And here we are again. Here we are talking about more dead people, talking about how the “mainstream” media continues to improperly call street racing “drag racing” and defending the industry and the sport that we love against people who think that both things are to blame for the deaths of four people and the injuries to several more. This time we’re talking about North Carolina, a state rich in motorsports heritage and history and now the home to one man who has been charged with second degree murder and a second driver who fled the scene when the car he was supposedly racing jumped the shoulder and plowed through a crowd of spectators before violently smashing into a tree. Authorities are on the look out for the other driver, who we’re guessing they have the identity of by now.
We are not in favor of street racing here. In fact, events like Drag Week, Rocky Mountain Race Week, One Lap of America, and lots of others are jeopardized every time something like this happens. Responsible people treating the roads with respect get the rap when someone plows into a crowd on a dark street late at night. In this case, a 37-year old man named Jimmy Pearce II of Zebulon, North Carolina was the driver of the Mustang. As mentioned, police are still looking for the other driver.
This was not something that happened off in the woods somewhere or deep in some industrial park, this happened in a residential neighborhood and the car literally ended up in the yard of a couple who were relaxing and watching a movie with the Mustang about 100 yards from their house. Not that it would be better for it to have happened anywhere else, but in a residential neighborhood? Seriously?
The people who lost their lives were adults that ranged from their early 20s to their early 40s. They were standing on the “big” end of the run when the cars were making speed and they likely had no time to react when the car came at them and ultimately mowed them down. Police and rescue workers responded and cared for the victims, some of which are still hospitalized.
This was an incredibly senseless tragedy and with one driver on the run, it is not over yet.
CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL STORY ON THIS TERRIBLE TRAGEDY
Damn, Middlesex is only an hour from my house. Miss the news yesterday morning because I’m sure it was front and center.
The sad part is NC has its share of dragstrips in the area.
Getting the itch for Galot Motorsports Park to open.
Fifth word “illegally” in the news story.
Street Outlaws is one of the reasons.
Ban Street Outlaws (TV Show).
I agree 100%. All it does is promote illegal street racing. No good can come from showing adults doing something that is very dangerous and highly illegal.
Amazing isn’t it? The whole country gets it’s panties in a wad about the Rebel Confederate Flag yet no gets excited about a TV show that glorifies something that is against the law.
“This country needs an enema!”
Ban fast and furious u dick if thats the case they started this whole new millennium streetracing scene stop blaming tv for mankinds actions we are all adluts we make our own decisions
And while we’re at it let’s ban murder mystery shows and get the country’s muder rate down to zero.
Fuck u
That’s bs Street Outlaws is not reason. People need to own up to their own mistakes. The driver was probably a piss poor driver to start with. The spectators were to blame for for the dumb asses for watching an illegal event. Nobody forced them to watch.
Not a student of human nature are you?
As a matter of fact, with the drivel you just wrote, I would say your are deaf, dumb and blind on the subject.
Agreed!
YEAH WOW ! A tv show made them race???
The drivers are responsible for the deaths, but complacency is what allowed this to happen. This was not the first illegal race held there, and the police were aware of it. In the area where I live, the cops know right where the racing occurs…there are few places where there is enough straight line road with no cross streets, and the marks left from the starting line are tough to miss. The guys who do it are not kids, either, and they put a lot of cash into their racing. And so people look the other way.
Like so many other aspects of illegal activity, there are plenty of laws on the books. But nobody wants to take away a guy’s driver’s license for five years for a little racing. And so this happens. DUI’s were like this just a few years ago, but things eventually changed to where no one expects to get away with a DUI. We need for incidents like these to force the same change of attitude.
TV shows with guys racing on public roads at night, with NO recon to see if the area is clear, outrunning the cops, hiding from them, foster the notion that it is okay to pull this stuff. I am not in favor of banning anything like that stupid street outlaw (outlaws, hmm, what does that mean?) show (how can anyone watch that poorly produced drivel) but the networks should consider the consequences when they put this stuff out there.
But hey, let’s get that Duck Dynasty show off the air because they have opinions about gay people we don’t like. And I think I saw a rebel flag on there once.
Okay…before someone… mistakes….me for …someone on a…soapbox…I’ll sit down now.
I love all you people that the minute something like this happens you run out and blame “Street Outlaws”. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a fan of the show but this has been happening long before that show came on and will long after it’s gone. Yes it’s unfortunate that it happened and all parties, including the deceased are partly to blame for the events outcome. The only thing Street Outlaws has done is made this a little more visable so more uninitiated people show up and stuff like this has more chance to happen.
Check Google for street racing news stories and see this is not a single incident, it is nationwide. The average is 5 deaths per week, not enough to get attention.
Maybe I’m getting old but this behavior pisses me off even when it doesn’t kill bystanders.
The drivers at these events don’t consider the possibility they could injure spectators. They barely consider that they might wreck their cars. It’s all too easy to see red, get hopped up on adrenaline and testosterone and try to prove a point.
You can’t blame a TV show any more than you can blame a video game (GTA anyone?).
Take it to a track… if you can’t afford to, you probably can’t afford a ticket or to pay for a bystanders medical bills.
Could you blame advertising for making cigarettes cool?
Yes you can. And that is one of the reasons why they stopped allowing cigarette ads to be shown on TV
I hope that they hang the drivers out to dry. This is why illegal motoring is illegal. I’m tired of people abusing the various automotive hobbies and the world clamoring for those of us who do follow the rules to lose our privileges. We need to make it clear that these people are by far the exception and not the rule.
Stop blaming Street Outlaws for street racing. What about American Graffiti? That was a street race, which was illegal and hide from the cops. Should we put Harrison Ford in prison? The answer is no. Every driver knows that street racing is illegal. Blaming Street Outlaws is like blaming McDonalds that you’re over weight.
Street Outlaws is great illegal street racing advertising.
Comparing street outlaws to American graffiti is like comparing a salad to a burger, same with comparing street racing back in the 50’s and 60’s back then people had more sense and the cars would barely get to the speeds of a average sports car now let alone close to the speeds and power of the so called street cars on the TV show.
The show promotes street racing and yes i know our sport started that way but it needs to get away from that stigma now so we can encourage more people to get to a track to race instead of stupidity like this where people lose their lives, the drivers should not be the only ones charged here but also charge the spectators with accessory to murder as well then maybe with harsher sentences this might wake up a few people.
Lasty I know people will come out and whinge that a lot of tracks have close so that is why they go street racing and that is bs, if the track closed it means that people did not support it and also 1/2 the morons that street race as they do not like have to abide by safety rules for what their vehicle is capable of.
Personally I think Street Outlaws should be taken off the air and replaced with a show that promotes drag racing and those that are involved in the show need to grow up and help the industry instead of harming it, and also I Support NHRA taking these guys licenses away untill this happens.
American Graffiti was NOT about street racing. It was a “coming of age” movie based on George Lucas’s experiences growing up in Modesto, CA and how “cruising” was a way to meet girls, something that Lucas wasn’t very good at.
A bit of trivia . . . Lucas wanted to be a race car driver. But was almost killed when his hot rod was broadsided. After that he gave up all aspirations to be a race car driver and started to look at film making. If you look at the credits for the 1966 movie GRAND PRIX you will see his name. He was one of the camera operators.
I’m trying to get boxing and ultimate fighting banned. A guy died in a bar fight last year and it was clearly being promoted on those TV boxing and fighting shows. Sigh.
Why anyone would stand anywhere past the starting line without some sort of barricade is beyond me. That is just dumb in my opinion. Don’t you think some of the blame has to be on the people standing there? I know this country doesn’t believe in personal responsibility anymore, but this seems like a pretty clear case of natural selection.
Placing the blame on a tv show is like blaming a cooking show for obesity.
hey there is truth in the cooking show! I was light as a feather until Paula Dean found her way into my heart! LOL
Why should we stop blaming Street Outlaws? All your analogies suck because none of the comparisons you picked are illegal. Street racing IS. Why is that point lost on so many of you?
It’s like watching a TV show about a bunch of thieves that break into warehouses and steal stuff.
Street racing is an epidemic killing across the country and Street Outlaws helps.
But I’ve actually seen two drivers killed in legal sanctioned racing events and none in illegal racing? Let’s face it, the NHRA cares about one thing and that’s money.
Deaths in legally sanctioned and supervised racing do happen. But how many of those deaths are spectators? None that I am aware of.
Thankfully there haven’t been many deaths at drag racing events in the UK, but one of the recent ones was a spectator. (A metal fragment from a clutch explosion hit him in the heart.) It does happen.
Something like that is a freak accident. Just use Google for ILLEGAL STREET RACING & SPECTATORS KILLED. 2 in February in So. Calif, now 4 in No Carolina. And keep reading the entires from the search. This is something that is happening on a regular basis all over the USA. Spectators getting killed at sanctioned drag strips is so rare it isn’t even a footnote.
Here’s a point that doesn’t suck. If you truly believe a television show is partially to blame then also hold responsible manufacturers and advertisers of performance auto parts that are designed for “closed course only”? Use on streets is “illegal”. It is reasonable to assume none of us would street race. Can it also be said that we all have equal respect for the law when it comes to aftermarket parts?
Why should we hold manufacturers and advertisers of “off road” parts responsible for any outcomes of illegal street racing? I don’t follow your logic at all. I am sure they have legal disclaimers up the wazoo concerning using said parts on street driven cars.
But because you brought it up and because I was doing some research on the subject, the No. Carolina DMV states that if you are convicted of street racing, all modifications above factory built will be removed and destroyed before your car is returned to you. Too many modifications where the expense is too great to return the car to “stock,” you lose your car altogether.
Having “off road” parts on your car is not illegal per se. You could build a custom show car that is never street driven, only trailed to car shows.
And yes, I do “partially blame” a TV show that glorifies and promotes illegal street racing. Anyone that doesn’t is surely obtuse. How can you not? Everyone wants their “five minutes of fame” and reality TV shows are fulfilling this desire. I take such offense at Street Outlaws because they are trying to make “heros” out of criminals. It’s as simple as that.
NC has some easy laws. CA does not just takes the parts, they crush the car.
What the news story is not telling you is that one of the victims was struck by that Mustang and was actually pinned underneath it once it came to rest against that tree. He was a good friend of mine for almost 20 years, and it has been difficult on all of us that was close to him, as it has been on the other victim’s family and friends going through this tragedy.
What I can tell you with 100% certainty is that Street Outlaws had absolutely nothing to do with THIS incident. The driver that is charged with murder just got back into racing a few months back, as he was racing 15 years ago for quite some time. I do not know who the other driver was, but this was not someone pretending that they are “Big Chief.” Street racing has been going on in Eastern NC for decades, as it has all around the world. Blaming a TV show for these deaths, when both of these drivers have been doing it for years, is a complete crock of BS. A TV show glorifying an illegal activity might not be a “Guiding Light” for anyone to live their life by.
That being said, to all the folks in this comment section pointing fingers and making accusations about a TV show – you don’t know the victims first hand. You only know what you read on the internet, and you think you know that a TV show influenced this. You couldn’t be more wrong – so go ahead and put that to rest. Since I actually knew victims and participants in this, reading your comments genuinely make you sound like idiots
A driver made a mistake, lost control and killed people, and did so while participating in an illegal activity. It’s a tragedy, but the only people who are at fault were the ones driving, and the ones standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. Not a TV show.
R.I.P. Papa, you’ll be missed.
I am not blaming Street Outlaws SPECIFICALLY for what happened in No. Carolina. This was just another case of unfortunate deaths from an illegal street race. Not the first and definitely not the last.
I blame the producers of Street Outlaws for promoting and glorifying the illegal activity of Street Racing. Whether you want to admit it or not. Whether you know it or not, television has great influence over it’s viewers. To think it doesn’t just shows a lack of understanding to the point of stupidity.
Blaming a TV show for complete ignorance will solve NOTHING!
Street Racing has been around since the 50’s and its funny to read comments all over the U.S. where everyone “blames”, I’m really tired of political correctness and all this ignorance of people NOT having common knowledge to understand PEOPLE KILL PEOPLE!!!
A human pulls a trigger to shoot at someone and kill them,
A car doesn’t kill anybody unless a human puts the pedal to the floor and loses control,
No one dies from an illegal street race if your SMART enough to stand behind a starting line.
If you want to be an idiot and blame a tv show, ask yourself this question?….. Do you see ANY spectators on Street Outlaws anywhere down the sidelines of the race OR at the finish line?
Answer…. NO YOU DON’T BECAUSE THEY AREN’T STUPID AND IGNORANT PEOPLE.
STOP BEING A BLAMER AND REALIZE NO MATTER WHAT YOU MAY THINK, PEOPLE ARE THE ONES TO BLAME WHEN THINGS GO WRONG. Unfortunately that’s the reason for warning labels.
The people that died shouldn’t have been standing anywhere near that race period. Everyone is to blame except for the cars in the race, they had nothing to do with it until a human being got behind the wheel and raced another human being!!!!!
Lee the point you seem to be missing is street outlaws is not illegal street racing. Street outlaws is racing on a closed street with EMTs and other safety personnel. About the only difference between it and no prep track racing is the lack of barriers on the side of the racing surface. I do think they should be at a track and run with no prep if that would satisfy their desire to have the lack of traction play into the racing. Maybe some day they will change but it’ll probably take someone having an bad accident on the show before that happens.
Not illegal huh? Then why does everyone run away when the cops come?
drama…it’s a tv show.
HAHAHAH! take the one clip that the girl test hits her new car for the first time. cops “runs” her down. She is in a full race car, no lic, no reg and he lets her go, put it on the trailer. Now, in what **** county allows that to happen? I get tickets for cracked windshields.
Sir you should know its fake when they put full fire suits on.
There once was a TV show about how unsecured your house is. They would get people to allow them to break in their home and steal everything they could. By your theory, because of that show there should be a huge increase in home burglary. There wasn’t. News loves drama, and you are feeding into it.
I’ll aways remember what my father told me in 1976 when i get my drvers licence. Boys drive fast on the street. But Men prove how fast they are on the track.
From the California DMV:
What Happens if I Speed Race?
The following are some of the penalties you can face if you street race:
Be arrested and have your vehicle impounded for 30 days.
Be imprisoned for up to three months if convicted of street racing, or aiding or abetting a street race.
Be fined for up to $1,000.
Have your driver license revoked.
Have your vehicle’s insurance canceled or premiums dramatically increased.
Have equipment violations issued.
NOTE:Spectators are also subject to the same penalties.
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1dmy&urile=wcm:path:/dmv_content_en/dmv/teenweb/crazy_btn3/speed
http://m.newson6.com/story.aspx?story=26001326&catId=112042
It’s a reality tv show. They must be doing a good job if people actually think they are racing illegally on public streets.
NHRA needs to stop worrying about making sure they have a TV deal or John Force has a sponsor and start making sure race tracks aren’t getting shut down all over the country. “Dedicated To Safety”