up super-charged Integra GSR. No wings, no stickers, no ricer crap. I was a sleeper with huge brakes, and tons of top end speed. I raced people at speeds over 100 mph all the time, on sometimes crowded freeways. I am telling you this because I was not a stupid punk that did 150 mph fly-bys, I just loved the thrill of racing. I was very, very stupid though by endangering others, and was very lucky not to have killed some innocent driver. There are plenty of people that street race their Buicks here on this board, and drive just as dangerously. We cannot limit this racing to ricers only. Last weekend I took the GS for a cruise. I passed a 87-93 Mustang GT that was pulling out onto the same street I was driving on. He spotted me and quickly caught up to me. As luck would have a light we approached turned red. We sat there next to eachother...both V-8's rumbling. I started to feel my pulse quicken, and adrenelin start to flow...I wanted to race...BAD. The light turned green, and I crept away, never even giving a hint of racing. It felt weird as hell. But, I took the high road for once, and am proud of it. I guess the thrill just wasn't worth the danger. o No:
I work at a Pontiac/Buick/GMC dealership. I few months ago a WS6 Trans Am comes in on a flat bed. All 4 tires shredded, 3 wheels bent. Customer claims his 16 year old daughter was "run off the road". 1 week later after replacing those items, guess whos car comes back in to the dealership with all 4 wheels bent and of course all the new tires shredded! HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :spank: :spank: :spank: Dad with the daughter fails to see his daughter has too much car for her! Whats it going to take? :spank:
There was another fatal accident this weekend.....not only are they calling this street racing drag racing, they are calling the drivers: "dragsters"!!! This is getting ridiculous. I emailed NHRA to see what they had to say and what they might do to correct the media but ....no response. Bruce
It's sad, that's for sure. But it has nothing to do with this generation Vs. older ones... Every generation has their Idiots that do stuipid things like this. It's like the sun rising, give kids a car and a few are bound to "See what it can do". One big difference between then and now is the Exposure..... Back in the 80's you didn't have National Media coverage about it, Internet sites, Live helicopter views, Etc. So it actually "Seems" like it has gotten worse, But I'd venture to say that it's no worse now than any other decade. We just never Heard about it back then, largley because it was considered a "Local" matter.... And probably because there was more of a measure of "Personal accountability".... But Adolescance will allways walk hand in hand with spontaneous(sp)stuipidity.... Fact of life. As a parent, you can do everything right... and still have it all taken away in just one moment of stuipidity. I'm going to try something different with my kids... Instead of telling "No", I'm going to try to train them how to handle things.... Fast driving, Guns, etc. Because, if you teach them how to do a thing... I think they develop more respect for what it can do, and better understand the implications of doing those things. But you can never perpare for everything. I can only hope they'll do allright. But on the original topic, It should be labelled correctly. Drag racing and road racing are two totally different things. I do hope this isn't a black mark on Drag Racing.
Yeah my main concern (maybe selfish) is what they call it not so much wheter they do it. I thought it was particularly off the mark to call the individuals "dragsters". A dragster is a vehicle not the person. Besides when I think "dragster", I think a "rail" not a car.
The media tells me they get the term "drag racing" from the police departments. So....I'm going after them now.
We just had one of these Trans Ams wreck, about a mile from my house, a week or so ago. Both cars that were "racing" crashed. Since one was a WS6 and the other was a Z24 Cavalier, I wouldn't think that it was too much of a race. They were racing on this incredible stretch of new pavement, in front of one of the GM plants. It's dead straight for about 2.5 miles and then goes into a sharp curve. I haven't heard how fast they guess the Trans Am was going, but from what the kids in the car said, it happened because of a blowout on the T/A, which caused them to tag the Z24 and both lost control. I know that the Z24 could reach speeds over 100MPH (I Had a Sunbird with the 3.1L motor, and it cruised at 100 easily). The Z24 flew off the road into a field and flipped several times and the T/A went straight, when the road curved, across an open field and into a tree. There were two kids in each car, the two in the Z24 came out unscratched, and the passenger in the T/A was okay too. The driver of the T/A is in critical condition, and I haven't heard an update since last Friday. The driver of the T/A is the son of a Pontiac Policeman. There are people here whining that it's not the fault of the kids, it's due to the signs being taken down by the construction crew, who were paving the roads. For God's sake people, the road has been there forever, the road was just widened out to 4 lanes and a new coating of asphalt was laid down, it's not like they installed a sharp curve in a road that used to be straight and then camouflaged it to make people crash!! Nobody wants to take responsibility for their own actions. Those kids know than dangers of speeding and screwing around in a car. (At least I hope that they have the brains to know that). I see it all the time, it's always someone else's fault when these kids get into problems. It's because nobody wants to hold them accountable, a lot pf parents would rather be their kids' "Friends" instead of doing their jobs and being the parent. I'm going through this right now with my fianc's son. He has never been made to do chores, or take responsibility for his actions. I came from a very strict upbringing, and although I thought it was very harsh at the time, and didn't like my step dad for it, I see now what he was getting at. He taught me the difference between right and wrong, and if I did something wrong, I was ultimately at fault and had to pay the price. My fianc's son can't stand when I get on his ass about things that he does, and she thinks I'm too hard on him. I just don't want him to grow up to be a dumbass who thinks that he can do anything that he wants to and there won't be any consequences for his actions (or lack of actions). I'm not out to be his "friend", I'm out to show him that the world doesn't owe him anything and nobody gets a free ride, unless of course, he ends up in prison, then he's got it made. I've already told him that when he turns 18, he's not going to be living with us for free. He's going to have to get a job and pay rent, no deadbeats at our house, and then he might still have to find his own place to stay, depending on how well he wants to follow the rules. The scariest thing about all of this, to me, is that these people will be running the asylum someday. When I'm old and gray (Well, I already feel old, and definitely gray), it's scary to think that these people will be taking care of me (Or maybe not)!!! o No:
The History channel did a show on Hot Rods and it talked about the bad rap they were getting do to street racing and how drag racing was born. Interesting now 50 some years later we face the same issues.
Listen to this...... My Son bought a car a little Rice rocket and he tells me that every time he comes home for a vist or just goes out some young adult wants to have what they call a rolling race on the highway! Ducking and weaving at speeds that would blow your mind! He has never been one for racing nor is he into showing off. He did not get his license until he was 21 because he did not trust himself behind the wheel of a as he called a 55 MPH weapon! Well one of the young adults that he went to College with went home for the weekend and he never returned.....WHY? Because on the way home he found someone to have one of these Rolling races with him and hit the rear end of a Dump truck and was killed instantly! The driver of the other car never stopped for fear of getting a speeding ticket and a bunch more tickets! When my son went to his class on Monday all people were talking about was the accident and how sad they were! My Son listened to this for about three days and finally lost it when he heard how these big trucks should not be on the road because the move too slow! ou: . When my son spoke up and said that the young man had brought this on himself by racing on a busy highway the crowd turned on him! I live just outside of Philly Pa and almost every Friday or Saturday nite you can see these young Adults doing this on the highway or on any two lane road ! The whole kicker to this is that these kid's parents hire Lawyers to SUE the city or the township because the road was not lit well or it was full of pot hole ..etc..etc...Like my son said Take the blame and place it were it belongs ON THE DRIVER!!! and also on the parents that sit and watch these kids buy all the "GO FAST GOODIES" and put them on their cars. What I am saying is if my Son or Daughter was buying all these "GO FAST GOODIES" for their car and I knew that they were not going to a drag strip, I would not permit them to buy the stuff! WAKE UP MOM AND DAD! What do you think your kids are buying this stuff for????? Okay I will hop off my soap box now and return to my abnormal self :shock: Don
out of control literally Here in Gainesville Florida with 60,000 plus college kids from families with tooooo much money they drive like maniacs and the girls are worse than the guys. The piece de' resistance is a kid who showed up this year for college registration with a "Maclaren". Think he will want to show off? Anyway there is a big foreign car get toghether every thursday in the K-Mart parking lot with all the big money buys and some legitimate very fast high dollar cars. One night I went with a freind's son who has a WRX and I took my high 10 sec Turbo Regal. Everyone wanted a piece of me the minute I parked. I said "there are at least four cop cars cruising the main drag here waiting for people to pull out, are you nuts"? They called me chicken; but being a 51 year old hot rodder with pro stock experience and knowing they would lose I just laughed. The point is they don't care because daddy is footing the bill or they are just plain stupid like I was at their age. Kids and cars are a recipe for disaster and it will never change.
