Finish Line:
Street Racing: It’s Illegal, It’s Dangerous, so Why Does It Happen?
Author:
Julio Alvarez
Like other cities in California, Watsonville has a
very unique nightlife, full of roars and thunder. When
the sun goes down and the sky turns black, lightning
strikes in the streets. It all goes down
at what teens call “the runs.” It’s exciting, it’s
dangerous, and it’s getting big.
This is no roller-coaster attraction; it is the
controversial and popular street racing scene. It all
starts off with a cat-and-mouse chase and ends with
the rush of a sixty-mile-an-hour race that lasts only
a few seconds.
It’s a quiet Friday night and the dashboard clock just
turned to ten p.m. Suddenly, you hear a white Mazda
RX7 Twin Turbo pipe out. You look in your rearview
mirror, and the next thing you know, it’s at your
side. It’s gone in a flash. You’re thinking whether to
go after it and drop a challenge. So you pipe your
Nissan Skyline and tease him for a while.
For the next five lights, it’s a game of cat and
mouse. You ease in front and hear his brakes. With a
roar, he’s at your side, then cutting you off. The
game goes on. Glances are exchanged. The challenge has
been thrown.
The last light turns green. He accelerates and starts
bobbing and weaving the cars. So you think, “Oh,
shit.” You shift your gear into second, then third,
and go after him. The speedometer reads 45, and it’s a
25 mile an hour zone.
Once you get to an empty street, you go for it. It’s
just a couple of seconds, but the RPMs are moving past
60. You grind your gear at third. You’re dogged. Then
your cell rings. It’s Carlos. He says there’s runs in
the flats, and you’re ready for redemption. You find
Carlos at “the” corner. There’s about nine different
cars behind you. They park and talk about what route
to take.
Now it’s follow the leader to the spot. You all get
there and someone says, “Turn off your lights.”
Everyone gets out of their cars. The pearl white Mazda
pulls up where you’re standing. He rolls down the
window and says, “Let’s do this.” You jump in your car
and pull up to his side while everyone gathers around.
You see the Asian flagger girl in a tank top with
daisy dukes holding up her bandana. You hear, “Ready,
set, go,” and her hand goes down. You skip a gear and
go to second, third, fourth – you’re neck to neck, you
go shift to fifth, and suddenly, you have your lead.
You slide in front, flick on your hazards and everyone
cheers. Coming back, you’re full of
relief. You won.
Drag racing goes on every weekend in the Central
Coast. Teens do it for the rush, the challenge and the
power. But what about the risks? Although Watsonville
Police Sergeant Brown told ShoutOut that there is no
drag racing in the city, a spokesman for the Monterey
County Police Department told us that racing is a
problem in Pajaro and other parts of North Monterey
County. But it’s hard for police to stop it, “We can
try to catch kids in the act,” says Sgt. Brown. “But
that usually only happens if an officer gets lucky.”
or when someone gets hurt.
The kids say it’s going to keep happening. But in some
towns, like Fremont, local officials are looking for
ways to legalize street racing in certain places and
at certain times, so that it can be
made safer. Monterey County is even considering
allowing legal racing for youth at the Laguna Seca
Race Track. Some racers in the Watsonville area think
the airport would be a great place to have legal drag
races.